A little more than a week ago, I had the chance to do one of my favorite things.

It is a simple thing that not everyone would find thrilling. It is something that families used to do to pass some time together. And it is something I have been doing whenever I have had the chance ever since I was in high school.

I took a drive in the country.

On Feb. 22, I traveled to New Philadelphia, Ohio, to provide a little help to the Underground Railroad Museum of Flushing. The museum was participating in the 2020 T-County History Patriot Youth Rally at the New Towne Mall.

The event included historic reenactors, contests, displays, educational activities, a scavenger hunt and more. The museum set up a booth and a quiz about its display and featured representatives in period costume talking with visitors.

I helped staff the booth in the afternoon and got the chance to talk to a large number of people who were interested in history in general and in the museum and our local region. To get there, I took the most obvious route — Interstate 70 west to Cambridge and onto I-77 north to New Philadelphia. That drive was easy enough, but I found it rather dull and boring. The sun was shining brightly that afternoon, so after I explored the mall a bit and purchased a hat to go with a recently acquired jacket, I decided to find another way back home.

Being familiar with most of Eastern Ohio, I immediately realized that U.S. 250/Ohio 800 would bring me right back to Barnesville, and I certainly knew my way home from there. I had traveled that route a few times in the past, so I knew I would pass by Clendening and Piedmont lakes and through several small villages and unincorporated areas of Tuscarawas, Harrison and Belmont counties.

It was definitely the right decision for me that day. The sky was clear, the sun was bright and the temperature was warm enough for me to put my coat in the back seat and drive comfortably in my jeans and sweat shirt. I thoroughly enjoyed the scenery, which was relatively unfamiliar but similar to what I would see closer to home.

I drove past lovely farms with neatly manicured fields and creatively decorated homes and lawns. Since the territory around New Philadelphia is somewhat flatter than it is back here, I noticed that some of those fields were soggy or even flooded by the streams running through them.

Some properties sported big, bright-colored pieces of farm or construction equipment. A few were marked with clever signs.

Plenty of them, though, were in rather poor condition. Just as I have noticed in our local region, many old junk cars were parked in fields and on lawns. Some were consistent with the cliche, hoisted up on concrete blocks.

Many properties were littered with debris. The items simply discarded on those lawns included old tires, mattresses and box springs, broken bicycles and other toys, pots and pans, piles of stones and bricks and more.

Seeing those sights made me rather sad, despite the fact that I was enjoying the drive. I know how challenging it can be to keep up with property maintenance, but I also know how important it is for your property to be a safe place that gives passersby a good impression.

I wondered about the circumstances that led to so many properties being “junked up” along the otherwise scenic route.

Were the residents too elderly to perform the cleanup work themselves?

If the residents were younger and too busy at work to do the cleanup, were they unable to afford paying for help?

Were the residents hoarders who simply couldn’t bring themselves to actually dispose of those items?

I don’t know the answers to those questions, and I could hardly stop to ask. I hope, however, that as spring approaches some of those people become motivated to improve their properties. Or, perhaps county or township officials can find a way to assist them with the work that needs to be done.

Aside from worrying about those rather blighted sites, I did get a few glimpses of some of the scenic areas around the lakes. At one point, I peeked down into a hollow to my left and got a stunning view of an arm of Piedmont. The water glistened in the setting sun, and the hillsides around it sort of glowed, despite the lack of leaves on the trees.

It seemed that the closer I got to Barnesville, the nicer my surroundings became. Perhaps because I was more familiar with that area, I noticed fewer negatives, but I think properties in that area were neater, cleaner and better maintained than many that I had passed.

When I actually got into Barnesville, I was back in my element I did a little grocery shopping at Riesbeck’s and then headed on through Bethesda and back to Belmont.

My trip was not a particularly long excursion, but I felt like it did me a lot of good. I always like a change of scenery, and it had been months since I had spent any time in the sunshine. I look forward to more, similar travels as spring arrives.