Reporting in from the road

[Mass Tim]

Well, we just got back from our trip! What a hectic day of driving...we also lost one of our travel mascots that's been with us since '99. His name is Martin and he is a bat from Mammoth Cave, KY. Right now we're quite sad. Maybe he'll show up yet...

We didn't get into Washington, DC at all. A combination of weather, traffic, and time management conspired against us. A rare defeat, that.

The trip was, overall, quite enjoyable. Our first day out, we headed along I-90 to I-88 and stopped for breakfast in Cooperstown, NY. Breakfast was subpar, but at least it was something. We picked from several different establishments and I guess we came up short. Oh well. Traffic on I-88 was almost non-existent.

From there we headed on to PA-267, 706, 409 and then US-6. A great meandering drive through the forest. We stopped at Colton Point State Park, the "Grand Canyon of PA" for lunch. The views were spectacular from the overlooks. There is a short trail running along the rim with some binocular stations. In the river below folks were swimming.

Our last stretch was on PA-59 to the campground. This road appears to have once been heavily traveled, but is now mostly fodder for locals bringing their boats to the Allegheny Reservoir.

Speaking of the reservoir (and the national forest of the same name), we were able to take a long hike in its environs. The air was thick, but once we made it to the shore and dipped our feet in the water, it was all worth it. We hiked for over 6 hours.

One day we headed for a ride to nowhere, and ended up taking PA-27 into Titusville to the Drake Well Museum, where, bonus!!, a car show was taking place. Everything from 1911 Fords to 1986 Firebirds were there. There was a DeSoto Airflow and a 68 Camaro driven by a man in a wheelchair. We walked the show, we walked the grounds, and we went in the museum and now know more than we ever thought we would about producing oil. PA-27 was smooth sailing. In fact, most of the roads we encountered (exceptions noted) were enjoyable drives, whether you like a sporting drive or a relaxed one.

Our day in Pittsburgh, as mentioned above, was overall enjoyable. We took US-62 much of the way. I counted 11 historical markers in as many miles. Pennsylvania has recently (2002) redone all of its historical markers in a nice blue paint, and they are highly visible.

Towards the end of the week, we drove the Longhouse Scenic Drive and stopped off at Jake's Rocks, which has great overlooks of the Kinzua Dam and surrounding areas. Thanks to my local maps, we were able to head up to the reservoir that is used for the Kinzua Dam peaking station (where all the water is stored at the top of the mountain). It's not hard to get to, but it is something to see. We headed to Kinzua Bridge, which, unfortunately, was partially destroyed by a tornado a couple of years ago.

At the campground, we met a couple from New York that appeared to be on their first outing together. We talked a little bit, but they seemed quite shy so the conversation fizzled out.

Since I'm still not digital with my photographs (odd for a computer science student, yes?), I'll have to wait until I get my film developed to post any pix. And yes, I'm going to be shopping for a camera soon, but I can't abandon my film SLR.

This was the first leg of the trip, which was more relaxed. I'll post about the second leg later.