Pittsburgh, Coal Miners, and the Fourth of July

We were fortunate enough to see
the Pirates crush the Astros 11-2.

Here's a rundown of the last few days.

On July 3rd we had a day off (one of just three) in Pittsburgh, which turned out to be a cool place to hang out for 24 hours.  My friend and fellow B&B alumnus Michael joined us at our host, after biking all the way from DC by himself.  Together we checked out a Pirates game (thanks to Anna for scoring free tickets), ate Primanti Brother's sandwiches (always served with french fries and sauerkraut on the sandwich), and scouted out the spot where Lewis & Clark set off for the Pacific Ocean.  I was particularly interested in this because I'm reading "Undaunted Courage" - the story of their expedition - this summer.  On our second night in town we were lucky enough to find a Beach Boys tribute band called the "Beach Party Boys" performing in Point Park, near where the Ohio River begins its course.  The concert was followed by an "unforgettable" laser light show (interpret the quotation marks as you please).

After lots of hunting, we located this small Lewis
& Clark plaque on the Allegheny River.
Shockingly devoid of tourists.

The following day was the Fourth of July and we celebrated by biking through three different states.  In fact we had breakfast in Pennsylvania, lunch in West Virginia, and dinner in Ohio (look at a map and it actually makes sense).  We stayed in the town of Cadiz, Ohio (pronounced "CAD-iss").  Cadiz is home to the Coal and Clark Gable Museum, these being the two things that Cadiz has produced in its 200-year history.

Looking for a way to celebrate the holiday, we wandered until we found an inviting family BBQ where we played Wiffleball with some little kids while their parents set off terrifying firecrackers.  This morphed, after some drinking, into a bonfire hosted by a generous coal miner who told us all about his trade and made damn sure that none of us had voted for Obama.  I don't think that we were all completely honest about our 2008 electoral decisions.

Today we biked into Coshocton, Ohio through more Amish country.  Tomorrow we're headed to Columbus and America seems to be flattening out, which is good because our quads are all a little sick of hills.