The Cities of Iron & Brotherly Love

The drive from the Washington, DC area to Pittsburgh was very nice and uneventful. OK, uneventful until I got to Pittsburgh. I talked to a rep from the Pirates who said there was parking for RVs close to the stadium, contrary to what the Allegheny County Parking Commission told me when I called their automated “help” line. Ryan, the Pirates rep said as I got close to the park there would be signs directing me. Everything was great, I saw the signs, I followed the signs, all was good until the signs disappeared. I found myself in downtown, no I should say DOWNTOWN Pittsburgh. The streets were all under construction and the city buses didn’t even go there. I had 12 minor heart attacks as Shirley and I slithered down these skinny streets with parked cars on each side and pedestrians everywhere. Somehow we got through the worst of it and made it to the parking area near PNC Park. I checked Shirley’s sides to make sure there were no sideview mirrors impaled on her protrusions or pedestrians plastered on her flanks. As far as I could tell the only damage was to the driver’s seat where lots of upholstery had been sucked up as the driver’s butt puckered.

PNC Park is beautiful and is in second place, only behind Minute Maid in Houston, in the Most Beautiful MLB Ballpark According to Bill Contest. The park is situated on a point where the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio Rivers converge. The backdrop for the outfield is the Pittsburgh skyline which is quite lovely and the view evolved nicely as darkness fell and the city lights took over. The folks at the park were very helpful and the small crowd of 11,000 was into their Pirates even though the team is not doing well. The Cubs had a lot of fans but the Buc fans ended up having the most to cheer about.

I had a day game in Philadelphia the next day so I decided to drive as far as I could, hole up for the night, then meet Wes and Pat in Allentown.

Wes and Pat are friends Phyllis met while on an independent vacation to Boston. She ended up hanging out with them during her entire vacation. A year or so later Phyl and I both went to Boston where we met up with them and had a great time. Wes is a baseball fan and we took a tour of Fenway Park during the off-season. The following year we went to Aruba with them. So, getting back to this trip, I had made arrangements to meet them in Allentown, they were coming down from their home in Scranton, and ride with them into Philly. I drove until about 3 a.m. then pulled over and slept until about 6. I drove into Allentown to a Wal Mart, parked Shirley and waited for Wes and Pat. When they arrived we headed into Philly to meet Jack. Jack is Jack Fives, a Navy buddy I served with on the Canopus. Jack is a regular attendee at Canopus reunions and we have rekindled our friendship. Jack was tied up in traffic so Wes and Pat went into Citizen Bank Park and I waited for Jack outside because I had his ticket. He got there and we entered the mass of 44,000 fanatic Philly fans. The place was an absolute zoo! Citizen Park isn’t in the Most Beautiful running but the fans are the most enthusiastic so far. I saw one man and his young son wearing Cardinal gear and I was wearing my Giants cap but every other person wearing baseball caps and/or jerseys was wearing Phillies stuff. The game was sold out and even though I bought tickets in March, we were stuck way out in left field. In Pittsburgh I walked up to the ticket window on game day and got a great seat for a lot less than the Phillie seats. Location, location, location.



The game was won handily by the Phillies and unfortunately, all the fans stayed for the final out. That meant 22,000 cars hit the roads of Philly at same time as the normal rush hour traffic started. It took us about an hour and a half to go from Allentown to Philly. I planned to ride back to Allentown with Jack and go up to Honesdale, in northeastern Pennsylvania, with Shirley and leave her there while I visited the New York/Boston area. The return trip to Allentown took 4 hours. I was not a good traveling companion because I only got 3 hours sleep the night before and have to admit I fell asleep on the ride home. We finally made it to Allentown, picked up Shirley, grabbed a bite to eat and got to Honesdale about 11:00 p.m. Jack and Kathy, his wife, had a room for me and I slept like a log until 7:00 this morning.