Once again, your humble webmaster heads north of the Mason - Dixon line, as...
Over a 3 day span, Pennsylvania Highways webmaster Jeff Kitsko put together one of the most talked about events in roadgeekdom... the first ever National road meet. Over those 3 days, highway enthusiasts from as far away as California, Michigan, and Georgia toured the Pittsburgh area to check out the sites, take part in tours, and tour the roads, highways, and other transportation features that the Pittsburgh area has to offer.
Like the actual event, I will be splitting my photo retrospective of the National into 3 sections, each representing one of the days' events. I hope you enjoy.
Also, "mad props" go out to Jeff Kitsko for putting on one hell of an event.
Day 1
To quote Jeff, the first day of the meet took everyone on a trip "back in time" as we toured various alignment of the Lincoln Highway, both present and former from Robinson Township to Somerset County.
 | A Lincoln Highway trailblazer. |
 | Tour members stop and take snaps of a now abandoned section of the original Lincoln Highway (US 30) near Greensburg. |
 | At a severed end of the former Lincoln Highway, original concrete peeks out from behind layers of asphalt. |
 | A modernized Lincoln Highway (US 30) near Greensburg. |
After driving several other original alignments of the Lincoln Highway, we stopped at the Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor office in Ligonier to check out pictures of the highway's history.
 | The Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor logo, posted outside of the LHHC office and museum in Ligonier. |
 | Various US 30 shields. A couple of them look like they were made in the dark. |
Back on US 30, we drove deeper into Somerset County to see one of the more somber sites of our tour... the Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville.
 | A flag in the middle of the former strip mine shows the crash site. |
| | The temporary memorial. A permanent memorial park is in the design stages. |
 | A memorial stone and plaque bears the names of all of those on board Flight 93. |
  | Just up the road in Shanksville, local residents have designated an area in their town park as a memorial to war veterans. |
Following the stop in Shanksville, we journeyed to Sipesville to the site of the Quecreek Mine Accident.
 | A Pennsylvania State Historical marker shows the site of the accident. |
    | Throughout the rescue site, various pieces of equipment used in the rescue of the trapped miners is on display. |
   | This red oak sits in the middle of the rescue site, as a "living monument" to those who were rescued and to those who helped rescue them. |
After seeing the rescue site, we stopped and had a look of the Sipesville Fire Hall, where families had stayed during the rescue. One of the local firefighters offered us a tour of the old building, which was gutted in preparation of being moved to the rescue site. He also showed off their new fire station, which had just been finished.
We wrapped up the day enjoying pink and blue stuff featured on the buffet at Hoss's Family Steak and Sea.
