Uniontown to Pittston, Pennsylvania

Day 46 Photo Album

October 18, 2009

My decision to stay in the Blue Mountain Motel was a good one. It was tiny but cozy and personal. I don’t really like hotels or motels. The bedspread was a pure white quilt, the sheets were flowered, and there were four pillows! The walls had framed work that seemed personal to the owner. There are only eight units and the owners’ house has a bell to ring for service. The screen doors are all battered and the place needs work, but somehow all this combines to make a psychologically satisfying stay.

I was off just after daylight, which is 7:30 a.m. in this geographic location. It was 38 degrees when I departed and still cloudy. Not many people out and about so it seemed as though I was wandering through ghost towns as I made my way up Route 119. I noticed that in Uniontown, a person named Palumbo was running for city council. As I was zig-zagging through detours and alternate route signs I didn’t stop to take many pictures. I believe this is a coal mining area and though there are some weary areas there was still a feeling of stable communities. All assumptions based on nothing but looks and feelings.

The route was filled with farm country, small towns, and gorgeous countryside. The leaves were perfect. I’ve been to many places along I-76 back in my days of abode in Philadelphia, so I wanted to take this western, northern route to I-80 for a change of scenery.

As I didn’t have any internet access last night I had to watch the weather channel and their dire predictions were of snow and rain all day all across Pennsylvania. My forecast was for a sunny day because I really needed it. About an hour into my drive the sun began to peek out of the clouds and I shouted in my sister’s ear to declare victory (via phone, of course). It took another hour or so for the damn clouds to clear out and become lovely poofs to look at against deep blue sky. Deep Blue Sky! That’s another thing I haven’t seen for 10 days!

Without realizing it, Punxsutawny was on my path. I felt a bit like a groundhog today, coming out of my cloud burrow to see my shadow. Though I must say, I have observed shadows under cars on the highway even under heavy clouds. One of the bizarre things my mind notices. I stopped for gas at one of the chains in Pennsylvania called Sheetz. Pennsylvania has some of the funnest names for things and places.

I was soon on the interstate and began to notice that they are the fastest drivers I’ve encountered so far. I stick to the speed limit, which was 65. Everybody was zooming around me; fine with me, go ahead. But when there is only one lane, like around Wilkes-Barre where I tried to find a motel, they are dangerous. Passing in no-passing zones, riding my bumper, nutty.

The landscape of mountains was full of color and after a while they widen and become longer. I could see mesas stretching out and jutting up instead of wearing down. Or all the smaller waves of hills from West Virginia melding together and forming a long chain. What if you combine the mesas of New Mexico with the lushness of the east?

Clearly it is time to be home and start creating my own landscapes. I’m 333 miles from home now, having landed in Pittston, Pennsylvania. I had hoped to stop at my friend’s house in Connecticut on the way, but she has other obligations tomorrow, so I’m on a straight line home.

At this point I have transitioned from not wanting to go home to looking forward to getting there. After that, a whole lot of thinking and creating will begin.