We made it to Pittsburgh!

After two and a half days of riding, and more than a few funny stories, we've made it to Pittsburgh.  It's always interesting to ride into a city from the outskirts, watching it slowly change from suburbia to almost-forgotten to Dairy queens, food stores, strip malls, and finally to the actual city.  I think of that outer ring as 'anywhere America', since it seems to be the same just about anywhere. 

So back to the Journey...

We left on Sunday after the UU music Sunday.  That was really fun!  We soon realized that we had left Jason's sunglasses behind... oops!  He did buy some excellent clip-on glasses though.  Now it's like he has sunglasses on demand!

That first first night we met up with my stat friends in Prince Gallitzin State Park.  We went swimming, ate spicy rice, and made s'mores.  We even got some free camp wood.  Also, we were essentially the only campers there, so we didn't have to be quiet, which was nice.  Look at those friendly statistics faces!

Yesterday we rode some rail trails across the middle of the state, thinking that they would be a nice traffic-free alternative to the steep hills we had been seeing.  We even camped alongside one of them (which is technically not qallowed, but a huge storm rolled in).  This morning though... that 'flat rail trail' pulled a bait and swtich.  The old train went through a tunnel... but they had closed off the tunnel!  The only way around was OVER.  We essentailly had to portage the bicycles and gear in three trips over a steep staircase.  Grrr... That was the last of the rail trails for us.  We stuck to the roads from then on.  I reccommend rail trails for family weekend adventurers, not touring cyclists.  It's a great get-away, but a bit monotonous and slow. 

So today it rained rained, and now we are in Pittsburgh at the library.  They have very fancy screens, and Jason is kind enough to wait for me outside.  I best hurry up and relieve him of his bike-guarding duty!  We are very excited to meet up with a few friends here, shower and get supplies for the train ride.  Three days in the train, just watching the country roll by... after the steep hills of Pennsylvania our legs deserve a good rest too.  Thanks for reading!  We may get a chance to update in Chicago, otherwise it won't be until we reach California.  We're going west...!