Excursion 2, Part 1 (Spring Yet Unsprung)

In which our intrepid hero leaves the safe confines of his home and encounters an unexpected bit of Africa…

On my first excursion out of the city, on April 6, I decided to drive around southeast-central Ohio.  Although technically spring, it still seemed like winter.  The weather was brisk, the sky soon became somewhat overcast, and leaves were nowhere to be found.  Gray seemed to be the color of the day.

However, as I began to leave town driving east on East 5th Avenue, I soon encountered an unexpected splash of color.

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Excursion 1, Part 2 (Ye Olde National Road)

In which our intrepid hero drives up and down two streets…

Although the original goal of my first excursion was to photograph the Silent Woman Bar, a goal that was thwarted, I knew there were other things I would want to photograph along the way.  The reason is that the bar had been located on East Main Street.  Another name for East Main Street is US 40.  US 40 becomes East Main Street as it approaches the Columbus area from the east.  Somewhere around downtown it shifts a bit and continues west on West Broad Street until it is out of the city.

US 40 is also known as the National Road and it is one of the most famous roads in the history of the United States.  It was the first road ever built by the federal government, starting in 1811, and linked the Eastern seaboard to the Midwest, almost to the Mississippi River.  However, for me, US 40 holds a particular fascination.

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