I was over a mile from the I-71 bridge over the river but it dominated the background noise all night. Unlike a normal highway, the traffic basically never stops no matter how late or early. So it took a bit more time to go to sleep but I slept great. The noise was mostly a constant drone, kinda like white noise. After I got going I saw a trail that led up the hill and a sign for Fort Ancient, and no rules about what days it's closed, so I muscled myself and the bike up several flights of stairs. I had a nice overlook of the river valley more than 200 feet below, and the tall interstate bridge off in the distance. I rode around the grounds on the access road and marvelled at the earthworks. Built in stages more than 2000 years ago, the ancient peoples leveled out the hill to a flat terrace with a mound encircling the clearing. Four mounds near the entrance are aligned with the seasons. I left via the main entrance and descended the hill on the road, back to the trail. I continued on riding alongside the little Miami river and passed through several tiny towns along the way. I resupplied at a Family Dollar in Morrow. There were lots of people out enjoying the nice day, but it never felt crowded. Sadly my path ran out and I needed to get across a bridge and a highway to get over to the trails to Cincinnati. I was prepared for this, but the onramp I needed to use was closed. So I had to go under and all the way around, then make a U turn to get back going in the right direction, then had to wait for a gap in traffic to take a left on the trail access road. I managed to get through with minimal stress. Once on the other side I met a couple of nice locals, Leigh and Kelsey, and chatted with them about my trip and they gave me advice about what to expect up ahead of me in downtown. It was great to meet you both! I after a little break by the Ohio river, I set off and my first crossing attempt was thwarted by a closed bridge, so I chose the next one. It took some wandering to find the entrance without having to climb stairs. I jumped onto the side path and enjoyed a stress free crossing. In Newport I struggled to figure out where I was at first and got turned around a couple of times but eventually got on track. I went through town just as school was letting out and there were cars absolutely everywhere. I rode through a series of quite dense neighborhoods, and every intersection was a four way stop and every street was narrow and I always had someone behind me, so progress was slow and nerve-wracking. After a while I upgraded to a narrow highway, but the traffic wasn't too bad. At last I found myself on some narrow back roads with no traffic. As I expected they were very curvy and extremely steep. Quite fun and a welcome diversion from boring flat riding. And the hills helped block the southwest wind. At length I arrived at something called Morning View Heritage Natural Area. Most of it is wooded and steep but I found a nice little flat area not too far off the road in an overgrown pasture.