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Monday, September 27, 2004

 

First step

I've been continuing, and making good progress in my explorations of the downtown Morgantown area and making notes on the businesses in the area. Although there is a nice mix of various kinds of businesses, there are too many bars and the like. This, in turn, attracts the college drinking cround and the rowdy element from surrounding areas on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights, and creates something of a crime problem. Fortunately, I'm not out during those hours, and don't intend to be.
I found the Morgantown student ward and make contact with the LDS Church and attended meetings there Sunday. This served for this week, but I should probably be attending the regular ward, and still need to make contact there.
I have been staying nights at the Bartlett House, but the "downstairs" is only a nighttime shelter, and I can't leave my backpack there which makes it awkward for
finding employment. However, I've been able to make arrangements to move into the "upstairs" shelter, which will serve more of what I need as a temporary place to live until I can get better established.
No place to live...no regular employment. No regular employment...no money for rent. No money for rent...no place to live...it's a vicious cycle and hard to get out of without some kind of help. If I had drink, drug, criminal record, or mental health problems, it would be a *lot* harder.

Friday, September 24, 2004

 

Exploring town

I've been exploring the downtown area of Morgantown some. There is a very nice park by the side of the Monongahela River, which connects to a system of biking/hiking trails which are being converted from old railroad beds. I wish I'd known about this when I was coming in from Fremont.

No progress yet on finding better housing than the homeless shelter: I can't leave my belongings there during the day, so I still have to go around carrying everything. I MAY be able to use it as an address while I look for employment, but so far that's looking iffy.


Wednesday, September 22, 2004

 

Morgantown

HERE I AM! Here I stay. Along with the deep satisfaction and enormous feeling of accomplishment of setting out to do something difficult and finishing it, as well as making a move that I have been wanting to do for many years, I am determined to never do this again. When I travel in the future, it will be either a fast way, or recreational and in company with others.

The man that drove me as far as Pennsboro took me on to Clarksburg, and missed the turn into downtown, so I suggested he take me as far as Fairmont. He got gas there, bought me a burger and shake, and went on, while I went from south Fairmont to downtown. Traffic was heavy, the road shoulders very narrow, and there were no sidewalks, so it took me a while dodging traffic: another man offered a ride the rest of the way into downtown.
I reached the library, but only a couple of hours before closing, so I didn't accomplish much. I decided to spend the rest of the day going on into Morgantown, took US 19, and walked the whole way, well into the night and all the next morning. Up and down every single hill. Traffic wasn't as heavy, but I still had to do a lot of dodging.
Morgantown is the largest of a collection of four towns jammed together on the bank of the Monongahela River. Westover, Star City, and I think Grantsville. It took a couple of hours to go the couple of miles through Westover. I was taking mental notes all through the town: I may have more to do later.

Now that I've accomplished one of my long-standing and important desires, it frees me up to begin working on other things. Although the trip hasn't been easy, it's been worthwhile. I think I'm willing and ready to do some things that I wasn't ready to do before.

I've decided to continue this journal, but the focus will change. I still have some challenges to deal with: making the transition from being transient to an employed, productive citizen. Finding shelter is the first priority, then employment. I will be adding commentary on local and other events, and more of my opinions. I may go back through previous entries in the travel journal and add links to places I've been.

Thanks to the various readers who have let me know that they have been following my travels. I appreciate you all.

Tuesday, September 21, 2004

 

Pennsboro

It took a while to get out of town, especially after I took a wrong turn and had to backtrack. In the meantime, I got a view of the flooding along the Little Kanawha River, which also goes through Parkersburg and joins the Ohio. That part isn't as well protected as the Ohio. I heard that there was 3 ft of water in downtown Marietta, so the flooding was much more severe there. If I hadn't changed my route, I would have been there in the middle of it!.

Monday was uneventful: Up and down, up and down. There are few towns of any size at all between Parkersburg and Clarksburg, just barely enough places to find water and maybe a snack. Forested and mountainous Being from out west, I would call them hills, but they are steep! I had a hard time even finding a flat, clear spot of any kind to sleep.

