US Flight 93 Memorial and Centralia PA (Page 2)

My hotel room was not the quietest ever, but after riding most of the day with ear plugs in, I was able to sleep very well that night with them in.  It helped that I was somewhat tired after a full day of riding.

In the morning, I had a quick bagel and a cup of coffee before hitting the road.  I rerouted my return trip overnight (that seems to happen more often than not) which took me through Centralia one more time on my way.  As expected, there were no cars, other than the residents, parked in the area.  I strongly suspect a Monday morning visit would have been a totally different animal.  I'm not sure my overall impression would have been different, and the voyeuristic component would have been much more pronounced.

When I go somewhere on one of my adventures, realistic expectations mean I almost always really enjoy it.  In retrospect, I'm glad I went to Centralia since it is one of the few modern-day (post WWII) US ghost towns that can actually be visited.  And there in lies the issue I guess.  Most of the handful of other modern-day ghost towns can't be visited due to the danger or private-property restrictions (I won't try to go to Gilman, Colorado).  If they can be easily visited, they are probably somewhat anticlimactic, rife with destructive vandalism, or they would have been turned into tourist attractions.  Reading more online showed me that when I was looking at the main epicenter of the fire, I didn't even know it.  The fire is still burning (maybe smoldering is the right term for 2015), but evidence is rare and short lived at best and can probably only be seen on the coldest of days; looking at online images and other movies, it is hard to find credible above-ground evidence of recent fire that also shows the massive amount of graffiti on the rerouted PA-61 highway (see complete lack of graffiti in This Movie, made in 2002).  The most recent evidence of anything other than trivial levels of steam or smoke seems to be around 2010.

My trip home took me around 10 hours of riding, which gives much time for further thought.  What is so insane is the true amount of danger is known, and has obviously been for some time.  The authorities had to do something in 1980 when a child almost died in a fiery sink-hole, but the role of money and pounding-on-the-table rhetoric in the decision can be illustrated in this Google satellite image.  The main "fire" is marked with an asterisk; the whole image represents less than 15-square miles.  PA-61 was rerouted only 10s of feet.  The distance to active coal mines, or communities that weren't forced into abandonment is less than a mile.

The decision was made long ago and there is no compelling reason to resurrect Centralia at this point.  While I don't understand the idea that Centralia must be the home of the remaining residents, I hope they happily live on Commonwealth-owned land forever.  At this point, the risk of sinkholes may be the strongest reason to restrict access and/or rebuilding, but by that logic, large swaths of Florida are far more dangerous and should be off limits as well; the role of money in these decisions is obvious.

I stayed on 2-lane roads for a while in Pennsylvania while making my way to the interstate.  The area is very picturesque, and likely would be more so if the trees were green.  Shortly after leaving Centralia, I saw a sign at a coal mine that sells "bagged coal" for $4.95 a bag.  I was not aware that people still bought coal to heat with, but anthracite coal, found only in NE Pennsylvania is still used as a heat source and is probably no worse than using wood (and burns much hotter).
Work-day and commuting traffic picked up on the 2-lane Pennsylvania roads and once on I-80, I moved much quicker.  Road traffic was almost non-existent, but picked up slowly through the day.  I was struck by the thought that over 20 years ago at the same time I was headed east on this same interstate to my internship at American Cyanamide.  That trip was made in a white 1977 MGB with everything I could carry stuffed in the car.  Life has changed a lot since then.

In Western Pennsylvania, temperatures dropped, the sky clouded up and rain spit at me, moderately heavy at times.  Temperatures ranged from the upper 30s to upper 40s.  At periods of lower temperature and more precipitation, it approached crappy motorcycling - but still better than being at work.

Once headed south, it dried out and warmed up quickly.  I likely would have made it home by 3:00, but for some heinous construction traffic between Columbus and Cincinnati.  It is very unclear why this one construction zone was so much worse than all the previous ones I had been through on the trip.

My whole trip to the US Flight 93 National Memorial and Centralia, PA was 1140 miles.  I was gone about 36 hours and am better for the trip.
I'm not sure if I'll ever return to Centralia to re-experience that modern-day ghost town.  While Centralia was somewhat anticlimactic, I am not disappointed by the decision to go there.  And, if I happen to be have a desperate need to be in Ashville or Shamokin, I'll definitely stop by again.  As it was with any of my adventures, the cost and experience were 100% worth it.

US Flight 93 Memorial and Centralia PA

With several days of 2014 vacation that must be used before the end of April, I knew I needed to "do something" with the time rather than just sit around the house - even though I almost always find things to do and there are several things that need to be done.

On my Google Keep list of places I'd like to see was Centralia, Pennsylvania.  I don't remember where I heard about it originally, but Centralia is an almost-ghost town.  In 1962, the town dump was burned (environmental challenges were treated differently then), which likely ignited a coal vein that burned underground.  The coal continued to burn, causing issues like super-heated gasoline in an underground tank, buckling of roads, and sink-holes - one of which almost swallowed and burned a child.
In the 1980's, the town was abandoned and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania now owns the town, even though there are still a handful of residents.
Wikipedia has a pretty good synopsis of the events.  There is an excellent documentary which gives much more information as well as putting a human face on the town.

