Paddle With Us

The proud people of Portsmouth, Ohio, have beautiful murals of their history on their flood walls. The flood walls themselves are fascinating and stark reminders that these towns are always at the mercy of the waters. Takes a certain kind of person to live here! Anyway, one of the historical townsfolk is Branch Rickey who was the first baseball manager to sign on a Black player…Jackie Robinson! They are pretty proud of that! The recent movie, 42, chronicles this and our local tour guide, Christine, says we all must watch it!

Another fun day on the river. Met the first canoeists we had seen on the Ohio River. They talked with us through lunch and then paddled with us another mile down the river. We had planned to make this a shorter day and that turned out to be a good plan. Just after setting up camp at twin islands campground just north of Manchester Ohio, we heard rumblings of thunder and we got a cryptic text warning from Mark. There was just enough time before the thunder and rain hit to move our tent from under the tree to a pavilion. Now we have a safe and dry place to eat our dinner and sleep.
Pictured here is our tent and JB and Helen Anderson our hosts.

After ten miles we found a nice place up Brush Creek for lunch.

Didn’t post this great photo from yesterday at Holiday Point Boat Club where they let us shower. A concrete built by a previous owner and once used as a Speakeasy selling booze in a dry county! People in photo: Randy , Barb and Ronnie!

So, Portsmouth is our new favorite place! Small Ohio river town with some of the most hospitable people on earth. We were treated to the local ribs and a tour of town including the flood wall murals of the history and the names of all the stars from town including Roy Rogers. Enjoy the photos taken on our souped up golf cart!

After a night at the Worthington boat club listening listening to flopping fish in the water all night and trains passing by we got up and had breakfast and were back on the water by 8 AM . Just passed through the Greenup Kentucky lock and dam.

It’s hot and humid and after 23 miles of paddling we found a cove and old boat club. A man here helped us settle in on a little peninsula. We had our dehydrated spaghetti and are ready for bed. More tomorrow….

After a nice breakfast at the hotel in Huntington, we headed to the marina and met the morning crew, Donnie and Chris. They got us ice and helped pack the canoe and by 9:45 we were on the river. Nine miles later, we have stopped for lunch at the corners of Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky. Just walked into the one light town, Catlettsburg, KY.