Monday in Pittsburgh, PA

Monday, September 22nd

9:45 pm - Driving into Pittsburgh can throw a cynic for a loop. We think of this mountain city as an industrial wasteland driven by coal and steel. And it may well have been, but when you come through the tunnel and catch the sunset glinting off the bridges of the spired city below, you can't help but think of Oz or Atlantis. Unless you are Gary, our bus driver.

"I hate this city," he announced.

Gary's hatred comes from a long-ago football injury that some irate Pittsburgh Steeler inflicted on a Cincinnati quarterback. It's a grossly unfair way to judge an entire city, but after four hours in traffic on the randomly reconstructed streets of Pittsburgh, you have to sympathize a bit with Gary. While I did not keep an exact tally, it seems that we took somewhere between four and five hundred detours in a long and frustrating attempt to get back onto the highway before we finally moved through the city and reached our hotel.

Yesterday, we made two forays into the city itself: the first to the Pittsburgh Pirates home field to register the Sunday afternoon masses at PNC park and the second to host a concert at Pittsburgh University. The concert in question was headlined by local hip-hop artist (hip-hartist) Wiz Khalifa with performances from Trevor Menear, and Donora.

The concerts were lovely. And we did good work. Voters registered: check. Concert performed: check. But the real highlight of yesterday was the certain knowledge that today was a rest day. Today was a day of rest and we are thankful for it. Tomorrow we head for Akron.