Day 4: Rolling Thunder and Pittsburgh

Today is the big Rolling Thunder parade in Washington D.C. We got started about 10:00 a.m. and headed into D.C. only to find out that there was no way to get close to the parade. Every road was blocked off. There was no way to get from the north side of D.C. to the south side of D.C. or from the east side to the west side. It was very frustrating. It appeared that the blocked off streets were different than the ones published in the guide and papers. We later found out there was suspicious powered in Union Station that led to more and more streets blocked off and heighten security. After numerous attempts to get to where we wanted to park, I lead us to the Washington Byway. We kept looking for places to pull off and after a long, difficult attempt; we finally continued down the Byway for 495. We pulled off a scenic overlook, regrouped and agreed to forgo going downtown and just head to Pittsburgh, our final destination before heading home tomorrow.

I lead the way. We had come to rely on my GPS. I am not one who enjoys leading, but on the Interstate, leading is easy - no red lights. After my third day of leading, I was feeling more comfortable and people were feeling more familiar with me. We made a couple of stops for gas, but we were focused on getting to Pittsburgh so we would have some time to go into the downtown area and enjoy the city. We arrived at the hotel about 5:00 p.m. and were back on our bikes by 6:00 p.m.

We agreed that di

nner was to be at Pirmanti Brothers Restaurant. They are famous for their sandwiches that include meat, french fries and cole slaw. The restaurant was featured on the Food Channel. Three years ago two brothers began the restaurant. They severed many tr

uckers. Those truckers wanted there food all together. So they invented a sandwich that included the fries and coleslaw. Soon the sandwiches

became famous and now that is all they served. I split a cheese stake sandwich with a friend. Added a side of cheese fries, even with fries on the sandwich. We all split an order of coleslaw, even with slaw on the sandwich. Two people had the "Iron City" beer. Clearly Pittsburgh brewed. I stuck to diet coke.

After dinner we left. As evening came over the city, we didn't feel that hanging around was a good idea. We were going to leave for home in the morning and we wanted to get back to see if we could hear the weather. It appeared that storms were being predicted for Memorial Day Monday.