With Wednesday predicted to be clear, dry, and warm, it seemed like a good day to check out some of the area’s foliage which has become increasingly colorful in recent days. The fact that both rain and temperatures were predicted to fall on Thursday made it seem even better. Although trees were not at peak color on Wednesday, rain did appear on Thursday and did knock a lot of leaves to the ground, so I think I made an OK choice. Temperatures that allowed dropping the top around noon made it more than OK since that really has not been the case since.

As I often do, I targeted the area north of the Ohio River where wiggly tree-lined roads connect small towns like Mount Orab, Georgetown, and Ripley. Within the area, my driving wasn’t very targeted at all.

Here and there manmade structures caught my eye. Barns filled with drying tobacco were once quite common in this area, but not anymore. The weathered house looked to be abandoned but it also looked like it enjoyed watching that tree grow from a sapling to towering over its roof.

Actually, my camera recorded considerable evidence of human activity even when I was half trying to avoid it.

My driving wasn’t 100% aimless. For whatever reason, I remembered a couple of previously visited items in the area and made a point of reaching them again. The first is the North Pole Road Covered Bridge that I first visited in 2005 as part of the Five Bridges Road day trip. Fifteen years ago the bridge was somewhat hidden by trees but the road passed right through it.

Not so today. The trees have been replaced by a new bridge and the covered bridge restricted to pedestrian traffic only. The concrete bridge does provide a convenient platform for photographing the newly exposed wooden bridge in its entirety.

I’m not sure when I made my first visit to the Red Oak Presbyterian Church Cemetery but I do know why it was on my mind Wednesday. Rosa Riles, whose likeness appeared on Aunt Jemima packaging from sometime in the 1930s until 1948, is buried there and Aunt Jemima has been in the news recently. The reason is parent company PepsiCo’s decision to change the name and packaging as part of what they are calling a “journey toward racial equality”. A Wikipedia article explains that dozens of women played the character over the years and lists nine of them. Riles is identified as the third to appear on product packages.