When I did, it was on a dead-end side road a little too close to a house, and apparently I scared the woman and children they came home and saw me almost after dark. This morning her husband came by to check me out, just after I had picked up and left the spot. He inquired about me, mostly the usual, and I guess I satisfied him, because a little later, as I was going up the highway, he and his done drove by and offered me a sack breakfast and some coffee. I declined the coffee, but was thankful for the breakfast.

This afternoon I had come about 3/4 of the way from Parkersburg to Ellenboro and was sitting down for a rest break, when a man stopped to offer a ride. He took me to the next town, Pennsboro, which is a little bit larger and has the library. I will probably go with him as far as Clarksburg.


Saturday, September 18, 2004

 

Parkersburg II

As I was leaving the library, I was a little concerned about where I was going to stay the night, since the weather forecast said remnants of Hurricane Ivan were coming north. A patron who was leaving about the same time mentioned my backpack, I mentioned my concern, and he suggested the city park and gave directions. There is also a shelter downtonwn at the Salvation Army, but apparently it's for only one night. I went there and found a roof, and sure enough, in the middle of the night it started raining.

I came back to the library Friday. The timing was unfortunate, because I got soaked. I've seen a report that we got three inches of rain. All the smaller creeks and waterways are flooded, travel is restricted in the Mid-Ohio valley, and the Ohio itself is expected to crest near its flood stage sometime sunday monring. When I was dowtown Thursday, I saw that the river had risen very near to the foot of the flood wall a couple of weeks ago when the remnants of Francis came north. erflowing.

The rain let up about 10 pm and the sky is clearing, but it was a miserable, windy night; I was wet and so was my sleeping bag, and I got very little rest when I went back to the park. I'd rather follow the clouds and move out, but I'm far too tired and short of sleep, I badly need to clean up, and the next town down the road is much too far to go in an afternoon. Better to stay here and take care of a few necessities before I go on. I've been fortunate to have mostly avoided bad weather all summer, but it had to catch up with me sooner or later, and I wasn't as smart about it as I could have been. The library here has an arboretum which I explored while I was waiting for it to open. I really don't know my plants and flowers well at all: I'm doing well to tell an oak tree from a maple.

I did get some of the historical studies done that I wanted to do, so the rain delay isn't a total loss. I'm looking to contine (east, on US 50, as I said), Sunday night or Monday morning, weather cooperating.


Thursday, September 16, 2004

 

Parkersburg

I left the library in Belpre late last night, and decided not to try crossing the river and going into dowtown Parkersburg that late. I backed up to a part in Belpre and stayed there, and got up early and crossed the Ohio just before sunrise. I wandered around downtown Parkersburg for a while, trying to find a visitor's center. There were a couple of museums I would have liked to see, but didn't want to wait around for them to open. I did find a place to sit by the river for a while and watched a couple of tugs pushing barges upstream. I finally found the visitor's center and convention bureau and picked up the road map I've been looking for, though it took me about four misses before I found it.

One of my readers has generously created a map of my route. The map shows the places I've reported from and my entries at each of those places.

I think, after looking at my state map, I'm going to revise my travel plans. Rather than backing across the river to Marietta, Ohio it looks like it would be faster to stay with US 50 across West Virginia to Clarksburg. There is another highway I can used instead of the freeway, so that route looks good.

I just missed the Sternwheeler festival (featuring boat races on the Ohio river) which seems to be one of the state's major tourist events, by a couple of days. It seems to have been that way all along my journey: I have come through just before, or just after the major attractions. Well...they would have been hard to enjoy, without money and being as tired and loaded down as I've been.
Now that I'm approaching the end of my journey, it's getting to be time to sit down and do some serious planning about what I'm going to do and how I'm going to do it once I arrive. I'm not going to turn around and go back. It's been a worthwhile experience and a significant personal accomplishment, but not something I want to do again. I'm not certain whether I will continue this blog: I like the title, but the nature of it will be changing. Lots of things yet to decide.




