Allegheny Dirt Roads

August 21, 2015

GPS loves to send you on an adventure.

We learned an important lesson on this leg of our trip - never trust your GPS. Both Google Maps and WAZE both decided that we wanted to go to the center of the Allegheny National Forest and led us to a one-lane dirt road leading deep into the forest. Both Cheri and I knew that this was wrong as soon as we turned on this road. But when you're driving 34 feet of an RV and hauling a MiniCooper behind you, there's no turning around on a one-lane forest-lined dirt road. Luckily, we found a part on the road where there was a small rocky field on the side of the road. By disconnecting the Mini, Cheri was able to maneuver Dolly and turn her around heading back down the dirt road. We re-hooked up the Mini and were on our way.

Fr. Tom, Mom and Dennis

This driving adventure followed one final evening and morning with my family in Youngstown. My brother Father Tom and the few remaining kids who didn't return to their respective cities all gathered for a fabulous feast of Beer Can Chicken. My Mom taught me how to make "Greek Chicken," and Cheri's Mom taught her about "Beer Can Chicken." The basic concept is you stick an almost full can of beer inside the chicken's cavity and after putting on a rub, you stand it up inside a grill. It keeps the chicken moist from the inside. Everyone was pleased how moist the chicken meat was, even the white meat. Sean took charge of the preparations, and we all had a fabulous feast.

Handel's Ice Cream - one of the best in the US

Afterwards, we headed out to get ice cream at Handel's, recognized as one of the best ice cream parlors in the country by the Travel Channel and Choclatier magazine. The Youngstown location was named the busiest ice cream stand in America. And it certainly lived up to its reputation. Sure, other big name competitors have 31 flavors, but Handel's has over 100 flavors, with monthly specials. And they aren't just your normal flavors. They have: chocolate peanut butter brownie, banana cream pie, thin mint, NY style Cheesecake, Pumpkin Pecan, and too many others to mention. I settled on peach and mint chocolate chip. Going for ice cream in Youngstown seems to be a family ritual, as my nieces and nephews kept running into their friends. It's the place to be and be seen.

Dolly emerged from her resting place in my brother Tom's driveway and came to Mom's for a loading party. All of the things we unloaded for our week stay in her home got loaded back onto the rig and we took off for our adventure to Allegheny National Forest. We stayed in the Kiasutha campground, where there have been black bear sightings of late. Just last week, a black bear was captured and relocated. There are still one or two in the area, so the rangers give us fair warning about sealing everything up tight at night. I guess bears can even get into RVs, if windows are left open. Luckily, we had no encounters with a bear.

Kinzu Skywalk

Bebop & Satch at Kinzu

Northwestern Pennsylvania is a gorgeous part of the country. Deeply wooded with large bodies of water. We were camped on the edge of the huge Allegheny Reservoir. During our stay here, we ventured out to Kinzua Sky Walk. Originally built in 1882, it was declared the Eighth Wonder of the World...an engineering masterpiece. It was the highest an longest railroad bridge in the world. I can only imagine what it felt like to soar across the sky on a train. Unfortunately, in July 2003, a huge wind storm and tornado ripped much of the bridge to shreds and it was never rebuilt. However, the part that remained has been reinforced and is now The Kinzua Sky Walk. We took the boys on a hike out to the end. Bebop saw something 300 feet below and started bellowing at it. And his bellows reverberated all through the canyons surrounding us.

The Sky Walk is located just outside the town of Mt. Jewett, Pennsylvania, which is the second Scandinavian-themed town we come across in our travels. After visiting Paulsbo in Washington, we never thought we'd find another town with the Scandinavian theme. But instead of Norwegian flags, here we saw Swedish flags. We found a sweet little Swedish bakery and stopped in for sweets.

Our stop in Allegheny National Forest is the halfway mark to our next stop in Ithaca, New York. We'll be exploring the Finger Lakes region next.