Uniontown, PA
7:17 PM
I’m at the library in Uniontown, PA. It took me about 30 minutes to find it once I got into downtown. I went into CVS after being on the phone with Kinko’s. The fools told me they were fifteen minutes form Uniontown. It’s 45 and when I talked with them they could have pointed me a totally different way and I would be sitting there now. Instead, I am here.
I had a scheduling dilemma today as I crossed into Pennsylvania. To the north was Pittsburgh. To the south was Uniontown. Pitt was a place I wanted to check out. I had heard it’s beautiful with the three rivers. I had a set place to stay in Uniontown with friend’s from Charlotte. I went south. Pittsburgh would have been cool, but I had no plan there and wasn’t sure where to go. After driving aimlessly around smaller Uniontown, I’m glad I didn’t try and find my way in Pitt. I asked the CVS guys where the library was. It took a while, but they gave me some directions. I think they were in high school, the guys I talked to. But, in the center of town is major construction, so I had to loop. I looped and became lost. I then asked a mechanic at the gas station. I had to go down an alley, through a parking lot, and I’d find it. I didn’t find it.
I looped around and around, cussed a little, and finally ran into it somehow. I tried to link up my laptop so I could do email, but they said no.
I left Shaun and Chris’ house this morning at about 11. I woke up, made my journal entry, packed, and then headed to The Ohio State University campus for my interview with Dr. La Londe, a well-known player in the field of logistics. My father and his co-worker, Don set it up. I’m glad they did. I was to meet Dr. La Londe in the hotel restaurant of the new business building. Yes, the hotel in a school building. Ohio State, or should I say, The Ohio State, is a city, as I’ve said. They have their own airport. I’ve heard of college golf courses, but never an airport.
I got there early and caught up on my calendar, whatever that means. I sat and looked busy. He arrived and was very down to earth and made me feel comfortable. I think he said he was 70. He had been a professor for 40 plus years and retired since 1995. I can see why I was supposed to talk to him. He’s been retired since ‘95 but still working. He loved his work. He talked about that passion and how he had to temper it some because of his family. He told me about his epiphany and deciding to leave a job people thought he should be happy at. He said a lot of the same things that I said to myself. That was cool, to see this 70-year-old man, saying the same things I thought. He said them 50 years ago. It all worked out for him. He’s mentored 60 plus doctoral students and brought much success to The and to himself. I laughed and could see why he was a good teacher. He cared and wanted to see others succeed. I’m sure we went longer than planned. I left at 1:30.
I began the drive down I70 East. It was a pretty sunny day and traffic wasn’t too bad. I was headed to place called Wheeling, I think. As soon as I crossed into West Virginia, they hit me with a great welcome sign, Road Work ahead, Be Prepared to stop. We stopped. Not a mile in and I’m in bumper to bumper. Trucks are all around me. We inch along and finally we make it. The lanes merge and as soon as you can go, one of the huge hills I saw all day started at us. Therefore, I stared at the ass end of a truck for a while longer. I buzzed around them and made my way into Pennsylvania. At one point, I wish I could remember the city name, we came to another stop. This one was not as long, but it was over a bridge. I pulled up and to my right I saw buildings and a river. For some reason the end scene of Mothman Prophecies jumped into my head. It looked very similar, eerily similar. I freaked out a little and tried to jog my memory to see if this was the bridge. But I doubt it. It’s a real small town. The bridge didn’t collapse and I was on my way. I stressed for a bit as I sat there, but we moved along and then I had to decide to go north or south.
Now it’s time to find them and see what the plan is.