Day 10 - October 2, 1998

Pennsylvania, and into New York

We were met today by another bright sunny sky!  The day turned out to be cool with a mixture of sun and clouds and overall quite pleasant.  We were counting our lucky stars that we didn't have John's car, with the substantially leaky windshield, on our previous foray, with the substantial amount of rain!

We decided to choose a route that avoided New Jersey (see Credits) by as wide a distance as possible, and so headed out through the western part of Pennsylvania, with its hilly terrain, coal mining operations, and farm after farm.  We then traveled US Rt 6 (which, by the way, passes within a half mile of where we grew up in Plymouth, CT) across much of the northern part of PA before heading further north into New York state, where we stayed in Binghamton.

We can't believe this trip is almost over - we can almost see Boston from the top of the Binghamton Space Needle (not).   If all goes well, we'll be home tomorrow night.  Check tomorrow's report and look for a wrap-up probably on Sunday.  It's been a good drive!

This is where we went today

Anywhere, Western PA
An all new concept for us MA folk - Pennsylvania has lots of these drive-through beer stores where you really do drive in one end of the building, fill up, and drive out the other.  Gas, groceries, not even McDonald's matches this!  Trouble is, 'bout all you can get is suitcase beer!

Rural, PA
While much different than the farms of the Midwest, western PA has its share of farms, nestled between large stands of trees (not an issue in Kansas). 

US Rt 6, PA
Fall foliage was just starting to turn in this area of PA.  For those not familiar with the explosion of color in the northeast each fall, it's truly a sight to see. The further we get north, the more color we see - 'leaf-peeping' for most of New England begins next week.

Susquehanna River, Eastern PA
For those of you who don't remember the importance of this famous river from 6th grade history, neither do we.  We followed it along for a while then climbed above it and to the east but managed to get a couple of good shots of it.  Superb views!  

Susquehanna River, Eastern PA
- thought we had a little problem here, but it was an old Ford Taurus, just leaking past.  John was reminded of his heavy-equipment construction days when, after changing oil at a construction site, you'd dump the waste oil under someone else's machine (pre-environmental days) to see the look on their face the next morning.

Wyalusing Brook, Off The Susquehanna River, Eastern PA
There hasn't been a bad day fishing yet!  Another huge rainbow - probably 15 lb - was hauled out and released in eastern PA, the last chance at good fishing before we headed home.

Beer(s) of the Day

Culture Feature

Believe it or else, fans, we actually visited a museum  today.  OK, it was the Pennsylvania Lumber Museum.  (If you think this is lame, a few days ago we ALMOST visited a dental museum - but we couldn't find it!)  The museum's collection of (wooden!) buildings was set up to resemble a 19th century lumber mill operation. This roadside stop, more importantly, had a men's room, which we used.  Check out this picture of the collection of lumber mill buildings:

And then the kitchen for the mill:

And finally the steam power plant. :

Alfa Spotting!

We've been keeping track of all the Alfas that we've encountered on the trip (starting from when we left Alfa Parts Exchange back in Hayward, CA), and will be posting the current total, with model names and years, every day!  Here's the current tally:

Back to the Great Alfa Romeo Foray title page