Wednesday, September 15, 2004

 

Belpre

After I left the library, I went to do some laundry, and then found my way out of Athens and found a place to stay the night. Tuesday I spent walking from there to the fairly small town of Coolville, about 18 miles. I only thought I'd seen my last cornfield; there was another one along the way, although it was only a patch compared to Iowa's huge ones. My map is a bit outdated, though; US 50, the Appalachian Highway, according to the signs on it, is a 4-lane expressway all the way to Marietta. The hills and ridges are getting higher and the road cuts are getting bigger: they aren't tall, by Rocky mountain standards, but they are certainly steep.

I stopped for the night just past Coolville, and had only gone two miles when a woman called to me from one of the side roads I had just passed. She offered a ride into Belpre. I was a bit surprised that she would do so, but she said she has a nephew who is out on the road somewhere, and hopes that someone is generous to him. She has just found employment as a Talented and Gifted teacher in a middle school here in Belpre, and this was her first day.

Belpre is just across the Ohio River from Parkersburg, West Virginia, so I could say that I'm very nearly to my destination. However, I've decided on Morgantown (as I may have mentioned), which about 100 miles further. I hope to get a decent WV map in Parkersburg, then go back across to Marietta and visit the college there; then back on one side of the river or other as far as New Martindale.



Monday, September 13, 2004

 

Athens

On the way out of McArthur, I was stopped and questioned again by a police officer: that's twice in one day in once city, and after I managed to go all the way through Indiana without getting stopped once. I got about 6 miles, just past another town that barely qualifies (no shops or services), and stayed there for the night.

Since I was far from a church, again, I decided to take it slow, and did OK for another 7 miles or so, until I stopped beside a driveway and the residents drove up while I was sitting down. They didn't speak to me, but called the Sheriff. TWO officers, in different cars responded, and offered a ride into Athens, to the shelter there. They were both, rather surprisingly, on the friendly side, and the one who drove me in was especially generous. I wound up bypassing Albany, which was just winding up a local fair with a parade. It was afternoon by then, rather late for any church services, so instead I found the Ohio University library and spent the afternoon there. I overstayed and, rather than try the shelter (which had a rather awkward procedure for getting in), I found an athletic field on the outskirts of town to stay at.

I got up before dawn and went back to the library, with the intent to do more serious research. I have better notes on 2004 events for a wider variety of "Western" nations; at the next university library, I'll be looking at various asian nations.

There are two possible routes for me to get to Marietta, which is about 47 miles away, and again I think I'll pick the better traveled route, US 50, though I may not get far on it before dark. I can't tell whether any towns between here and there are significant. I find, from information I've picked up on campus and around town, that this is considered part of Appalachian Ohio. The countryside is up-and-down and forested, and what clearings there are, are more occupied by pasture and hayfields than cornfields and soybeans.

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.

Thursday, September 09, 2004

 

Chillicothe

I didn't leave the library until late Tuesday night, and it was raining a little. There was a bridge out of town which extended over a driveway and parking lot, and I decided to stay there out of the rain. The police came by, checked me out, and said that there weren't resources for them to send me for the night, so they let me stay. In the morning, I found out that the nearby building was some kind of city maintenance building.

Since it was still wet, I didn't want to go on, so I went back to the library to do some more reading and study, until about 5 PM, and then headed for the next town, which would have been Lyndon. Before I got there, I had another offer for a ride. This man took me all the way in to Chillicothe. Since it was still overcast and rainy, I asked at the police station if there was a shelter or someplace I could stay. They took me to the shelter, which amounts to one unit in a multi-dwelling apartment complex, where I stayed the night. I've enjoyed pretty good health all summer, but without going into specific complaints, I think this trip is starting to wear on me. Only about 200 more miles to go.

I understand that I just missed seeing John Kerry, who was here campaigning Tuesday, and I'll probably likewise miss seeing President Bush, who is supposed to be here, I think tomorrow. That doesn't greatly matter to me: I don't hold the President directly responsible for everything that goes on in the nation; not even in the government, and certainly not the entire economy.

I've managed to do a little work related to my web site: The historical sketches, and I'm doing a list of major cities to include and connect to the nations. I expect to be sketching out a page on Christianity, one on international government and organizations, and major world corporations, and at that level, there are some resources here I can use.

