I’ve had a few afternoons lately that were open and allowed me to get some more of the sites checked off my list. The first afternoon was a trip along the Ohio River, on the Indiana side, to capture 3 sites. 2 of them were fairly close, but the 3rd site was down in Madison, Indiana. Which is about 50 miles away as the crow flies. A bit longer though the way I had to go.
In order to get to my 1st stop which was Aurora Indiana, I took I-275 around the southeast corner of the Greater Cincinnati area. This takes you across the Ohio River into Indiana from Kentucky and you get off the highway just before you get into Ohio. This is why we refer to this as the Tri-State area. I got off the expressway and headed west on Indiana 56. Once it gets through some urban sprawl it cuts directly south and follows along the Ohio River for a while before heading directly west all the way across the state. A nice cruising road with a few curves thrown in along the way. The stop in Aurora was to be the 1st Huey Helicopter that I captured as part of the tour.
Man, those things are a lot bigger in person than they looked like on TV.
I continued on Rt 56 and 8 miles down river I came to Rising Sun and my 2nd stop. A memorial to all the different wars that the US has fought and those that perished. This inclded a stone dedicated to 9/11.
A little further down the route 56 heads directly west away from the river. I cut up it for a bit and then turned onto SR 250 with the aim of intersectiong SR 62 down to Madison. 250 cuts across farm land and isn’t anything special. 62 cuts sowuthwest and goes through several vallies on its way to Madison. Don’t let anyine tell you that Indiana is all flat, because it ain’t so. The southern 1/4 of the state is plenty rough terrain with lots of small curvey roads that follow creeks on their way to drain in the Ohio River. 62 is one of those and one that I always enjoy riding. But not this time however. I got the intersection of 250 and 62 and there is a big old “Road Closed” sign on 62 heading towards Madison. To top that off I was getting very low on gas. So here comes the dtour that takes me north to Versailles before I can head sowuth on 421 to Madison. This little dtoru and gas stop added an extra 40 miles or so to my route and about an hour of riding time. However eventually i got to my 3rd stop, the Indiana Veterans Cemetery.
Not as large as the ne in Kentucky i had visited, but still a very moving experience to see all the white headstones lined up in a field.
After leaving the cemetery I cut down through Madison (a very cool well preserved Ohio River town and worth a stop if you’re ever in southern Indiana), crossed the Ohio River back into Kentucky and just kind of wandered my way back home. This is one of my favorite ways to travel, just pick a direction and keep taking roads that take you that way. See what you find and where you end up. Even though I’ve ridden this area for going on 30 years now, I still keep finding roads that either I’ve not been on or don’t remember being on. Lots of fun. Final total for the day right at 201 miles.
