That was fun…
May 4, 2006, 10:07 AM
I had fun while I went out on Tuesday. As I kind of implied in the last entry, I went to Breezewood, Pennsylvania, which as it turns out is feasible to run as a day trip.
Going up, I took I-81 to I-70 just south of Hagerstown, Maryland. Then I took I-70 straight into Breezewood. First thing I did was to drive up to the east end of the strip and reset my trip meter to get an idea of the length of it. Turns out that it’s a half-mile from the first motels to the last. Then, finishing that, I couldn’t find a place to turn around for several miles. No one told me that US 30 becomes a divided highway west of Breezewood. Getting back into the subject area, I first went to McDonald’s, which had been remodeled since I was last there in 2003, and had their Asian Salad for lunch. Then after lunch, Starbucks let me use their lot while I did the photo set. Then from there, I walked back up towards the Ramada, crossed, walked back down to the other end, crossed again, and then returned to Starbucks.
And I took over 400 photos in the process. We’ll see how this turns out as a photo set.
Since I was working along a very busy highway, much of it with an Interstate designation (I-70 follows US 30 through Breezewood), where there were no sidewalks, and for that matter no facilities at all for pedestrians, I used my FliteStar vest to make sure people could see me. It worked out. In fact, I think I accidentally fooled a Turnpike employee into thinking I worked for the PTC. A turnpike worker in his car waved hello to me. I waved back.
Finishing at Breezewood, I hit the turnpike. Why the turnpike? First of all, yes, going back the way I came would have been more direct. But I wanted to go through the tunnels and revisit some places. I’d not been through the Tuscarora, Blue, and Kittatinny Mountain tunnels since our vacation in 1988, when we drove from Arkansas to New Jersey. I also got to see the part that got realigned in the 60s, bypassing the Rays Hill and Sideling Hill tunnels. That new alignment is pretty high up.
Then I’d not been through Carlisle (where I got off the turnpike) since 2001. Carlisle, as I mentioned before, is similar to Breezewood in being a non-connection. But there, neither freeway follows US 11 between the two roads.
Then I took I-81 straight down to Virginia again. Nice drive, indeed.
All in all, it was a fun trip.
Web site: Breezewood, Pennsylvania on Wikipedia
Song: Theme to Hi, Honey, I'm Home, a show that ran in the early 1990s.
Quote: And I had no idea until today that they made a sign that, in pictures, said "no pedestrian crossing". It's a no sign with the little walking person in it. I, however, crossed anyway, since otherwise I couldn't get back to my car.
Categories: Photography, Places