To Punxsutawney!

Leg 2: St. Clairesville to Punxsutawney
So with the laundry done, sundries purchased and coffee drunk, I pointed Irene east and headed to Punxsutawny only two hours and forty-four minutes away.

I got about five minutes out and remembered that I needed to check fluids. Actually, Irene remineded me that I needed to check fluids. So two exits and still in Ohio, I pulled off to a service station, a full service station. I felt kind of silly having a guy trying to pump gas into the truck while I am adding coolant, but it was what it was. With Irene now back to normal, all the other stuff above and only mildly more agitated I crossed a bridge and passed through a tunnel to get into West Virginia. Villages were built into every crevice and along most of the ridges that went away from the road. I tried to get a few pictures of these, but not a lot of success. In the process though, I did get a picture of a secondary major road that was four lanes and ran parallel to the highway that I was on, only about thirty feet above it. The thing that is circled is a semi on this road.

Figuring I still had plenty of time to get to Punxsy (movie wasn't going to start until 2300), I pulled off at the visitor center for a quick change into clean clothes and a look around. They had a nifty display that explained a few of the more important aspects of the region: The National Road, Railroaders, Coal/Oil and how they had shaped the economy and roadways.

  They also had a sweet stuffed bear on display.

The lady manning the counter didn't yell at me so I took a few pics in and around the place. I also had a peculiar sense of anachronism as the vending machines were being tended by what appeared to be an amish woman in her late twenties. Wasn't really much to see, but I killed about an hour here anyway before heading further into West Virginia. I am kind of glad I did, because otherwise I would have spent a total of about fifteen minutes in West Virginia.
I slipped into Pennsylvania without really noticing much of a difference. Same crazy roads, same music, same oh wait. . . that's Pittsburgh, and it is 1630. . . and I just hosed my chances of getting to Punxsy before dark. I missed my exit and ended up having to go through downtown Pittsburgh right past PNC Park.

I would really like to come back there and do some urban/nature contrasts as I am pretty sure that mother nature is making some headway on taking some of the buildings back. The traffic was pretty well stacked from the time I entered into the city and everytime they would say that there was a new snarl or slowdown it seemed like that was the next exit. I am about ninety percent sure I was not the cause of most of these, but will not swear to it. I know that at least one of them had absolutely nothing to do with me. The police and ambulances were already on scene when we got there, and everything went down to one lane.
The funniest traffic bit that caught me were these signs everywhere pointing to the road that I was on as an alternate route for a bridge that was being fixed. After about two miles from the original signage the was one orange diamond sign that simply read "End 51st Street Bridge Detour". We were not at 51st Street that I could tell, nor were there any directions on how to get back to where you were supposed to be. I assume that somebody just got tired of rerouting traffic and decided to let folks fend for themselves. Or, maybe, they only had one 51st Street Bridge Detour sign left so they painted end at the top of it so no body could say they weren't warned. Fortunately for me, I wasn't on the detour, just stuck in the resulting deadlock. It was getting dusky as I finally came out of Pittsburgh and I still had better than an hour to go. The roads ahead on the gps all were either state highways or had names like Main, or Taite.
I got to Dayton just as full dark was settling in and passed through what I thought was the city police department and followed the directions on the gps to get onto State heading past the fairgrounds my gps says prepare to. . . and then it died. I looked at the phone crossly, but I had zero reception of any kind. The only symbol on the phone was a phone with a circle and a line through it. Nada, Zilch, Bupkus. Certain I had missed the turn off and not expecting to get any sort of reception if I kept heading out of town, I turned around in a vacant church parking lot and headed back to Dayton. I was still getting nothing on the phone so I figured I would have to do this the old fashioned way.

I parked on the street in front of Mitzi's Place and went inside to see if they had any maps or could help. They did not. The grub smelled decent though, so I asked if they accepted credit/debit. They did not. So I went to the service station/bait shop at the next corner and asked if he had a map. He did not. I asked how to get to Punxsutawney. He responded with, "You're going to Punxsy, are you? You don't need a map to get to Punxsy. Just take this street here past the fairgrounds, then take the first blacktop to the left after it. When you get to (I honestly have no idea what town or street he said at this point, I am just certain I am about to get eaten by one of those cute bears from the visitor center) take another left. You're just about twenty minutes out." Assuming these are about as good a set of directions I am going to get, I walk across the street to the bank which sits next to the police station to take out some cash for dinner.
As I walk up to the ATM outside, the cops that are standing around outside give me the once over. I think "Great, just what I need a bunch of bored local cops in rural Pennsylvania with nothing to do and who know everyone who should be in their town after dark on a Wednesday night." Yes, it was a run on in my head. I make no apologies for this. As I continue my transaction, they just turn around and walk away. Grateful for the good luck, I take my cash and head back to Mitzi's Place for pierogies and a stromboli. While I am waiting for dinner to arrive, a few locals come in and are told by the proprietor that the bank had been robbed by two guys on ATVs this afternoon and that there were now four staties hanging out in bank parking lot looking for evidence. Grub was good, I wasn't in jail for armed robbery, so I decided it was time to part with Dayton while I was ahead.
I went back to the road where the GPS died and started to take the next left, it wasn't a blacktop. The next one was, so I took it hoping that there was some sort of sign that would tell me when I needed to turn again. I kept checking my phone for signal. About five seconds after I start looking for a place to turn around, I get signal, pull directions and am told to prepare to turn left. ROCK! I meet my final obstacle of the night. I am pretty sure I angered at least one, probably five or six Amish folks driving home. I don't see well, I see bad, real bad. These were two lane, poorly marked roads with signs that said no passing and hills. I could see nothing in front of the buggy. The horses could not barely make it up the hills. I had to goose the clutch to keep Irene from stalling out. The first buggy was only one hill and we came to a passing zone, so I did. The second one was about a quarter mile, and they waved me around. The third one I was stuck behind for what seemed like fifteen minutes, there was a semi behind me and I could see lights under the semi, so at least another car or two behind it. They kept turning around and looking at me, I have no idea if I should pass them or not but now am committed behind the buggy and waiting for a passing zone. I finally get a passing zone and I see lights coming at me. There is a side street so the buggy gets off and ends the impasse. The remaining miles pass uneventfully and I get to Punxsutawney just after 2030.