Cruising The Ohio River \r
In the late 1930's, we lived within sight of the Ohio river on second street in Cincinnati, Ohio. This is approximately where the Cincinnati Reds baseball stadium stands now. There were railroad tracks that ran just 25 feet behind our house, Freight trains rumbled by on a regular basis. These were the big powerful steam engines that chugged and belched steam as a column of smoke arose from it's stack. Also directly behind our house was the storage yard for huge empty steel boilers lined up in rows, some of which were touching each other, some a yard or so apart. These were huge things measuring about 20 feet long and 8 feet high. These became my playground as I loved to jump from one to another like an obstacle course. It's a wonder I didn't break my neck. During the long hot summers we sought relief from the heat in many ways. I remember some nights when we would lay down homemade quilts on the fire escape outside our second floor window in hopes of catching
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