After our Walmart camping spot we set off south again towards Pittsburgh. In order to break up the drive we decided we would stop off at Kinzua Bridge, formerly one of the eight wonders of the world. This bridge was once the highest train bridge in the world until it was destroyed by a tornado in 2003.
The bridge was undergoing strengthening work, but they had not replaced the original iron bolts which snapped under the force of the hurricane. In two minutes, this was what was left.
We started by walking out along the remains of the bridge which now serves as a viewpoint. It did make my legs go a bit wobbly, especially when we got to the glass section at the end.
The view out of the valley is quite impressive, as is the evidence of the sheer force that must have hit the bridge.
There is also a path down to the wreckage which we walked down for a closer look.
We stopped off at a lower viewpoint to fly Steve out over the valley. We did try on the bridge, but turns out when I didn’t land him very well his compass needs recalibrating and you have to be at least 1.5m away from metal to do that. He got some pretty good aerial shots of the destruction.
We then continued down the path to get right up to the twisted remains of the bridge.
Here the remains of the bolts can be seen snapped off in the concrete foundations so I tried to be artsy with my camera.
And then, after a short walk back of the hillside, we were on our way again. We decided to get another hour of the drive behind us before trying to stop off for the night in a scenic bit of park.
Unfortunately, it turns out that when we went to get fuel, the sat nav redirected us. So it turns out instead of a scenic drive and parking spot in the park, we neatly drove around the edge of it. Having realised this far to late be began looking for a parking spot. We have read of other people doing similar journeys who makes us of trucker stops for hassle free overnight parking, and we just so happened to be passing one.
Pulling in, we parked in a spot in-between all the trucks but it didn’t feel quite right. I wish I had a picture of our little van, surround by massive articulated lorries but unfortunately I was too busy feeling awkward. Lee went for a walk to see if there was a more van sized space, while I googled truck stop etiquette. Apparently it’s fine to stop at truck stops, but you definitely shouldn’t park in a spot designated for a lorry and you should look for RV parking spots there. As there was no smaller spaces, we decided to leave rather than upset any late night truck arrivals. It was also pretty noisy too, so I’m not sure just how much sleep we would have got anyway. Once more, we’re back in old faithful, the nearest Walmart. Tomorrow we arrive in Pittsburgh to stay with Lee’s friend and his wife for a bit
The Kombi Chronicles 