Day 13

Welcome to day 13 of my sailing journey on the Ohio River. If you reviewed the "How" section of my website, you already know that days 1 through 12 were completed last year. Due to a mechanical problem I missed about a 450 mile section of the upper Ohio River lasy year and I'm back on the river again this summer to complete that missing section. Yesterday my wife, Denise, and I drove to the Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack and Resort to stay overnight before moving a few miles down the road to Chester, West Viginia.

Before leaving the casino we watched the trainers working with the race horses.

Before leaving the racetrack I took a photo of my sailboat on the trailer behind my car to give you an idea of how small it is. At fifteen feet long, my sailboat is actually one foot shorter than my kayak I used to traveled the length of the Ohio once before.

Upon leaving the racetrack we headed for Chester, West Virginia. Chester is the beginning of the section of the river I skipped last year. It's also the home of the World's Largest Teapot!

This is one of the former lock buildings from the old, old fashion locks. They're beautiful buildings and some have been restored as homes or even party/reception halls (like the one is Saylor Park, near Cincinnati).

I took this photo as I arrived in the chamber of the New Cumberland Lock and Dam. The drop in this lock was about twenty feet.

In the past I've made several attempts to travel the length of the Ohio in a kayak before finally acheving success. Each time I stopped at the community store, which is the yellow building on the right. But this time I didn't stop because the community of Stratton appears to be loosing their riverfront due to erosion.

Upon approaching Steubenville, Ohio, I took a picture of this magnificient cable-stay bridge, the Veterans Memorial Bridge.

This is where I camped out overnight. The location is right below the Pike Island Lock and Dam. Today I covered 42 miles.