Breezewood, PA

One more post for today...

If you have ever drove from Pittsburgh or West to Washington or Baltimore (or vice versa), you have probably come across Breezewood, PA. Breezewood has to be the only place in the country where an interstate stops for traffic lights, fast food restaurants, and motels. I always wonder what legislator or congressmen decided that I-70 has to go through Breezewood. I also think that someday, I will see Breezewood as a question on Jeopardy. Alex Trebek: The answer; this Pennsylvania city is known as the Travelers Oasis. I wonder if Ken Jennings would have got that correct. So why I am writing about Breezewood? In today's Washington Post (free registration probably required), Norman Chad (now best known as the commentator for ESPN's World Poker Tour) had an article about yesterday's football games and mentioned Breezewood. The link is above, but in case you just wanted to see the Breezewood section, here it is:

(I had first dreamt of a Keystone State Super Bowl in the late 1970s, getting gasoline at the state-of-the-art truck stop that is Breezewood, Pa. Some people call it "The Travelers Oasis," I call it "The Riviera Off the Turnpike." Breezewood is a football field of fast-food joints and filling stations, a half-mile testament to America-on-the-go. What the Strip in Las Vegas is to gambling, Route 30 in Breezewood is to drive-thrus. No patch of paradise in the nation has a higher concentration of cheap motels, bad burgers and oil stains.)

(Actually, I've had some of the best meals in my life in Breezewood -- and all I had to do is roll down my window! Where else can you find a Taco Bell, Hardee's, KFC, Subway, McDonald's, Arby's, Dairy Queen, Wendy's, Burger King and Pizza Hut staring each other down? It's a gritty Champs-Elysees, only cheaper -- the Best Western, Comfort Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Quality Inn and Econo Lodge there may not leave chocolates on your pillow, but they don't mind you taking the towels, either.)