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.
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