Saturday, September 11, 2004
McArthur
After leaving Chillicothe, I took Ohio route 50 toward McArthur. The road isn't very friendly toward pedestrians: the only route I could find to the southeast follows an expressway for two miles, and from there has narrow shoulders. I found myself stopping to let traffic go speeding past often enough that it took me all evening to go about 4 miles, and I definitely wanted off the road before dark.
Friday morning was foggy, which did nothing to speed my progress. It cleared up later, though. I went through a couple of small towns which hardly deserve the name, made about 14 miles and hoped to make it to the next town, when a county deputy stopped to check me out and offered a ride into McArthur. He was going to take me further, but I pleaded the need to check in at the library and grocery store (not to mention water and other necessaries), before going on past into the middle of the country miles away from resupply, so he left me there. However, since it was a Friday evening, the library was within 10 minutes of closing, so I went a short ways out of town to find a place to sleep, then came back in. The local police stopped me just as I was reaching the grocery store, and then let me go.
There are two possible routes from here to Athens. The northern route is probably a bit longer, definitely hillier and more winding, with no towns of consequence. The southern route is more heavily travelled, also with only a couple of towns, but they are a bit bigger, smoother and faster. I think I'll continue on Highway 50. Neither McArthur nor Athens (some 26 miles) has an LDS branch, so again if I am close enough to some other church Sunday morning, I'll attend there. I'm getting closer all the time: I estimate about 180 more miles to Morgantown. I expect to reach there before the end of the month, even at a conservative 10 miles per day of travel.
I accomplished the studies I wanted to do at the library in Chillicothe, so here for a little while, I'm going to go back to history. I'm looking at this year, with a few more countries and other aspects of history.
Friday morning was foggy, which did nothing to speed my progress. It cleared up later, though. I went through a couple of small towns which hardly deserve the name, made about 14 miles and hoped to make it to the next town, when a county deputy stopped to check me out and offered a ride into McArthur. He was going to take me further, but I pleaded the need to check in at the library and grocery store (not to mention water and other necessaries), before going on past into the middle of the country miles away from resupply, so he left me there. However, since it was a Friday evening, the library was within 10 minutes of closing, so I went a short ways out of town to find a place to sleep, then came back in. The local police stopped me just as I was reaching the grocery store, and then let me go.
There are two possible routes from here to Athens. The northern route is probably a bit longer, definitely hillier and more winding, with no towns of consequence. The southern route is more heavily travelled, also with only a couple of towns, but they are a bit bigger, smoother and faster. I think I'll continue on Highway 50. Neither McArthur nor Athens (some 26 miles) has an LDS branch, so again if I am close enough to some other church Sunday morning, I'll attend there. I'm getting closer all the time: I estimate about 180 more miles to Morgantown. I expect to reach there before the end of the month, even at a conservative 10 miles per day of travel.
I accomplished the studies I wanted to do at the library in Chillicothe, so here for a little while, I'm going to go back to history. I'm looking at this year, with a few more countries and other aspects of history.
