DRINKING AND DRIVING…NOT WHAT YOU THINK

Tuesday, August 23 – We took Carrie to the airport and sent her on her way back to Houston. It has been nonstop every since she arrived.

On Saturday, one of many things we did that day was visit Breitenbach Wine Cellars in Dover, OH. The Winery is located in Ohio's Amish countryside.

They have a beautiful setting. And yes that is a Llama in the little house.

We sampled many of their award-winning wines. Their wines are delicious! Breitenbach offers a huge variety of wines - from dry white wines to sweet dessert wines, there is a Breitenbach wine for every taste. They specialize in Ice Wine and Dandelion Wine.

And enjoyed the gorgeous day.

We purchased TWO cases of different variety of wines. Carrie really purchased 18 of the 24 bottles. We will take these back to Houston with us in the MH.

 

FLASHBACK:   Friday, August 19 – We took a bike ride on the Ohio Towpath Trail this morning. The canal and trail was originally 309 miles long and constructed in 7 years—from 1825 from 1832. The Ohio & Erie Canal was one of the longest canals ever built. It was hand dug by Irish and German immigrants, who were paid $0.30 per day.

We rode the section known as the Zoar Valley Trail. It goes from Bolivar to the City of Zoar. This trail is lined with four ancient locks from the old Ohio-Erie Canal.

The Towpath Trail is on the old road bed used by mules to tow the river barges down the canal.

Some towns along it's path have developed the trail into a real hikers/bikers playground. A near-by town, Canal Fulton, even has a restored canal boat towed by mules that tourists can ride down the canal. Eventually, the towpath trailway, will be developed from Cleveland to the Ohio River. As you travel the bike path, the canal is on one side of you and the Tuscarawas River is on the other. The river is known to flood its banks each spring when the snow melts and the rains pour down in Ohio. Many of these small towns are cut-off from through traffic for several weeks each spring.

The Canal isn't very pretty any longer. See all that green in the water…YUCK!

But some areas are a bit more clear.

The Tuscarawas River is a bit muddy is some areas.

But in others it is sparkling.

They have benches along the path.

The Zoar Valley section starts at Fort Laurens, more on that later, and crosses I-77 on a huge bridge. This bridge was certainly built to easily handle the hiker, bikers, and equestrians that use it. Guess it had to meet federal interstate highway standards.

Isn't this just a lovely site.

Soon you pass lock #10. It was interesting to see these locks, but the misquotes wouldn't allow one to linger long. There isn't much left to examine. The wooden gates have long since rotted and the level of water is just deep enough to breed the army of misquotes just waiting for breakfast. You do pass three more locks ( numbers 9, 8,and 7) before reaching Zoar. Several of these locks have been restored in nearby Canal Fulton.

All that is left of the locks.

What Lock #8 looked like in the "hay days" of locks.

We did see an interesting bridge that has been converted from an old highway bridge now to a trail bridge.

View from bridge. If you look closely, the new bridge is in the far back.

Constructed with old Carnegie Steel with a wooden deck. It connects the Towpath Trail with another trail – have to explore that on another day.

The trail is not yet complete. Once you reach Zoar it is not suitable for easy bike traffic. It is used as a hiking trail from this point south. Going north, one can ride all the way to Cleveland, over 80 miles. Paul has rode most of this trail in the past. Some parts are even paved. There are trail heads and parking access about every five miles.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see ya'll back real soon. Have a great day!