This is a route some friends took for a drive. I used to drive this route on
the way to see my family in Wapakoneta. It is all back roads.
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Follow the Big Darby Drive:

Start at The Dutch Kitchen restaurant. It's south of Plain City on RT. 42,
west side of highway. After lunch drive through Plain City on RT.42 . You
will see the large Past Time Park on your left, it looks like a fair ground.
This is another good meeting place.

After the park you will drive over the Darby,  turn left on RT. 736 and stop
at the little road side rest. A map of the area is displayed and you will be
able to chart a route. Unfortunately, RT.736 is mysteriously missing on the
county map. Fill your water bottle with Darby water from a shallow well.
Yum!

Route 736 is the back way to Marysville but you don't want to go there
today.

Turn left on Robinson Road. This is our road for a while.

Turn left onto Burns Road. At the end of Burns Road is the grave of the
original covered bridge.

Burns Road runs into RT.38, turn right onto 38 and then left onto Orchard
Road across from the school.

To the west of the Orchard Road intersection is a pretty steel bridge but
not the only one you will see crossing the Darby. Drive over it and stop on
the other side. Make a U and drive back to continue on the west side of the
Darby, Orchard Road.

Orchard Road ends at RT. 38/4. Make a left and a quick right onto North
Darby Road.

North Darby Road ends at RT.245. Turn left on 245 and take the second left,
West Darby Road.

West Darby Road ends (for us) so turn left to a very cool covered bridge.
You may notice the old fourd to the right of the bridge, stop there and
check it out.

Continue over the covered bridge and turn left, south, onto Inskeep-Cratty
Road, AKA, Millford Center-Plain City Road, follow it South to Rt. 161 west
of Plain City. This is faster than the route on the East side of the Darby
but hugs it quite well. There is a second covered bridge just after turning
south.

Or you can turn North on Inskeep-Cratty Road. You are now lost in the South
Bellefontaine Hills. If you stay on the road you will pass the Ski Resort,
cross RT.33 and end up in Zanesfield (not the big Zanesfield). Bellefontaine
is west.

There are a dozen small graveyards on the drive. Most are open and have very
old head stones. Old cemeteries were used as parks and can be a nice place
to stop.

Note all the development on the east side of the Darby. The Darby watershed
is threatened by lawn chemicals and silt. The Wooden Bridge is a good
example. Look north and you'll see how the farmer or county took out the
trees along the border of the stream. Bank erosion is the result. The bank
is undercut and widened where the trees and brush are cleared but up stream
the bank narrows at the start of trees. The Darby is a treasure. My only
hope is that people wise up and the ones that don't are stopped before it
too late.

Enjoy the drive,

Tom Graham