Favorite spots along the Ohio River

People who know me know that I like the Ohio River. Even if it is a smelly, polluted waterway, it's where I grew up.

So allow me to provide this list of my 10 favorite places along the Ohio, at least the ones I have visited.

10. Locks and Dam 52, Metropolis, Ill. This is one of two remaining 1929-era dams left, and it will be demolished in a few years when the new Olmstead Locks and Dam is finished. The sound of water running through the wooden beams holding back the river is so . . . rivery.

9. Cave-In-Rock, Ill. This is a cave sitting high above the river. They say pirates used this cave as base for raiding flatboats floating by in the pre-steamboat era. The tree at the mouth of the cave has to be the most photographed tree along the entire 981 miles of Ohio River.

8. The mouth of Tombleson Run near Letart, W.Va., in Mason County. I once had a good friend who lived up in that area. When I would visit him, I would come home by way of Letart so I could visit this spot. You have to park along the road, walk across the railroad tracks and around some trees to get to the best spot. You could see the old farmhouses across the river, and you could glance downstream at Letart Island and the Racine Locks and Dam. I haven't been back up that way for years, so I don't know how it look now.

6 and 7 (tie). The ferries at Sistersville, Ohio, and Augusta, Ky. There's nothing like crossing the river on a ferry. When the Silver Memorial Bridge was out of commission in 1977, I sometimes crossed on the ferry there. The best time was at night when my car could be at the head of the ferry.

5. Tu-Endie-Wei park, Point Pleasant, W.Va. Sitting on the wall at the mouth of the Kanawha River and watching life go by . . . It's pretty good. When the light is right and the boats are in the right position, it's a great place for getting a picture, too.

4. Mouth of the Guyandotte River boat ramp, Huntington. Sometimes I go there when I need to be by the river but without all the stress of Harris Riverfront Park, which would have made this list a few years ago. And it's under my favorite bridge on the river.

3. The new boat ramp along Ohio 7 about seven miles north of Crown City, Ohio. There's some good riverbank there that I need to explore before the banks turn to mud. Across the road are a cornfield and a church. I've taken pictures of them about once a month for the past year. Soon I will put all those pictures into an album that tracks the seasons.

2. The Ohio side of the Gallipolis Locks and Dam. Some people go there to fish. I like to go there and listen to the water pour over the rollers. Being that close to something that big and something as powerful as the river . . . can't beat it.

1. My secret place. It's where I used to skip rocks on the last day of summer vacation, and it's where my boys like to go do the same thing. If I could choose one spot for my memorial service after I die, that would be it. Dress casual. No ties, dresses or skirts allowed.

Almost made the list: Mound Hill Cemetery, Gallipolis, Ohio, where you can see for miles along the river; a hill near Tell City, Ind., where you can do the same thing; Harris Riverfront Park, Huntington; Ohio 124, where it gets down close to the river near Mustapha Island, Athens County, Ohio; the public boat ramp at Manchester, Ohio.

There are other places I want to see that I have not visited yet. One is in Pittsburgh, but it's not Point Park. I've been there. It was okay, but I would have to try it again before I would put it on a Top 10 list.