From here, I will be going to MacArthur, and then to Athens. I should be in one of those two places by Sunday.

Tuesday, September 07, 2004

 

Greenfield

After leaving the library in Hamilton, I went through the downtown area to find a park, so I could do some writing and eat. I got turned around and went through the inner city area. I was a little bit nervous, people there weren't really friendly or hostile either, but I'm sure I got some strange looks wondering why I was there. I was looking for the LDS chapel and found it, just across the town boundary in Fairfield, and then went looking for a park where I could spend the night.
When I got up in the morning, my canteen was missing. My first thought was that it had been stolen; my second that I had left it at a convenience store I visited the night before. Fortunately, that's where it was, still. I attended meetings at all three LDS congregations: In the first one, the Fairfield ward, a couple invited me over to dinner that evening. It was a fast and testimony meeting: the Sunday School lesson was on the first few chapters of Helaman, including the origin of the Gadianton robbers, and the priesthood lesson was on principles of welfare; specifically health. The second was a Spanish-speaking branch. I haven't been able to converse easily in Spanish on general topics, although I spent 2 years in a Spanish-speaking mission, but I understood the service and the testimonies in this one. In the Hamilton ward, I had another invitation, but since I had already accepted one, I declined with thanks. This sunday school lesson was another repeat of the lesson on warfare, with yet a different emphasis, and the Priesthood lesson discussed a recent message by President Hinckley calling on members to more actively resist the moral rot influencing our society. Afterwards, the couple that invited me to dinner came to pick me up. They invited me to stay the night, wash my clothes, and in the morning, take me to my next destination. Afterwards we watched news and a couple of programs on BYU TV. When I got their address so I could sent a card when I arrive, I was a little disconcerted to find that they they have a Cincinatti address. After all my efforts to avoid going through there! But, I must say that both of these wards were more friendly than average, compared to many I have visited.
I had decided to go through Lebanon, then Wilmington, but they thought it would be almost as easy to go to Wilmington, so that's where we went. I had hoped to stop at Wilmington College, but since it was Labor Day, I didn't even try to stop at the libraries, but headed south to New Vienna, and didn't quite make it there before nightfall, and stopped a couple of miles outside.
New Vienna is a small town showing obvious signs of declining population and prosperity. It looks run down and didn't have a library, or much else, according to the two residents who were waiting at City hall for the attendent there to run some errand. I didn't stay, and heades east on State route 28. A passing farmer gave me a ride a couple of miles, and I hiked nearly as far as the next town, when a young couple stopped and offered a ride to Greenfield.
I'd say more, but my time here is limited. My next destination will be Chillicothe.


Saturday, September 04, 2004

 

Hamilton

I went past the Miami University library, but because of Labor Day weekend, it was closed earlier than usual. I sat at a bench in front to do some writing, and found that quite a few students were also rather frustrated at the early close. On the way out of town, I passed the home of Lorenzo Langstroth, the "Father of American Beekeeping". He was the inventor of the modern movable-frame beehive, in the mid 1800s, and wrote on many other applied aspects of beekeeping. I note this because my Dad was involved in beekeeping for a time.
The highway south of the town limits was lined with miles of housing as closely packed dense as many urban residential areas, although, since it is a rural area, the road had narrow shoulders and no one troubled with sidewalks. It took a while to find an empty, unused field where I could stay the night out of sight. This morning I made it about 3 miles further, when a woman and her young son stopped to offer a ride into Hamilton. It still took until noon to get to the library in downtown Hamilton, but it should be no trouble to reach church tomorrow. Still haven't found a map, but I can take some good notes here in the library which will get me further. Again, the Labor Day weekend will slow things down. Roughly speaking, I will be heading toward Chilocothe, but that's several days travel at least, and I'm not quite sure of my best route. I'm also told that the remnants of the Hurricane going through Florida should show up in this area in the form of thunderstorms by the middle of the week, which may slow me down even further.