While planning the trip, I noticed my planned route would put me through Shanksville, Pennsylvania where US Flight 93 was crashed on September 11, 2001 and the Flight 93 National Memorial now is.

I left dark and early on Sunday morning, hoping to miss most of the work-day traffic.  Traffic was indeed light, but it felt cold.  It was in the lower 40s, which is usually fairly easy to be reasonably comfortable, but for whatever reason, I was absolutely frigid.  There was a fairly stunning sunrise, which was also short lived, as I got into the Columbus, OH area.  The cloud line continued to stay just out of reach, preventing a significant warm-up.  Luckily, the Triumph Trophy has heated grips as it made all the difference.

Finally, somewhere in Eastern Ohio, the sun came out and things started to warm up much more.  I spent most of the morning on the interstate, but got off for a short time which was much more pleasant and allowed me to get a real Whoopie Pie at a gas stop.
Near the panhandle of West Virginia, I got back on the interstate and stayed on it until the Pennsylvania Turnpike.  It may be different now, but I vividly remember taking the turnpike when I had an internship in New Jersey in college, and I recall it was very expensive and painful with slow construction.

I got to the US Flight 93 National Memorial around noon.  The road there was pretty, even if the trees are still stark without leaves.  The Memorial is still under construction and on this April day, there were not many people there.

The Memorial is well done, if incomplete.  I'm curious what it will look like when it is done and may have to return one day.  There is a massive visiting center which is just walls, the beginnings of a group of planted trees and a wetlands area with a bridge.
It is possible to get quite close to the actual impact spot, which is marked with a boulder and small flags.

There is a wall with passenger names on it, although the many sections without names makes it look like it isn't finished.  There are nooks in the wall bordering the walkway where tributes can be left.
Overall, I found the Memorial quite sobering.  It brought back memories of that September day, with everyone at work staring at TV screens, hearing some information that turned out not to be true and other information we hoped wasn't true.

Back on the road, I stayed on 2-lane roads through most of Pennsylvania.  This area has some absolutely fantastic motorcycle roads.  However, many of them are marked at a ridiculously slow speed for trucks.  I didn't get behind any slow vehicles, and I absolutely would not want to either...

I made good time and got to Frackville in the late afternoon.  I didn't feel like sitting around the hotel room all evening, so I thought I'd head to Centralia and then go back on Monday morning - Monday morning being the plan to see what the almost-ghost town had to offer.
Frackville to Centralia takes about 10 minutes.  I had read that some people have had a hard time while looking around, but I'm not sure I believe it.  There were many cars parked all over, especially at the main interest points.  There were also people running all over in ATVs and off-road vehicles.  I talked with several people in the area, all of whom said that any smoke is rare and short-lived now.  There is a slight sulfur smell of burning coal, but it is almost in the background.
The most notable feature of Centralia is the graffiti highway.

Yep, that is a lot of vulgar graffiti.  The buckled highway looks pretty bad, but the ground is ambient temperature.  No more heat or smoke, at least not on this day.

Overall, my Centralia visit felt a bit voyeuristic and anticlimactic.  It felt voyeuristic since there are still a handful of people who live there.  I tried to be sensitive to the fact that people's homes were still there and felt bad that some treat it like it was a zoo.
It was a bit anticlimactic since there was no real evidence of the fire burning.  It was a bit like when I was in Wyoming after a forest fire had been in the area, except forest fires often initiate life and regrowth.  A dead town seems just like a dead town.  It reminded me of the suburban community that a family member moved into before the developer lost all his money.  In both situations, streets sit eerily empty.  Individual housing lots could still be made out.  There were still telephone poles and walkways, just no houses and no people.  I didn't even see much in the way of squirrels or the like running around.

I actually found the town more compelling than the graffiti highway or the vent tubes near the cemetery.  What was really sad was all the trash all over.  This isn't unique to Centralia, just more pronounced.  Trash all over really isn't unique to this part of Pennsylvania or Pennsylvania in genral; people are pigs.
Saint Ignatius looks down on the remnants of Centralia and the remaining denizens.  The view of the town and the area looks like it could have come right out of the movie The Deer Hunter.

Most coal that is mined is still used for electrical generation.  The irony of a town destroyed by coal, that now lies in the shadow of windmills should be noted.

After seeing Centralia, I decided there was no reason to go back in the morning.  I do believe that the experience would have been much different first thing on a Monday morning as I doubt there would be many other people there.  As expected, it really isn't a tourist destination, but I wouldn't want to go there on a busy June weekend.

Back at the hotel I had a great meal at the Dutch Kitchen before finishing the day with ice cream.

While resting at night, I couldn't help but wonder where Frackville got its name?  Fracking is a relatively recent phenomenon, but the town was founded in the 1860s.  I was also struck at how busy Frackville and nearby Ashville were.  Both of these towns are a picture of what Centralia might have become had Federal Government bureaucracy and Local Government ineptitude not been so prevalent in 1962.
Belated Edit:  According to Wikipedia and other sources, Frackville is named after Daniel Frack, an early setller.  Now that is quite a coincidence.