The road goes up, and down, and all around
With a longer wheelbase, we try to avoid inner-city driving. Nevertheless, we set out this morning to get to the city limits of Pittsburgh, which has a population of about over two million, once you factor in the suburbs. Given that this is rugged ground, no way of telling where you are by simply looking out the window. As we approached the area, leaving Ohio and entering West Virginia, we were surprised; our target was Pennsylvania, and we didn’t realize that the state lines were convoluted.
No matter. We managed to find the local botanical gardens. Actually, the site is technically an arboretum, but why quibble. We had a pleasant hike through the woods, with the best trees all tagged. I finally hugged a Sassafras (long story, going back to my first real computer).
As I said, this whole area is “up and down”, and at one point I was sure we would meet ourselves going around a bend. The history deals with coal mining, and from what I have seen (elsewhere), the seam is rarely in a straight line. Men want to dig, so they find a way around. Anyhow, mining in PA is on the decline, but there are traces of fracking to make up for the hole in the economy.
Our supper meal, in Canonsburg, involved BBQ; I want to know more about this wonderful flavor. The staff in the restaurant was affable and more than mildly curious about our Canadian take on things. I ate too much. And now we’re camped, in a KOA that was back a half-hour along today’s route. The place is full, and the people next door are watching the hockey game on a screen that seems to be mounted on the exterior wall of their RV. In the field across the lane – fireflies!
