2025 Late-Summer Road Trip - Day 34-of-35 - September 16, 2025

Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025 - Final swing through Pennsylvania! 263 miles ending up at Days Inn, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Once again, I originally had TWO MAPS to show all the Post Offices "I was going to get today" - ha ha ha. My plan is to make my way northeast through the valleys of the Appalachian Mountains, travel the "blue highways" and grab my Post Offices, and structure the trip so I can get to the hotel at a "reasonable hour". This is what I did:

and this is how it looks in the context of the entire State of Pennsylvania:

I use My Google Maps to keep track of the Post Offices I have visited. That means I need an internet connection to see the maps. Not wanting to turn my phone into an "internet hotspot", I don't "access an internet connection" out on the road, so I take a photo of my screen before I set out for the day. Where are the "empty areas"?

The beauty of Pennsylvania buildings - Tollhouse No. 2 - St. Thomas, PA c. 1814:

Once in a while I encounter a "closed Post Office". This is 17228 - Harrisonville, PA (closed). There are many reasons why a Post Office is closed (lease is not renewed, population decrease), but it saddens me that The Postal Service did not think it would be a good idea to even have an "offical sign":

Great Beauty today includes fields and rivers (The Juniata and The Susquehanna):

I stopped at a convenience store in Yeagertown, and had fun telling the checkout lady that I had visited the Utz Factory a couple of years ago - she laughed:

Nice wall-art in Middleburg, Pennsylvania:

So, I have taken pictures of hundreds and hundreds of Post Offices on this trip. There are at least TWICE as many (if not 3 times) DOLLAR GENERAL stores - they are across the North, South, East and West, and are in communities that don't even have a Post Office. They obviously provide an essential Community Service, and I hope their business-model works:

A Very Manageable Day, and I checked into the Days Inn, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania just before 7 PM:

263 miles today (and 33 Post Offices) - This is what they looked like, heading northeast:

My 3 Favorites today share a "Repurposing" Theme: 17213 - Blairs Mills, PA is a repurposed Bank:

17876 - Shamokin Dam, PA looks like a repurposed Friendly's restaurant:

and to my eyes, 17860 - Paxinos, PA looks exactly like a repurposed Howard Johnson's restaurant (maybe a little more red-than-orange):

WOW - Thank you God for another Great Adventure Day, winding my way through America!

Music for today:

Herbie Hancock - River: The Joni Letters, 2007 album, last heard (on a Road Trip) 8/28/2018 - Basically this is Herbie's love letter to Joni Mitchell. Guest vocalists on River include Leonard Cohen, Tina Turner, Norah Jones, Corinne Bailey Rae, Luciana Souza and Mitchell herself. The album won the Grammy Award for "Album of the Year" and "Best Contemporary Jazz Album" in 2008.

Ed Sheeran - =, 2021 album, last heard (on a Road Trip) never:

various - Red Hot + Rio, 1996 compilation album, last heard (on a Road Trip) 8/30/2018 - ok, keep:

Joe Jackson - Live 1980/86 (2 cds), 1988 double live album, last heard (on a Road Trip) 5/23/2019: