Day 4: July 25, 2004
Ending in KY
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There was a Motel 8 just past those restaurants in Alliance and I thought about stopping there before deciding to move on to Canton. I should have stopped right there. In Canton, US-62 piggy-backs with I-77 and rushes along the western edge. I did get off briefly to drive by the NFL Hall of Fame then returned to the expressway and soon found myself leaving the city on pavement shared with US-30. No motels were apparent. I had semi-planned on staying in the area and possibly visiting the Hall of Fame in the morning. That's why I didn't bother with pictures when I checked out its location. I know of a classic car museum in Canton and that was also a possibility. But I was on a stretch of motel-less highway as verified by DeLorme's Street Atlas. By the time I figured this out, some significant backtracking would be required to sleep near Canton. I drove on.

I finally found a room at the Amish Country Inn in Berlin, OH. To me, Berlin seems to be something of a Gatlinburg want-to-be with the word "Amish" instead of "Hillbilly". I didn't actually see any but I'm almost certain that at least one shop has genuine Amish handcrafted wooden cell phone face plates. I soon followed the path of this large group of motorcycles and headed out of town.

I had noticed water standing at several places along the road here. Near Killbuck, it actually took on the appearance of a swamp. Much of this area is farm land with fairly frequent groves of trees and here and there a wooded line tracing the banks of a stream. In spots, trees still line the road side and in one such spot, with trees close on both sides, a Model A Ford passed me in the opposite direction. On the tree enclosed two lane, the only thing that looked out of place were the white edge lines. The picture is in my head.
I had not thought seriously about it and took no notes, but my recollection is that US-62 was signed as "south" in both New York and Pennsylvania. I could be wrong on that but I do know that, once I was in Ohio, every sign said "west". That is, until I saw this sign entering Columbus. The route was then labeled "south" through the entire city and returned to "west" at the city limits. Sixty-Two shares this view of the Ohio capitol with US-40.
Sixty-Two passes through several mid-Ohio town, including Washington Court House and Hillsboro but I'm fairly familiar with these and took no pictures on this trip. Just south of Hillsboro, I did find some remnants of the old road to photograph along with a pretty good looking Mail Pouch barn.
Here is Skip's Garage and Rhonda's Deli in Russellville. The owner has an assortment of old cars sitting around (almost all can be bought) and still uses the garage for his own automotive work. Reminds me of restored stations I've seen on Route 66.
A few hours after passing here, I learned from the radio that the city of Cincinnati is considering a smoking ban in all public places. But, just a few miles upstream, in Ripley, OH, tobacco still has a place of honor and is a significant part of the economy. Ripley also has some drivable pieces of old road and one of Ohio's bicentennial barns. For Ohio's 200th birthday, this logo was painted on one barn in each of the states eighty-eight counties. This one also makes a pretty good used car ad.
The compass claims east bound but the signs aren't nearly as restrictive. Maybe we can someday get a north bound US route passing along here, too. Normally, business 62 crosses the older bridge into Maysville. That bridge is currently closed for some maintenance so both the business and "normal" routes cross the newer bridge.
I don't believe that the courthouse and theater are normally on Sixty-Two but the business 62 detour passes right by. Old Washington is just a tad off of US-62 south of Maysville. Many old buildings including a log post office.
Much of Sixty-Two between Maysville and Cynthiana matches the Bloomfield to Lawrenceburg stretch I drove last month. The picture with the buildings is looking down the main street (It's actually named Walnut.) of Mt. Olivet. Apparently this was once a good route for advertising dollars with both Mail Pouch and Rock City in evidence. I must get to Rock City someday.

When US-62 intersected with I-75 I chose the interstate and headed home. Having previously driven US-62 between here and Elizabethtown, I only have around 1700 miles to go to complete this route.

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