Photo-of-the-Week #117 - The Crossroads, Breezewood, Pennsylvania, July 2013

I've titled this week's photo "The Crossroads." This is Breezewood, Pennsylvania a small town in south central Pennsylvania. It's very close to the Maryland border in an area that is called the Maryland Panhandle.

I've been through Breezewood many times over the past 30+ years. It's one of those places that seems timeless. It always appears to look the same. It is where I-70 an east-west, interstate route that begins at Baltimore, Maryland in the east and terminates (or begins depending at which end you start from) at Cove Fort, Utah. In the process, this 2,153 mile highway passes through ten states, is the oldest operating part of the interstate highway system, beginning in 1956 and also reaches the highest elevation of any of the Interstates at 11,158 feet.

Breezewood is the crossroad where I-70 veers north from Hancock, Maryland to merge into the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The turnpike considered to be the oldest, limited access, toll road in the U.S., beginning in the 1930's. I-70 remains concurrent with The Turnpike (also numbered as I-76 in the interstate highway system) from Breezewood to New Stanton, Pennsylvania where I-70 separates and continues west through the northern panhandle of West Virginia at Wheeling and into Ohio.

Frankly, I don't honestly know if there is actually a real town of Breezewood, though I'm sure there is, but this is all I've seen of Breezewood. As you can tell, it's a busy intersection with several 50's and 60's style motels, a couple local restaurants and a number of the national chain restaurants, truck stops and gas stations and some touristy gift shops full of memorabilia of the "passer-through's" visit to Breezewood. Basically, Breezewood isn't a destination, it's simply a reminder that you're on your way to somewhere, east, west or south. I was on my way back to eastern base camp in West Virginia from my visit (on business) to Boiling Springs, Pennsylvania.