Driving from Ohio to Switzerland

 Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana

Just gotta hold still for the shot...

Taking the Rising Star Casino Ferry

Today we took a road trip to pick up 2 new counties and have an adventure.  I was lamenting leaving two island counties (circled below) empty.  They are a bit out of the way.  They aren't on a US Interstate and not on the way to anything in particular.  All of the routes Google said to take took me the long way around the Ohio River so I dug into Google Maps and started scanning along the river for a bridge or ferry crossing.  I found a Ferry Crossing!  It isn't shown on Google Maps, I think, because it's private.  I did some research and The Rising Star Casino Ferry is free for this year.  The website didn't say you have to go to the casino to use it so I felt good using it.  If it had stipulated we go to the casino we would have and put a dollar in the penny slots to pay our fee.  The ferry connects Boone County Kentucky to Ohio County Indiana.  Switzerland County Indiana is a 10 minute drive south-ish along the Ohio River.

Ohio and Switzerland Counties, IN

Google shows the ferry "dock" but doesn't show or acknowledge a crossing.

Donna sees the ferry coming!

There it is.

After the other cars drove off we drove on.  We got on facing the opposite direction so the ferry goes back and forth without turning around.  At least all of the ferry didn't turn around but part of it did!  Notice the tower with the driver on the left side.

When the ferry leaves "dock" (which is just a road that drives into the river) the pilot part of the ship pivots over to orientate to the direction of the ferry.  It's something I have never seen before.  At this point we aren't really moving forward much.

Here it is after the pivot driving us to the other side of the river.

We love a good ferry ride and even more so when it gets us a new county!

Looking backwards towards Kentucky.

Rising Star Riverboat Casino

We decided to stop by the casino.  We drove by and I was just going to take photos but we decided to go in and experience the whole riverboat casino.

All of the non gambling stuff is in the building in front of the riverboat except for the sportsbook.  I guess they can have that "on land"

The narrow hallway is where the pier ends and the riverboat begins.

You have to be 21 to cross onto the boat so they can have cigarette machines on the boat.  There is a guard stopping minors from going on.

The riverboat was 4 floors.  It looked quite a bit like the riverboat in Ozark

The outside are of the top floor was very rundown.  We went out but it felt like we weren't supposed to be out there.

A disused outside bar

An outside view that shows the walkway from land onto the boat.  It is pretty seamless, by design, from the inside.

I found Tiki Elements in the outside bar.  There are also bamboo shelves on the back wall there and 2 bamboo frames that don't really frame anything now.

Ohio County!

Every good casino needs a wall of celebrities including...

Wayne Newton!

Tom Jones!

Engelbart Humperdinck!

And Wayne Brady!

After our casino stop we continued on to Switzerland USA!  It was a short nice drive along The Ohio River.

We didn't stop to take a photo but Google Maps shows the nice Switzerland USA sign.

After enjoying being in Switzerland we turned around and backtracked, mostly, to Newport KY to go to Kroger.  It was a really great drive that started out of frustration of either missing out on 2 counties or doing a less great drive.

That's it for today.  If you missed A Picnic in the Park check it out.  We had a picnic in the park.