Day One - Cincinnati to Cumberland MD (520 miles)
It was becoming difficult to find a route through Ohio that we had not traveled. I believed we had found a new route that would provide some unique scenery. We started by heading out Ohio Route 32; the biggest drawback to this road is it is heavily patrolled. So we kept it under 70, and cruised along eastward towards Athens ; home of Ohio University . At Athens we stayed on U.S. 50 into Belpre where we picked up Ohio 7 which took us into the old river town of Marietta. Having always wanted to take one of those Alps tours we decided to take some back roads in Ohio that are surprisingly (I would think) similar to Alps country. Just past Marietta we begin our trek through Wayne National Forest. At the town of Fly we turned left, and headed north on State Route 800. This road climbs at a serious rate up to the town of Woodsfield, the " Switzerland of Ohio " as it is called. Woodsfield is the main northern corridor to Wayne National Forest, and once through we began our descent back down to the river. At Woodsfield we turned right onto State Route 26. This road is a serpentine, winding and twisting all the way to Jerusalem . Turning right at Jerusalem we head due east looking for route 145. A left turn on 145 takes us to 148 for a short jaunt before turning north again on route 9. At Jacobsburg we head east on 147 which winds us down to Bellaire and the Ohio River . We jumped onto I-70 for a quick run through WV and into Pennsylvania . We stayed on I-70 and I-76 until exit 9 where we said goodbye to the superslab and ran for awhile on PA 31. This is a road approximately 100 miles in length of exciting road and good scenery. Its many towns and villages are dotted with historic buildings. PA 31 travels over the rolling hills of the Laurel Highlands. Along this byway there are many interesting things to see, places to stop, but the main attraction is the road. Just before Somerset we stopped for a break at Kooser State Park. We stayed on PA31 until we got to the town of West End ; a local road took us to PA 96 to the south and into Cumberland MD. It was getting late so we started looking for a motel on the outskirts of Cumberland . We pulled off I-64 in a stretch that used to be U.S.40. There we found a motel with a brewpub. The place was called Uncle Tucker's, and it contained a brew pub as well as a good restaurant next door. It doesn't get a whole lot better than this. After some taste testing, and dinner we called it a night.
