Saturday September 25, 1993

Stamford, CT to Hopwood, PA

A perfect day for a drive with the hint of rain much later on met us as we finally had the truck packed and the house locked up. 9:15 AM and we hit the road, hoping to miss a little Saturday morning rush hour traffic.

We did miss the traffic and made some great time through the Cross Bronx Expressway (and you know what that can be like) and across the George Washington Bridge. We followed I80 to I287 South then to I78 which we would take far into Pennsylvania. The last time I came this way the interstate was still not completed through Easton, PA and you had to get off, drive downtown and across the Delaware River, then navigate your way back onto the interstate. Good to say that it's been done. Done well as a matter of fact, so well that the lady who took our dollar for the bridge toll there said "Thank You". A nice way to start, don't you think?

Passing Allentown we saw our first and only steel mill, belching white steam into the mid morning sky. But was what really an 'eye opener' was Dorney Park. I remember that place as being a smallish amusement park. I wasn't prepared for the sight that unfolded along the north side of the road. Acres of parking lots, a water park and several roller coasters. Nice job folks.

We toyed with stopping in at the Stroh's Brewery nearby and at Roadside America, our nation's largest Putz, in Shartelsville, PA. (for those of you from out of the area a 'putz' (pronounced 'puts') is the local name for the little miniature villages you all place around your Christmas Trees. At Roadside America they have gone the extra yard, or mile, by building one large enough to require it's own building!) If you've got the time it's only a few bucks and probably worth the experience as so much American 'kitsch' is.

We passed our second State Police cruiser in Pennsylvania about 4 hours into the trip. This was also the second cruiser that had no one in, or near it. As least as far as we could tell. Traffic did certainly slow down though, and if that was the intention it certainly worked.

There was something else we noticed about Pennsylvania and I78 and I81. It's the roadside billboards, literally taken to new heights. These signs are everywhere, and are large enough to be seen from the moon. Really. They are an ugly scar on an otherwise pastoral landscape and, well, I was going to say that something should be done about it, but free enterprise and all that...

Crossing the Susquehanna River near Harrisburg was a delight. It is beautiful. Wide and shallow, and in a nice wide valley. Isn't that where Three Mile Island is? Didn't see it from the interstate but we did look!

We finally saw our exit for the Pennsylvania Turnpike, but to get to it you've got to get off I81 and go through Carlisle's main drag, passing the regular fast food restaurants and budget motel chains along the way. There's obvious work on a fix for all this, but I can't see where the local economy will be happy with it.

As soon as we got our ticket (from a machine) and entered the Turnpike we were greeted with the following series of small brown signs;

The only thing missing was 'Burma Shave'. Chris and I laughed pretty hard over this as the speedometer crept above the fated 'mile-a-minute' line. We did slow down though and set the cruise control at about 60. We felt this should be safe enough for our out-of-state plates.

We finally did see a real Pennsylvania State Trooper. He was driving a late model, black Ford Mustang, and writing a ticket as we sped by at 55 mph. No chances anymore. The reputation for handing out speeding tickets in Pennsylvania, whether real or perceived got on us a bit.

A little while later we sped through the first of three mile long tunnels on the Turnpike. The first two were pretty dramatic for as you come out of one, you almost immediately enter another. Very cool. There were three in all before we began to head down towards our first exit, Donegal. The scenery along this stretch of highway was either very boring or very, very nice. Most if it very nice. When we got off the Turnpike, the lady who took our money, handed us a card that gave directions to two dozen local attractions (very nice touch) and gave us pretty good directions to where we wanted to go.

For Sunday we were going to Falling Water, the Frank Lloyd Wright house that was nearby, and thought we would stay in Donegal. But all the hotels were right on the interstate and we had wanted something a little quieter. So we drove off down PA 381 towards Falling Water and US 40 at the bottom, where we turned west toward Uniontown. We figured that a town that size on the map would have something for us. But we were wrong. It had been raining pretty hard by this time and Uniontown did not look an inviting place to be lost in on an afternoon like this. So we headed back to the small town of Hopwood (pop. 2021) and stayed at a little place called the Blue Mountain Motel.

We paid US$ 38.00 for a tiny room. And I mean tiny! But it was clean and neat and a bed after all. Once we got settled in it was time for food. We had seen a place up the road a piece across from the Howard Johnson's called the Sun Porch Restaurant and decided to give it a try.

Meals at the Sun Porch can be ordered off a menu, but they are more commonly taken from a buffet that is laid out as you enter the door. I can't begin to tell you how much we ate. Let's just say that for dessert Chris had two slices of pie with fresh ice cream. I couldn't budge. The buffet ran US$ 9.95 for each of us and the table service was excellent, the people friendly and the food very good.

Waddling back to the truck and the Blue Mountain Motel we prepared for an early start the next morning, but the Motel had turned on the heat (works for the whole building so there's no way to turn it off). We sat around with the windows and door open until the room became cool enough to sleep in, and even at that I slept fitfully.

Mileage today - 396