We crossed the Missouri at Kansas City, the Mississippi at Saint Louis, the Ohio at Wheeling. The sprawl of corporate motels, restaurants, gas stations does not hide the economic decline of these cities and the towns along the way. I-70 parallels the first national highway, well on the first, Interstate 40 whose broad-backed bridge spans the Ohio at Wheeling. We stumble across history...the marker at the Federal Customs House (1795) at Wheeling that housed the convention in 1861 at which West Virginia succeeded from Virginia in the opening days of the Civil War...and the old Victorian houses of North Wheeling that, despite their grandeur, can't seem to resist the wear of time. Nor can the myriad churches, like "The Church of God and Saints of Christ" which even with its classic proportions, do not overcome the need for paint and repair and worshipers.
Still details of an earlier, more prosperous, time emerge around corners to delight the senses, to remind us of a more optimistic time along the river.
We crossed the Missouri at Kansas City, the Mississippi at Saint Louis, the Ohio at Wheeling. The sprawl of corporate motels, restaurants, gas stations does not hide the economic decline of these cities and the towns along the way. I-70 parallels the first national highway, well on the first, Interstate 40 whose broad-backed bridge spans the Ohio at Wheeling. We stumble across history...the marker at the Federal Customs House (1795) at Wheeling that housed the convention in 1861 at which West Virginia succeeded from Virginia in the opening days of the Civil War...and the old Victorian houses of North Wheeling that, despite their grandeur, can't seem to resist the wear of time. Nor can the myriad churches, like "The Church of God and Saints of Christ" which even with its classic proportions, do not overcome the need for paint and repair and worshipers. 
Still details of an earlier, more prosperous, time emerge around corners to delight the senses, to remind us of a more optimistic time along the river. 
