The Highway to Hell (turn up the volume now)

In the last three weeks we have spent 18 nights staying with friends. It has been a wonderful time, but now we must get back on the road, and back in the habit of finding motels and feeding ourselves - at least for the next few weeks.

It was late in the morning when we said our goodbyes to Elizabeth and the boys. Our itinerary had us travelling through Cleveland and along the shore of Lake Eerie through Pennsylvania to Jamestown in New York State en route to the Adirondack Mountains. We travelled those roads last year going to Niagara Falls and back, so we decided instead on a late itinerary change, taking Ohio 303.due east into Pennsylvania.

At first we travelled through flat countryside with farms, cornfields and small rivers, but that gave way to strip malls and a built up area on the southern fringe of Cleveland. Further east the land became hillier and forested, mainly with deciduous trees. There were only a few tiny cow farms, if any. The rivers are large again although not as rapid as they are on the west coast.

We made good time and crossed the border into Pennsylvania near the city of Sharon and turned north east from Mercer to Oil City, where our GPS had a hissy fit and led us completely astray. Once back on track we rode up the very scenic Allegheny River Valley. We turned off onto another scenic road, Pennsylvania 666 which took us up the Tionesta River Valley. Devilishly pretty.

This road turned and twisted and bounced up and down like a roller coaster, but was every bit as much fun as the AC/DC anthem, or getting your kicks on route six-sixty-six.

666 emptied out a Sheffield, a town so small and off the beaten track it doesn't have a motel. It was necessary to continue a dozen more miles north towards Warren, where we found a cheap motel with small rooms and minimal facilities. It was 7:00 pm, we were tired, and just pleased to be off the road.

We were kept awake all night by a continuous stream of heavy trucks that sounded so loud we thought they were coming through our room. As far as sleep goes, welcome to Hell!