The mighty Wabash

We first crossed the Wabash River near it's headwaters back in Ohio, just before we reached Fort Recovery. Back then it was just a small creek, but we have been in the Wabash watershed ever since and it has grown into a significant river.

Decending into the Wabash valley. The wooded ridge in the distance is the far bank of the Wabash.

The Wabash is the largest northern tributary of the Ohio River.

We made a brief stop in Montezuma before crossing the Wabash. There are some interesting old buildings in downtown Montezuma, but the Dollar General across the street has supplanted then as the center of commerce.

A sign about the Wabash and Erie canal caught my attention. This was the longest canal in North America? A canal I had never heard of? And it went to Toledo? I thought the Miami Erie canal went to Toledo.

Investigating was required, so I turned to Wikipedia to learn more, under the assumption that if I find it on the internet, it must be true. It turns out that the Wabash and Erie can refer either to a single canal, or to a set of 4 interconnected canals that includes the Miami Erie canal. The set of 4 total over 400 miles.

While on Wikipedia, I learned that the downfall of the Wabash & Erie canal was due to muskrats. Those pesky rodents would burrow into the dirt walls of elevated sections of the canal. Water seeping through the muskrat tunnels would cause the wall to wash out and collapse.

Why waste time cycling around the rust belt? Obviously you can learn a lot more about the history of the Midwest by sitting on a couch surfing the web. I don't know, but there's just something nice about being out on the highway.

We saw several of these tractors on the highway. If you look closely, you can see team S under the tractor.

We are spending the night at a B&B in Paris, Illinois. It's an attractive town.

The old downtown Paris high school. A new HS has been built on the edge of town.

Why would anyone mount a bike rack 12 inches above the ground???

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