Moving north from Cedarville to London, our route was a paved path paralleling an existing train line moving towards Columbus. To the side, old decaying electic poles stand as relics to a bygone era. The old depot in South Charleston still exists and right next to it sits an early 19th century log cabin. The scale of dwellings seem oddly proportioned compared to today's standards. The second floor on houses built in the early 1800's seem to be only one and a half stories high. (At tight fit for anyone over 6' tall.)

We followed the route Lincoln's train took through West Jefferson and on to Columbus. The approach, like many midsize cities today can be a bit busy as the landscape transitions from rural to suburban to urban. Once inside Columbus, the city was very friendly to cyclists with paved paths run all along the Olentangy River. We visited the Ohio Statehouse in downtown Columbus where Lincoln stopped on his way to Washington. Lincoln visited Ohio 3 times and it was in Columbus where he layed out anti slavery plans. Today, a marker exists inside the building atrium at the exact location where Lincoln stood when he spoke. Ohio was key in getting Lincoln elected and on his inaugural train ride, he stopped in Columbus for the last time and addressed a joint session of the Ohio legislature. It seemed a bit bittersweet knowing that Lincoln would be inaugurated a month later in March and in April the reaction to his election would be succession and dissolution of the Union with southern states. The idea of united 'states' was not a forgone conclusion and his tenure in office would be tested amid extreme hostilities inside and outside the White House.