Was going to get to Wheeling today but I found a very friendly marina in Martins Ferry, Ohio, a little town about three miles upriver. There's a building that the owner told me I could sleep in - a concrete floor but at least I won't have to fool with my tent. It's easy to set up but setting it up every night and taking it down in the morning gets old. When I showed up, a few guys sitting around offered me beer and conversation. Friendly.
Went to the Dairy Queen to see if they serve anything breakfast-like. Open at ten AM. It's a little after seven. So over to Wendy's, same thing, open at ten. I passed a little cafe called the Breakfast Spot, open at ten AM. Who eats breakfast at ten AM? Evidently, people in Wellsburg. Finally found a convenience store open. A large styrafoam cup of coffee and two two Litle Debbie Honey Buns. Thank heaven for Little Debbie.
Tonight I am in Wellsburg, West Virginia, a quaint little river town, handy for river travelers like me. Found a Wendy's just a couple blocks from the boat ramp, other places close too. Hope there is a good breakfast cafe around.
There is a song titled "Banks of the Ohio". It tells of a dimwit named Willie who takes his bride-to-be for a walk down by the river and kills her. He's afraid she's going to be untrue to him - she hasn't been yet, but he kills her anyway. There are a number of folk songs with this theme, "Pretty Polly", "Nashville Girl", must be something to it. Anyway, from what I've seen so
When I awoke this morning about five-thirty, it was raining. I went back to sleep, and when I awoke again at seven, it was still raining. The weather forecast said rain all day and I decided to spend another day in Newel.
The Monongahela River, or the Mon as locals call it, is a pretty waterway, not real wide, not real long, just a little over a hundred miles. A short section is in West Virginia, the long segment being in Pennsylvania. The state line is somewhere between Morgantown WV and Greensboro PA. Not sure when I crossed on the first day, no welcome plaza like on the interstate.
As I look back at some of my posts, I think I failed to mention some of the folks that have made this trip worthwhile. I mentioned Steve Selin and his wife Jenny who took me to lunch in Morgantown, and Darlene Garrett who helped me find a camping spot in Greensboro, and brought me a carafe of hot coffee the next morning.
In Brownsville, Norma Ryan, an ex-mayor of the town, steered me to the American Legion campground and met me the next morning, bought me breakfast at Fiddle Confectionery and gave me an interesting tour of the town.
Rain, rain. Started raining about midnight and still raining hard off and on. Not doing any paddling today. But I am at a nice campground, laundry, showers, Subway sandwich shop, a gambling casino right next to the Subway, and a Dollar Store. What more could a person need? Had to buy a towel - can you believe I forgot to bring a towel - and some work gloves. I said before that the backs of my hands are suffering, they're the only parts of me that aren't covered up, so the gloves should help.
As I was putting my boat in the water at Beaver Creek about eight AM, I heard someone shouting at me from the park parking lot. It was one of the men I had sat and talked with last night. His name is Virgil Reynolds and he's just one hell of a nice guy. He'd come down to take me to breakfast. So he took me back to Maxi's where I had had dinner the night before, pointed out some of the sites in East Liverpool. His passion is building ship models and he built a model of the Delta Queen, a stern wheeler that plied the Ohio in former years.
I got to Little Beaver Creek early enough to walk to town, East Liverpool, Ohio, to see if I could find some dinner. Sure enough, Maxi' s showed up and I had a huge plate of spaghetti and meatballs, much more than I could eat, garlic toast (white bread sprinkled with garlic salt, but very good) and a salad. Also got a steak and cheese hoagie for the morning. East Liverpool is in Ohio and my campground was in Pennsylvania so on the way back I crossed the state line and found some very interesting historical markers. I will let you read them for yourselves. Way to go, Ohio !!