On the Road Again

The 4th Great Western Migration - January 8, 2023

Dedicated to Jack, January 2010 - August, 2022

Gather round for I have tales to tell of strange new places.

BUT FIRST! We had a pretty ordinary departure — we were out the door 100% on time, otherwise known as 9:30 a.m. It’s daunting to see that you have to cover 515 miles before you can put your feet up, but I try not to think about that too much. You also have to drive for a few hundred miles before you get your road legs.

I had a low point about three nights before departure thinking about leaving and realizing that this would be our first westward journey without Jack. Made me sad - he was an extraordinary traveller. He had the back of the Subaru to himself and Sammie would have the middle seat. Now Kojak and Sammie sit together in the middle. There should be some pictures included here that I took right after I put them into the car, explaining that we would not be back for several months. I remember the first time we took off in 2017 when I actually had to pick Sammie up to get her in the car.

Right now, as I look behind me, Kojak is sprawled across the whole back seat and Sammie is sitting upright in about 10% of the space. I don’t feel bad for her though because that pretty much mimics how I have to sleep every night - I get a 10% sliver to the right, Harry gets a 10% sliver to the left and Sammie and Kojac get 80% wherever they want it.

We are spending our first night in Ohiopyle, Pennsylvania after 9 1/2 hours on the road. We came much the same way in 2021, but stayed the night in Somerset, Pennsylvania, which is the stopping point if you are going to the 9/11 memorial at Shanksville. I created this deviation off I-70 for this trip because somehow I noticed that Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater was in the area and I thought it would be fun to do something different our first day out. We are staying at The Ohiopyle Suites — just a couple of miles from Fallingwater.

Getting to Ohiopyle was nerve-wracking because as we dipped south off the main road, I-70, for this detour it seemed that we descended further and further into nowheresville. We’ve been on the road for going on 10 hours. We are running on empty psychically, night surrounds us, and I can sense Harry’s growing unease. I’m the trip planner — this all falls all on me.

But we roll into Ohiopyle and easily find out hotel which is cheerily lit up with blue Christmas lights. We are the only guests. We let ourselves into our room. We are indeed in the middle of nowhere but it feels interesting. The dogs are happy to be out of the car, we are happy to have a glass of white wine, and we eat our dinner of cheese and crackers, the dogs get kibble.

Awaking this morning (6:30 - puppy time) we begin to realize what a gem Ohiophyle is. Our “hotel” is steps from bike and hiking paths that hook up with the Ohiopyle State Park, and next door to summer places closed for the season - kayak and bike rentals, coffee shops, bakeries. It looks cool. the Youghiogheny [yawki-gay-nee] River flows right by us, as does train tracks with a very active train schedule. As we set out on our walk, we cross the Youghiogheny. The river is rough and known to be difficult to cross, but people raft it. This area is also part of the Great Allegheny Passage bicycle trail which connects with the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal towpath trail to form a continuous 335-mile off-road trail from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Washington, D.C. In the morning, Harry thinks I’m amazing for finding this great place, and I feel relieved.

We head out for our 10:00 a.m. reservation at Fallingwater. I’ve never been to a Frank Lloyd Wright house, but Harry has, in fact he’s been to Fallingwater. The website for the house says that many consider Fallingwater Wright’s masterpiece. It was built as a summer home in 1936 for Pennsylvania department store owners - Liliani and Edgar J. Kaufman. It is perched over the Bear Run waterfalls. It is listed as one of the 28 places you have to see in your lifetime by the Smithsonian Museum. Who knew? Here’s the list.

I have pictures to show you which seem like a much better use of space than me jawing on about it but one thing I would like to point out to my gardening friends is that almost every path we walked was lined with towering rhodendrum bushes - can you imagine what this would look like in Spring? The Kaufman family owned Fallingwater until their son gave it to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1963. It’s astounding to me that in 1936 some people were so recovered from the depression that they could spend the kind of money needed to build Fallingwater.

By 11:00 a.m. we were off to Terre Haute, Indiana. Catch you later!Read more