First Day of Exploration

Sunday, Oct. 21, 2018--Cincinnati to Huntington, WV

It was cold at the apartment in Covington (across the street from Cincinnati).  Heat was turned off during the night, but there was a nice comforter which made it better.  But even when the heat was on, I'm guessing the thermostat was no warmer than 65 degrees.  It was uncomfortably cool.  And I have a booking for the same place for 3 more nights.  Hope it is a bit warmer next week.

I may have written yesterday that I reserved my car to be picked up in downtown Cincinnati at an office which is a short bus ride from Covington or a walk of 1 mile.  I didn't need the car last night, and the price for the same car from the same company was $311  airport pickup vs. $185 for downtown pickup!  Yet when I got to the downtown office this morning, the lady said they had just brought the car for me from the airport. 

I was right about the leaves.  There is nothing much to see.  Although there are lots of leaves on the streets and sidewalks, most trees still look full and mostly green.  But those that are turning color seem to be going straight from green to brown this year except for a VERY FEW (total less than 10) that I saw today that were red or yellow.  However, the scenic drives were very scenic for the most part.  The disappointments were US 32, the Appalachian Highway, which was somewhat like going down any 4-lane highway and US 52, the Ohio River Scenic Byway, which was okay but not great.  Highway 50 going east from Cincinnati was nice because of the hills and the homes along it, but it had concrete barriers without a shoulder which made it difficult to enjoy the views.  The best routes I took were Hwy 222 between US 50 and Batavia (which curved, had lots of trees, and was hilly) and Hwy 100 (Pond Run Rd) off US 52 between Vanceberg KY and Portsmouth OH which became a series of State Forest roads.  This very scenic route was a narrow road twisting and winding up into the mountains with dense forest coming right to the edges of the roadway.  One section of it had a beautiful narrow stream flowing beside it.  It was remote with few cars after the first few miles.  There was a trail I wanted to walk, but it was too muddy from recent rains.

I had a bit of a panic in the late afternoon.  I knew I wanted to stay somewhere in the area around Portsmouth or south of it.  But the ratings for all the reasonably priced places were BAD!  I mean ratings like 1 to 3 out of 5.  I kept searching further and further south finding the same range of ratings for each town.  But websites list nearby places.  I remember looking at a park lodge on the Kentucky side that looked good and was rated higher, but it was priced rather high, did not include breakfast, and also required paying for park entrance.  Somewhere along the way, I saw a Red Roof Inn in Huntington with a rating 4 out of 5--so much higher than any of the other places.  I booked it.  But today as I was driving south of Portsmouth, I seemed to be going further than I though I should.  Then I saw a sign indicating that Huntington, WEST VIRGINIA, was another 20 minutes ahead of me.  I knew Kentucky had been across the river all day.  Suddenly, I started wondering:  Is there a Huntington, Ohio, somewhere else in the state where I accidentally made a reservation?  I remembered putting "Huntington Ohio" in my search after seeing the highly rated Red Roof Inn.  I pulled into a parking lot to check the mapping app on my phone.  My reservation was for the Red Roof Inn in West Virginia, so I was okay!  Whew.  But it is further south than I expected.  And though it is fine, so far I don't see why it has a 4/5 rating.  How bad must the others be?

After checking in, I drove downtown to see it and the nearby Marshall University campus.  Downtown covers a large area that has lots of unused buildings now.  It must have been nice at one time.  And it still has quite a few shops and offices--more than most downtown areas have today.  And the old train station area has been developed with more modern shops, a cinema, etc., as an entertainment district.  But the old downtown is just too big for it to be totally occupied under the situation cities face today, and the Marshall University campus is just a bit too far from downtown (12-15 blocks) for it to be an active area for students.  The campus seems nice, but it is surrounded by major streets with lots of traffic.  There wasn't a place for me to park and walk inside the two-block-wide and multi-block long campus.  I did park downtown and walk around it.

I searched for local restaurants on Yelp and picked out about 5 that interested me.  I opened each in a separate tab and started going through them one-by-one.  Every one of them was closed on Sundays!!  My guess is that students leave campus on weekends and return on Monday and that those staying party on Friday and Saturday leaving Sunday as a dead night which then is considered to be the best night for locally-owned restaurants to be closed.  I just stopped at a Burger King on the way back from downtown to eat. 

Now I will watch Masterpiece Theater before putting links on here and going to bed.