Nature’s splendor and highways of history 

I really love rivers. I’ve always been an ocean and beach lover, too, but really love rivers. In the areas I travel regularly I see so many beautiful river crossings that always make me wish I could explore, or at least stop and gaze.

Rivers had so much to do with the history of exploration and settlement of the U.S. and before. Primary ones that stand out in the eastern half of the country include the, Mississippi and it’s primary source, the Missouri, which begins well to the northwest, the mighty Ohio, and the many rivers that determined the location of so many eastern cities.

A little geography lesson for those not familiar with Eastern topography may help explain why so many cities are where they are. The fall line is the point or area where upland elevations descend abruptly to the lowland. In the east and southeast it is the farthest navigable point upstream from the ocean or the Chesapeake Bay. This determined the original points of development of trading centers that became cities. Some of these cities and their rivers include Trenton on the Delaware, Philadelphia on the Schuylkill, Baltimore on the Patapsco, Washington on the Potomac, Richmond on the James, and Augusta on the Savanah. These rivers are tidal below the fall line. Above the fall line and upland toward their source they are narrower, curving, and in many ways more scenic. Okay – class dismissed 😁.

In the past few weeks I have crossed a few notable boundary rivers, as well. I had never seen the Arkansas River. A pretty crossing on the interstate. I crossed the Mississippi at Memphis, which is an impressive sight. Also crossed the Missouri several times on that trip.

I 64 crosses the Big Sandy as it forms the WV – KY border. It is a pretty view. The Ohio at Louisville is a nice view. The confluence of the Allegheny and the Monongahela at the point of  Pittsburgh to form the Ohio is majestic. The Susquehanna, which is by far the largest tributary of the Chesapeake Bay, is beautiful at many crossing points. The Kanawha is really pretty, although terribly polluted. It is only 97 miles long from its source where the Gauley splits into the New and Kanawha to where it flows into the Ohio. It creates a beautiful river city view as it passes through Huntington and Charleston along I 64.

The most beautiful river views I see regularly are of the New River. The I 64 crossing in the New River Gorge in WV is my favorite. The New River is one of the few in the U.S. that flows north and is geologically the oldest river in North America and second oldest in the world with only the Nile being older (I know I said class dismissed, this was just a tidbit).

A beautiful small river that I have just gotten to know since trucking is the Jackson, which flows along and under a stretch of I 64 near Clifton Forge, VA. I’m looking forward to visiting that area I September.

Happy Trails!