August 22 Landslide and West Virginia

It rained a moderate amount late yesterday afternoon and early this  morning so we were glad for a roof over our head last night. Due to how places with lodging were spread out, we decided to just go as far as Wheeling, West Virginia.  This gave us a low-mileage day, which was good as there were scattered thunderstorms predicted for later today and tonight.  As we left this morning, it was cool but very humid with low-hanging clouds and almost foggy. Our route followed McMahon Creek for most of the day, which was brown and swollen from the rain. About 10 miles into our route, there was a sign that said the road was closed 6 miles down the road and had a detour sign.  We asked a driver of a pickup coming out of the road why the road was closed and if a bicycle could get through but he didn't know. then asked a homeowner out on his porch near the corner. He said there had been some sort of landslide causing closure of the road and thought a bicycle might be able to get through.  He also told us the  detour was much longer and had some bad hills.  So we decided to give it a try. When we got to the spot, the side of the road had given way and construction workers were boring 25 feet into the soil to put in cement piers to stablilze the road. We waited for a few minutes then a kind person let us pass by behind the equipment.

We continued to follow the stream all the way down to Bellaire on the Ohio River. Here, we talked with a couple of people who were very amazed that we were bicycling across the country.

We headed upriver a few miles then crossed onto Wheeling Island. When we got to the bridge to Wheeling, it was fenced off with detour signs as it was being sandblasted and painted. Then we noticed a pedestrian walkway between the fencing heading over to one of the sidewalks, so we were able to cross after all.  This bridge is a suspension bridge that was built to carry the National Road over the Ohio River in 1849, and is the oldest vehicular suspension bridge still in use.    

With it being a shorter day,  we biked around town and looked for some art around listed in the "Downtown Public Art Walking Tour" brochure that was in our hotel room. 

 We also checked out history displays at the library about the Atlas Glass company which produced an amazing amount of household glass products, and about the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad which was very important here.  The railroad had a huge train station which is now a college building.

 The most memorable food we ate here was a wonderful sweet potato salad at a local restaurant. We also rode a few miles south of Wheeling on the bike path along the river and saw a number of barges and tugboats, and 10+ woodchucks in just a few miles.