Friday, September 03, 2004

 

Oxford

I left Batesville late again, and didn't notice the weather until it started raining. It was a light rain, but I managed to find shelter until it seemed to quit, then found a place to stop for the night. Mother nature had other ideas, and woke me up about 2:30 am, with an on-again, off-again sprinkle. I made it as far as Oldenburg, and noticed about four large catholic churches. One of them used to be a monastery, and one is still a convent, as I found out when I found a dry park bench under a tree in front of the convent, and the night watchman came by about 4 a.m. I left before too long, and pushed onward toward the next town, which would have been Metamora. I made it about halfway there, when a young man came by and offered a ride. I had been resting, taking a bit of a nap because of the short night's sleep, and hadn't made much progress by the second time he drove by, so he was a bit concerned. He was going back to Batesville, first, and then took me on through Metamora and...Morristown, I think. We stopped and he got me a burger and some fries, and a drink.
We didn't talk a great deal; he asked me the usual stuff about where I was going and why. I mentioned that I hadn't found temporary labor along the way: He suggested I ask everyone, and should be able to get a job for a couple of weeks. I didn't want to protest that I don't plan to be in any one place for a couple of weeks, and would have problems finding a place to stay for that long anyway, but filed his advice to consider when I reach my destination. He complained about the high price of gas; I mentioned that if it keeps going up, we may all be walking. That set him off on an anti-Bush rant about burning all our oil in a war. I didn't want to contradict him saying it's more complicated than that, either: While I wouldn't mind a political discussion, I don't care for disputes, and this would have turned into one. Before I left, he donated the contents of his lunchbooks. He put me on a county road that was going straight into Oxford, donated the contents of his lunchbox, and gave me his name and asked me to look him up if I ever came back through. I much appreciated it: that ride put me a couple of days closer to my destination.
It took me longer than I expected to walk the rest of the way into Oxford. I met a pair of LDS missionaries, who gave me directions to the church, if I were staying, and to the library. I'm having trouble finding one of the free Ohio state road maps, but the library gave me a county map that I can use to find the next town. The next town would have been Hamilton, but I found out that the LDS ward there meets in Fairfield. These are twin towns, anyway. I still don't have a detailed route past there yet, but the Internet (suggesting a freeway route) puts me between 300 and 320 miles yet to go.
I haven't had time to do the writing I wanted to, but I still have a couple of hours here at the city library, and possibly at the Miami University library, and I want to get a start on the 17 mile hike to Fairfield. It's doable but a bit strenuous. Labor Day weekend coming up is likely to interfere with this journal somewhat. The next entry could be as soon as tomorrow and as late as next Wednesday, depending on where I am when.

Thursday, September 02, 2004

 

Batesville

I stayed at the library until late, then again made it just outside town to find a place to sleep. I picked a spot between the railroad running just south of the highway and a cornfield just south of that. I continued on to the small town of New Point, which again seems to be located mostly off the highway; all I found was a convenience store where I could sit for a while. I didn't expect to reach Batesville until late afternoon, but I was offered a ride by a gentleman who lives a couple of miles north of here in Oldenburg. He told me a little bit about the history of the town: it was settled in about the 1840s mostly by German immigrants. Oldenburg was settled about the same time, largely by immigrants from Oldenburg, Germany. However, when the railroads came through, it went through Batesville, which grew, and bypassed Oldenburg, which didn't. Bateville's present claim to fame is for manufacture of caskets, and for hospital equipment. When I mentioned that he was going through the library, he said that it has a fine library and hospital, (he also pointed out the golf course as we went by), in spite of its rather small size of about 5000, thanks to a "Sugar Daddy", the family that owned the casket factory. They are also responsible in one form or other for employing most of the people in town.

When I stopped in New Point, I found a table where I could sit down and do a little thinking and writing. I started rewriting the historical sections of the more populous nations based on the historical research I have done in the past few days. It may take a few more days before I can get through all of these. This is going to be a process of gradual improvement, rather than sudden large advances, and I still don't have a way to actually get it posted to the site. But eventually I'll get there.

