Day 26: 8/24/09: Pennsylvania

366 miles: Camped in Canyon Country Campground, near Wellsboro, PA

On the Road Again!! I left Matt and Jaime's about 7:30 this morning. They had both already gone to work by then. I can't express enough what a peaceful and relaxing time I had with them. And Chasen is changing by the day. I last saw him at the end of June. I better figure out a way to get down there every few months to watch him grow.

I ran Interstate 79 north until it intersected Interstate 80. Went east on 80 for just a few miles, then abandoned the interstates again for the 2 lane roads. I traveled north up through Oil City and eventually hit Warren, PA. As I was traveling I got an email on the iphone from my friend Ron Reed. He said that if I happen to be in the Warren area to check out the Kinzua Dam, so I did.

Wow!! The dam is on the Allegheny River and it creates the huge Allegheny Reservoir. The man-made lake is 24 miles long, and extends into New York, as well as Pennsylvania. The surface area is twice the size of the state of Rhode Island. In fact, the dam is named after a town that was flooded when the lake was created in 1965. The primary purpose of the project was to help control downstream flooding.

See, the Allegheny River and the Monongahela River meet in Pittsburgh to create the Ohio River. That's why the baseball field in Pittsburgh used to be called Three Rivers Stadium, until they sold out the naming rights and it became PNC Park. Interestingly, at least to me, the Allegheny starts in Pennsylvania, flows north into New York, and then back south into Pennsylvania. The Monongahela starts in West Virginia, flows north through Morgantown and meets up with the Allegheny in Pittsburgh. And the the river that's created when they join, the Ohio, flows west and becomes the border between Ohio and West Virginia, and between Kentucky and Ohio and Indiana. Who said geography isn't fun?

Zoey and I sat around a campfire as I blogged. Every campground I have stayed at on this trip has banned bringing in firewood. Invasive species have become such a threat. Many of the campgrounds have "Burn It Where You Buy It" signs posted all over the place. The picture on the right is from the Mounds State Park in Indiana. Our mobile society and way of life have introduced species that normally would not have traveled so far on their own. Now we are starting to pay the price. The Emerald Ash Borer is already in this area of Pennsylvania. It is expected to get to New York this summer. The trouble is that scientists are predicting that this bug can potentially destroy the ash trees in much in the same way as the elms have been decimated. Scary news!

OK, that's enough science lessons for today. Tuesday I'm off to Justin and Amy's home in Queensbury, which is near Lake George, NY.

See ya.........