Pennsylvania - Day 12 - Flight 93 Memorial

Kooser State Park, PA

Thursday, 12 April 2018

Today I planned to go to 2 Park Service sites: the Flight 93 Memorial and Fort Necessity National Battlefield.  I ended up going only to the first, mainly due to how long it takes to go only a few miles, when the roads wind around and go UUUPPP hill and DOOWWN hill.  The speed limit is irrelevant.  There was one hill with a 9% grade and another with a 10% grade and signs mandated a truck speed limit of 35 mph and use of a lower gear.  I thought that was good advice for me too.  It didn’t help at all that the wind picked up dramatically as the day went on.  Anyway, I’ll go to the battlefield tomorrow on my way to Pittsburg.

First I had to make a stop in Somerset, which is the first town near the state parks.  It turns out to be a really nice little town.  Population 6200 in the 2010 census.  Parking meters cost 10¢ an hour.  I know because I found a place to park and discovered I could pick up a signal on my hotspot, so I just stayed to use the wi-fi and paid for 2 meters.  A bargain at 20¢.

I learned Pittsburg is going to get the great weather Philadelphia is scheduled for this weekend, which is a relief.  I was afraid I’d be missing it when I came west.  Great in this context means night temps in the 50s, which I prefer because I’m planning to stay at a Walmart Friday and Saturday.

The main thing I wanted to look up were directions to the memorial.  Turns out there were signs everywhere, but you never know.

Before I left on this trip, I watched the movie “Flight 93” so I had at least some orientation.  But the visitor center does a really good job of both explaining the sequence of events, as well as telling about the people on board and there are audio playbacks of some of their calls home.

 The visitor center is aligned with the flight path, and a walkway ends in an observation deck that lets you see down into the field. The plane was going 563 mph when it crashed, upside down, and exploded.  There was almost nothing left when first responders got there except holes in the ground – the impact had disintegrated everything.  They found bits and pieces over a huge area, and found enough to be able to get DNA proof of the identities of the passengers and crew.  They also found the playbook of the hijackers, which was identical to those found among the effects of the other hijackers.

the visitor center from near the memorial

the debris field is behind the wall ahead

The media kept talking about a field near Shanksville, PA, and that’s exactly what it is.  It’s a farming area, except for an old coal mining site, which is where the plane landed.  The debris field is off-limits, of course.  On the far left of the visitor center photo and the far right of the wall photo is a white wall with the names of the passengers and crew.  The whole place was very powerful.  Those folks must have been incredibly brave, and incredibly scared.

The rangers told me the wind is almost always a force there, and just over a hill was a wind farm that was working quite well.

On the road going out there I passed a turnoff to Skunk Holl Rd.  Where do you suppose that name came from?  Does holl mean something or were they intending to say holler or hollow and just didn’t have room on the sign?

There were Canada geese nesting at the memorial area.   There are robins EVERYWHERE.  I don’t remember seeing as many robins in a whole summer in Austin as I’m seeing in any miscellaneous park here.  I hear a woodpecker in almost every park I’ve stayed in on this whole trip.  Presumably not the same woodpecker.  I’ve been seeing chickadees in most of the parks and flocks of red-winged blackbirds in many of the fields.  I’ve started seeing crows as I’ve come north.  I’m seeing quite a few birds I don’t recognize easily but haven’t pulled out my binoculars quickly enough.

The park I’m in tonight is smack up against the one I stayed in last night.  Both were built by the CCC, as I learned at a statue and display at yesterday’s park.  In fact, it looked like the CCC built almost every park in Pennsylvania.  I like this one better, but that’s probably partly because the sun’s shining and it’s warm.  Also because I just had a hot shower and am parked on gravel instead of last night’s muddy grass.  And so far apparently no deer, which is a relief because of Dexter’s reaction.  But I’m hearing lots of frogs from a nearby stream.

On my way to Somerset this morning, I saw a pitched tent, with a bicycle parked next to it at the edge of an unused field beside the road.  Wonder what his trip’s about.