Brigadoon, Pennsylvania

Today I was able to earn my way back into Mr. Trucker's good graces. You may remember me posting early last month about Emlenton, PA. That is the storybook looking village on the banks of the Alleghany River that you can see from way up high on the Emlenton I-80  bridge. I missed getting any decent pictures of it last month because I had nearly worn out the batteries in my camera in the miles leading up to it, and Mr. Trucker was gravely disappointed in me.

Today Mr. Trucker determined that we were going to get some good shots of Emlenton if it killed us. First, we had to wake up at the world's most disgusting truckstop in Lake Station, IN, and drive out of Indiana, where I saw my first snow of the season

Snow in Indiana

Then we had to drive across Ohio

the Meander Reservoir in Ohio

and into Pennsylvania. We were racing against time, because we knew that with the previous weekend's time switch away from Daylight Savings Time, we were barely going to make it to Emlenton before we lost our light. Mr. Trucker's plan was to get off at the exit just before the bridge, then drive down THROUGH the town and back up the other side, because the best view is on the north side of the bridge and we were traveling east, which meant it would all be on HIS side of the truck. 

Here's our exit

When I say that Emlenton is way down in a valley, I am not exaggerating.

the descent into Emlenton

It was quite a steep descent, complicated by a little bit of road construction

Great! Put a stop sign in the MIDDLE of a steep downhill grade.

This is the bridge we still have to go up and over!

The town is absolutely adorable! I think I may have to move there, they have all the necessary services

Emlenton, PA

It's your typical Pennsylvania town, with the houses all crammed together right on the street. 

Main drag in Emlenton, PA

 I saw at least TWO Antique stores and various other quaint looking businesses

Emlenton, PA business district

After cruising the main drag (can you call it cruising in an 18 wheeler?), we got back on I-80 heading west this time and I managed to get off these shots

Emlenton, PA seen from the Emlenton I-80 bridge

Mr. Trucker says it looks its best this time of year with no leaves on the trees to obscure the view from the bridge. He also says it is pretty in winter with snow. Since we had been holding it for hours so as to make it to Emlenton before we lost the light, we made a pit stop to use the facilities

Emlenton Truck Plaza

Home of America's Worst Best Pies!

I happen to know that the Lemon Meringue is good!

So, hope you enjoyed our little excursion! We're pressing on now to make it to the Flying J in Mill Hall, PA for the night so that we'll be within shouting distance of our delivery tomorrow in Fogelsville (yesterday I mistakenly called it Fogelville). 

Today's Silly Sounding Place Name:  Maumee, OH.

Shower Humor in Ohio

We spent the night near Youngstown, OH last night at a Pilot truckstop, where we showered this morning. Remember me telling you how sometimes they put a wrapped candy or mint on your towel?

I never take these candies.
I'm suspicious of them.

There were three hooks in the shower for hanging things. You know it's a good shower when all three hooks are there and intact, plus there was one on the back of the door. Here are two of the hooks:

Hook #1

Hook #2

Curly's name sticker was missing. Maybe I should have informed the attendant.

After showers and homemade oatmeal, we proceeded to Cranberry Twp, PA to drop our  load.

Made me think of the song "Raspberry Beret" by Prince

When we arrived at the shipper, we both had to use the restroom. THIS, dear readers, is (unfortunately) a typical trucker's restroom at a shipping/receiving facility:

Corner of the bathroom

Door handle

Trust me. There ain't no paper towels in there
or anywhere else in the room, for that matter!

I am not exaggerating when I say this bathroom hasn't been cleaned since the Nixon administration. They might as well just have a pit in the ground outdoors with a big sign that says: "Truckers, IF you feel that you  must  relieve yourself during the three or so hours that we detain you here without giving you a reason, then use this hole. We would PREFER that you just hold it or pee in a bottle in your truck, because we're all so afraid that we'll catch truck driveritis...we'd rather not see you or hear from you. Just stay in your truck, why don't you?"

I had to go for an hour long walk just to clear the sight of the bathroom from my head. I discovered a beautiful subdivision, marred only by the fact that most of the homes contained Pittsburgh Steelers fans. 

Cranberry, PA

Doesn't Martha Stewart live around here?

One of the things I do to lift my spirits out here on the road is to wear bright colored socks. I have several pairs of these in different colors and it tickles me to wear them.

I'm wearing a green shirt with these, so I'm
giving off Packer Green n Gold vibes...

Today's silly sounding place name: Cranberry, PA

Prettiness in Pennsylvania

I am in love with Pennsylvania! We got here in the dark last night, so I wasn’t aware of what our surrounding scenery looked like until we emerged from the truck this morning to see this:

Lamar, PA

Mist over the mountain in PA

We headed out in a light rain which made the mist rising out of the mountains that much more beautiful. After about an hour and a half of taking pictures out the passenger window, I asked Mr. Trucker how many pictures of fall color and misty mountains was enough. It’s hard to know when to stop because I always think the next shot is going to be the best one, the one that’s going to make the cover of National Geographic. Today’s digital cameras also make it so nice because you can just shoot away indiscriminately and take names later  delete later.

So beautiful!

I think we can safely say that the fall colors
are at their peak!

Before I went out with Mr. Trucker, I never gave the trucking industry much thought. I mean, you want something, you go to the store and you buy it, and if they’re out of it, you get ticked off. I never stopped to think about how it got there in the first place. But really, trucks bring it, like the bumper sticker says. And as the years of my life have gone by, I’ve noticed the availability of more and more stuff and a much wider variety of choices. I mean back in the day when I was growing up, if my Mom wanted to make a salad for dinner, she bought iceberg lettuce (cuz that’s all you could get) and a couple waxy tomatoes. Nowadays, you can choose from about 17 different varieties of lettuces and field greens and you can have regular tomatoes, organic tomatoes, roma tomatoes, grape tomatoes or cherry tomatoes...So with all this increasing plethora of choices on the store shelves, it stands to reason that there are an increased number of trucks on the roads. You notice it particularly late at night, when most occupants of cars are home in bed or in front of their TV’s. It’s as though trucks own the roads. And if you stop to think about it, those truck drivers all have to stop and sleep somewhere. A lot of times you see them just pulled off on ramps leading into and out of rest areas, and of course there are the truck stops. I don’t think I ever noticed that truck stops existed before I started frequenting them with Mr. Trucker. But truck stops have a whole counterculture all their own...you’ll be hearing more about that as time goes on.

Mr. Trucker is mad at me right now because I took so many pictures of misty mountains earlier this morning that the camera batteries died right in the middle of the bridge over Emlenton, PA, which is where he wanted me to take several shots. Mr. Trucker has been waxing rhapsodic about Emlenton every since he started trucking. It's this little village tucked away on the banks of the Alleghany river, and can be seen from way up high on the I-80 Emlenton bridge if you're heading west on I-80. It really looks very quaint and has almost assumed legendary status in his eyes. This is the one shot I DID get, and it shows the village, but not the river. Drat! Oh well, I’m sure we’ll pass that way again, but the way Mr. Trucker’s going on, you would think it’s like Brigadoon, only there once every hundred years...

Brigadoon, PA
Emlenton, PA

Gotta go now, dear readers. We're stopping for a shower and I need to start planning what I’m gonna wear to our impromptu get-together with Warren Buffet when we get to Omaha!  How do you prepare for lunch with a billionaire? I'll leave you with one last breathtaking, picturesque (or as Mr. Trucker likes to pronounce it: Pictureskwee) photo of Pennsylvania.

Ooh, aah

Today’s silly sounding place name: Punxsatawney, PA.