Erie KOA, PA
Wednesday the 18th and Thursday the 19th of April, 2018
"'Twas the 18th of April in '75/Hardly a man is now alive/Who can remember that famous day and year."
From "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere" by Longfellow. Momma and I quoted those lines to each other every year.
I'm going to end up spending a week here, quite unexpectedly, partly because of the weather and partly because of PA's topography.
Weather
Yesterday morning, when I was walking the dogs, I slipped and fell on a patch of what I thought was snow but that hid some ice in it. Although much of the snow had melted by late yesterday afternoon, I knew it was supposed to get down to freezing during the night, which would refreeze any hidden patches of water on the roads.
Also, the forecast for today was 1"-4" of snow in this area, and the storm system was coming in from the southwest, which meant the road between Erie and Pittsburgh was likely to be a problem. But I couldn't head east, as I'd originally planned, because that's where the mountains are and I'm certain they'd have patches of slick roads.
I figured the Thursday snow forecast was likely to make Friday look as wintry as Wednesday did, which was the day I slipped and fell. That made Saturday the first likely day for me to leave.
Topography
I've tried hard but can't remember any serious road conditions between here and Pittsburgh - I think we've made it across the Appalachian Range over here.
I didn't drive the turnpike into Pittsburgh from the east but instead came from the southeast, from Fort Necessity. That road, I remember clearly had some very steep grades. What I can't remember is the turnpike between Harrisburg and Somerset, where I turned off the turnpike for the state parks.
The concern I keep coming back to is those absurdly steep grades and "Dangerous Mountain" signs that pop up without any warning whatever as you're driving innocently down the road. There's no chance to turn off the road or turn around - you're just suddenly confronting a scary situation that there seems no exit from. The idea of confronting them with possible ice on the road is paralyzingly terrifying.
I spent about a half hour yesterday online trying to find some website that could tell me about road conditions or topography or road routing in some way, but I couldn't find anything that made sense. Maybe it's my lack of ability to think like a computer but I just couldn't find it.
Plan C
Plan A was staying in Erie for only 2 nights. Plan B got me to here. I was now looking for Plan C.
Between the weather and the topography, I took a new tack. I looked up the weather predictions for 8 or 9 different cities for the next week or so to see if I could figure out when and where the roads were most likely to be free of ice. I looked for at least a full 24 hours of day temps in the 40s and night temps at least in the upper 30s or higher.
I started with the idea of going back down to Pittsburgh, since I knew the road was moderately free of steep hills, and then going back to Harrisburg, because I figured the turnpike might be well cared for (they can't make money if people can't drive on it). And then try to get back north again. Using that idea took me to staying here until Sunday, going to Pittsburgh where the forecast is for 57°/40°, and every day after that increased the chances of clear roads in the rest of the state.
I had planned to be able to see much more of Pennsylvania than it looks like I'll be able to, but after all, what I wanted was to see things I hadn't seen before and lake-effect snow was absolutely one of them.
The expected snow didn't materialize here at the campground, though I understand there was a little in Erie itself. But the wind chill, on top of the low daytime temp, makes it pretty dadgummed cold outside, and it's supposed to be below freezing again tonight.
Either tomorrow or Saturday, I'd like to go back in to Erie and see some of the things I didn't have time for the other day. Depends on whether we have any more precipitation to wet the roads.
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