I thought from the map that it might be another full day before I got to Batesville, so I'm pleased to get here in time to do this update. There isn't a good highway that goes directly from there to Oxford, Ohio, my next goal. I'm going to have to take some small county back roads. I don't yet have a good map of Ohio, but I expect that once I'm actually in the state I should be able to pick up a good state road map, which will help me out considerably in deciding the exact route I want to take.

Wednesday, September 01, 2004

 

Greensburg

After leaving the library at Ivy Tech and doing some laundry, I headed east on Highway 46, and only made it just out of town. Although Columbus has some nice "people trails", its sidewalks in most areas are nothing to brag about. Even in residential areas, walking down the road means either tracking through a lawn or taking a risk of getting run over. The highway on this side of town wasn't quite so bad as it was coming from Bloomingon through Nashville.
East of Colombus, the land is flatter, less forested, and cleared more for corn and the like. Apparently, much of this stretch of road is supposed to be closed for construction, and I went through the site, which was not to busy. Just before noon, I passed a couple of Indiana Highway Department employees flagging traffic. Since I used to have that job, in Utah, I had to stop and talk a little. Traffic wasn't too heavy, and flagging traffic can be a lonely, boring job, so I didn't think they would mind. They mentioned that flaggers for construction outfits earn substantially more than I made in Utah, and commented that people don't offer rides nearly as much as they used to. People are afraid to pick up hikers (or hitchhikers), and people are afraid to walk the roads for fear of getting beaten and robbed. They mentioned that the road is being rerouted and straightened. I could see work on the new roadbed about 1/4 mile up the hill from the creekside it was following. The reason for the flagging was that they had a machine mowing the grass and brush along the roadside. The road will be closed again after Labor day. Just above the flaggers, the road through Hartsville wasn't quite finished: Only one layer of pavement, and lots of brand new curb and gutter. I had in mind stopping there, but either the town is smaller than I thought, or most of the town is off the highway. There was a park where I stopped for an hour or so. I didn't quite make it to Greensburg for the night, but I hadn't expected to. This morning I got up and finished the trip into Greensburg (and through it, since the library is on the east side.)
One of my readers has written in mentioning that my posts are rather bare of analysis and commentary, and the purpose for my trip is not evident. For the reasoning and purpose, it's best to look at the archive starting in May. Having come this far, I mean to finish the trip, rather than plant myself at the nearest convenient place, or turn around and go back. There isn't anything particularly enlightening about counting paces so I know when I have gone about 2 miles, or counting sheep at night because it's too dark to do anything else and I'm not quite tired enough to go instantly to sleep. Except to a farmer, one corn field looks pretty much like another one, and one stretch of forest looks like another. The differences are in the details, which I'm not going to get to know without taking some time to study them.
I do wonder, repeatedly, why people can't, or won't, keep their trash in the car until they find a place that has a garbage container, and why they have to treat the public highways as public waste dumps. Not even the "Adopt a highway" groups are able to keep up with all the litter. Highway maintenance people have other jobs...roads get beaten up with heavy usage, not to mention grass and trees and the like. Perhaps, as in some states, this would be an appropriate job for convicts. I also wonder, when I pass houses with neatly mown yards, what will happen if the price of gasoline goes up so much that they can't afford to run the mower. Of course, that would have other effects, too.
I've also been thinking about the studies I do on my knowledge base. Some of the studies I've been doing recently involve going through sources such as Infoplease and Facts on File to fill in a few more details on recent world history (past 10 years). Picking through this information to format it to match my outline of nations, most especially the few largest, is what I have been doing, and it does need some picking through, because news headlines are not geographically balanced. Later, I will take another pass through the source material, looking for a few more nations, and more detail on those I have already discussed. However, I'm about done with history proper for now, and I'm going to be looking at a few particular nations, and looking at the history from a national point of view.
I'm now roughly 3/4 of the way through the trip, and I'm anxious to get it finished, so I hope to find a map and estimate how many more miles I have yet to go. My own extimates, and that of the highway workers I talked to, suggest that it will take me through September. My next stop will be Batesville; after that, I'm thinking of leaving Indiana route 46 and going through Oxford, Ohio. In this part of the country, it seems that all roads lead to Cincinatti, and I'm still trying to avoid going there.


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