The impressive skyline of Cincinnati welcomed us to the midwest.
You will recall that our departure from Florida coincided with the evacuation brought about by Irma’s impending visit. We were four days on the road. On this fourth day the proportion of Florida number plates finally tailed off. We hadn’t done justice to the states we’d passed through but it was our intention to spend the next few days on the shores of Lake Erie. It was time to get off the Interstate and hit the back roads of Ohio.
Our first stop was Fort Loramie.
It’s a pretty country town. Its heyday was back in the late 1800’s as a canal town. The Miami and Erie Canal made it possible to navigate from the Ohio River at Cincinnati to Lake Erie at Toledo. Almost 250 miles (400km) long, it boasted 19 aqueducts and 106 locks. Loramie is situated at its highest point 512 feet (156m) above the Ohio River. It was open end to end from 1827 until the new fangled railway put it out of business in the early 1900’s.
The Ohio countryside is fairly flat, open agricultural land dotted with big barns that hint at severe winters.
We stopped for a little birding at nearby Lake Loramie. Bird watchers do tend to be somewhat obsessive and Gayle is no exception. Tattooed down her side are the names of all the birds that she has seen and I have not. In Georgia she caught up with the Black-and-white Warbler and I did not. Fortunately we hadn’t passed a tattoo parlour en route.
The fall migration was just getting underway. At the lake we caught up with a few warblers including this little guy. It’s not a prizewinning photo but gee it was a sweet moment …
Our destination that day was Maumee Bay State Park. Where there is an almost luxurious hotel conveniently close to the world famous birding spot, Magee Marsh.
bobmcgee 