Ohio River Scenic Drive

We left the city and took the Ohio Byway Drive that followed the curves of the Ohio River as it forms the boundary between Indiana and Kentucky. It was a warm sunny day with a blue sky. The leaves were falling making a colorful carpet around the trees. Several places we could see tugboats pushing barges up or down the river. There are several lock and dams to make navigation possible. Several power plants in the area. They are coal fired using coat that is brought in by the barges, unloaded on the bank of the river. One plant was inland and used a covered conveyor to move the coal from the riverbank over the highway and to the plant. Coal will be seen going both ways on the river because the high sulphur eastern coal is mixed with the coal from Wyoming in order to meet EPA emission standards.
One of the groups of barges of coal had smoke coming out of a couple of places, like the coal was smoldering??? Another group of barges were loaded with cranes and heavy equipment. It must be interesting to live along the banks and see all the different loads going up and down the river.

Derby, IN
Derby, Indiana has a park along the riverbank where the packet boats used to stop in the days of the steamboat. This was a place where immigrants from the eastern United States would stop and purchase land and settle, or stop to pick up supplies on their way further west. The local farmers could ship their produce back east for sale and mail was sent and received. This area saw battles in the Civil War.

Oil Wells, Farming, Hunters
The flat areas along the river banks has large fields of corn and soybeans. Oil wells dot this area, too. In the local paper the price per barrel of Indiana Oil is quoted along with the price of cattle and hogs. Hunting season was in full swing and each area of trees had a pick-up sitting and you could see the orange vests of the hunters headed out.

Rivers
We crossed the Wabash River at the Indiana- Illinois border. Later we crossed the Mississippi River at the Illinois-Missouri border and the Missouri River in St. Louis. The Wabash flows into the OhioRiver in eastern Illinois. The Illinois & Missouri River flow into the Mississippi river near St. Louis, MO and the Ohio River flows into the Mississippi River at the tip of Illinois. What happens on one of the rivers affects all of them!!

Back in Iowa
Found some interesting sites to visit on another trip as we read the Brown Signs along the Interstate. A few days stay at family in Southern Iowa and then back to the Prairie before the snow that was predicted.

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Prairie Schooners