Before leaving Gettysburg, I thought I should give my aunt in Pittsburgh a call as a courtesy. The last time I was at her house was 30 years ago and the phone number I had was probably equally old but what the heck. The number rang which was a good sign. The next instant a familiar voice answered. Wow! I nearly fainted. As soon as she heard I was traveling through the state, she invited or rather insisted I visit her. I have other aunts but she has always been the family favorite, probably because she is so much like our parents were, full of life and fun. I also discovered one of her daughters still lives nearby so there was no way I was going to pass on an opportunity to see both my aunt and cousin.
The drive to Pittsburgh was not uneventful. The highway goes through several tunnels which I always enjoy. At one tunnel, there was a huge sign that went on and on in print too small to read at 55 miles an hour about what is not allowed to go through. I wasn’t sure if my propane tanks on the trailer were allowed (they were apparently). There was also a long line developing to go through. I am not real good at waiting in stop and stop traffic especially with 7200 pounds behind me pushing me. I decided to opt for the over mountain route instead. Just my luck, I got stuck behind some idiot trucker who seems to believe he owns all the roads. He took the entire mountain at 20 miles an hour despite a huge line of cars behind him and numerous opportunities to turnout to let us pass which he is legally required to do, assuming of course that he is not actually God or the true owner of all roads in America. Everyone was angry as hell that night I am sure. <chanting chanting cooling down> On the plus side, the route I took passed right by the spot where flight 93 crashed on 9/11 so I got something out of that route. When they said it crashed in a field I immediately thought open flat land but it is certainly not. It is a very hilly and beautiful area.