Stephen H. Long Trail 1819 — 1820

Day 38: September 30th, 2008 Richmond — Pittsburgh

Map Richmond to Pittsburgh

I have slept totally bad and woke up permanently, although it was not really noisy. Maybe it was due to the bad weather that passed me in the night. Around seven I get up and make myself ready. Lucky me, it is no longer raining and this gives me the chance to load my truck without getting wet.

This time, the office is so far away from my motel room that I drive exceptionally with my car to the office. Then I drive over to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. The service there is mediocre but still okay. What really annoys me is that I received a table in the middle of the room while there were still many tables on the side available. Maybe the reason is that I received my table by a guy…

I–70, State Line IN and OH

I–70, OH

Around ten I leave the restaurant and almost drive to the next gas station. But this time I don’t need gas. I have already filled in my 10 gallons of spare. So I take I–70 shortly which greets me with many trucks immediately. I definitely know, why I don’t like Interstates.

I–70, OH

The weather is even clearing up and it is getting so warm that I don’t need a sweater anymore. In the morning we had only around 60 degrees. But the sun still has power.

I–70, Columbus, OH

I–70, Columbus, OH

I–70, Columbus, OH

I–70, Columbus, OH

I–70, OH

This time I cross Columbus directly on I–70 and do not take the Interstate around the city.

I–70, Zanesville, OH

I–70, OH

I cross Ohio and make one stop to gas up before I start the last leg of my journey.

I–470, OH

I–470, Ohio River, OH

I–470, Ohio River, State Line OH and WV

I cross the state line to West Virginia at Wheeling.

I–70, State Line WV and PA

Then I cross the state line to Pennsylvania and at Washington I take I–79 North.

I–79, Ohio River, Pittsburgh, PA

At Pittsburgh I cross the Ohio River.

I–79, PA

88 S10 Blazer, PA

Now it is not very far until I arrive at Helen’s house. Around 4pm I arrive there. On time at my arrival, the first raindrops are already falling. But I am still able to unload my truck dry. Helen is with her Mom still in the hospital. So I am only greeted by Sam heavily barking.

88 S10 Blazer, Car Wash, Wexford, PA

88 S10 Blazer, Car Wash, Wexford, PA

Because the weather is still nice and it is also still warm, I decide to continue immediately to the car wash and take a look at my oil drain plug afterwards. After spending almost 10 Dollar at the high pressure wash, my car is now getting kind of clean.

Now I am driving over to David. He is not at home, but I can say Hi to Lisa. I drive over to his garage. But there is still Davids truck in the way. Lisa is so nice to drive the truck away, but she still must empty out the lift. David didn’t knew that I will arrive today. It seems like Helen forgot to tell him about this.

With my antenna and all the setup I must be careful to not destroy his garage when lifting my truck up. So I cannot move my truck as much up as before. Unfortunately my fear is getting now confirmed. These idiots at Jiffy Lube have again overtighten my oil drain plug! Now I must switch to a triple oversize, thank you very much!

Pretty much annoyed I leave and stop at David. In the meantime he is back home and I have a brief chat with him and also arrange the good–bye dinner for Thursday. Then I drive back to Helen. In the meantime she is back home from the doctor and is currently preparing her dinner. But exceptionally I would like to go for a steak dinner.

I check if there would be a Texas Roadhouse nearby. But the closest one is in Monaca, which is almost 15 miles away. The already far away Outback Steakhouse is almost 7 miles away!

Therefore I drive over to the Lone Star Steakhouse & Saloon. I quickly write me emails, copy the pictures, then I am ready to leave. Just before eight I arrive there and I am still a bit too early. There are still two parties in front of me waiting for a table. But the waiting is over pretty soon. However, the service is not as good as the last times. But I will probably still come back tomorrow again.

Around nine I drive back home. To my surprise, Helen already went to bed. Unfortunately she has headaches, probably due to the weather change. Hopefully this will also not hit me.

I check my video taping, then I write my diary. After this I arrange my stuff in my room. Then I go to bed around eleven.