Weekend of OC mostly in Monroeville area

[clarion44]

The weather this weekend was great, even with the few drops of rain here and there. Where to start... alright, after work. After work friday morning(3rd shift) stopped home, threw on my equipment and went to get gas at Sheetz. Pumped, paid, no issues/complaints. About noon I left to visit my girlfriend for the weekend. Its a 2.5 hour drive and at this point I've been up for 20-23 hours. I get an hour from her place and had to stop for food and a drink so I can stay awake. Still OC of course, I go in grab a dew and pretzel melt (mmmm), pay, pickup order, and back to the car. I had noticed when I got out of the car the truck parked next to me had a girl waiting in it, and when I came out I saw she stared me down from the door to my car and as I got in I glanced up and she was still watching and I could read her lips "he has a gun." Got in the car and on the road again.

After getting into town and relaxing a little, girlfriend and I went on a walk around town. She lives across the street from the university. So we head out and walk downtown to the bank, then down main street and up another to get back to her place. The final stretch had the university across the street and all I could think was that state police, borough cops, and campus cops were going to come out of the woodwork or off the roof of Subway and Wendys. But, nothing happened. Later that night we went to the movies (Forgetting Sarah Marshall if you must know... very funny), no problems there as well. Passed out shortly after getting back to her place since it had been about 36 hrs since I last slept.

Today...
I had plans for today, went down to Monroeville for the Pittsburgh Comicon at the Expo-Mart. I went to get David Prowses' (aka Darth Vader) autograph on a PEZ dispenser (yea... I collect 'em). I didn't carry into the Expo Mart just to keep from being hassled. I went over to the mall (I had dropped off the girlfriend there before going to the Expo Center) to do some shopping with the her. I OC'ed and passed 2 mall "cops" who never took notice. No other problems... I was pleased.

I saw a vehicle in the mall parking lot though. The XD sticker caught my eye. A burgundy Jeep Liberty with an XD, Springfield Armory, NRA, and Pitcairn-Monroeville Sportsmans Club stickers on the back window. Anyones here??

Got ass raped (bought gas), paid inside, no looks/problems. The only bad part of my weekend was trying take I-376 through Pittsburgh to 279.... BAD IDEA!! Stuck in traffic for at least 2 and a half mother freaking hours. Had to take the Churchill exit, saw a sign for RT 8 to use left lane, so I decided that would be a good idea except when I had to turn left and PennDOT decided not to place any other signs on which way to go. So I ended up going through Pitcairn, taking 48 back to Monroeville and taking the turnpike, which I then knew how to get where I was going.

End Rant

[ShakeyDad]

Man, that's a lot of words to tell us "nothing happened". Seems the biggest hassle of your weekend so far, was getting stuck in traffic. Good job ! Glad it was uneventful !

[headcase]

Good report If ya had a flyer, ya coulda stuck it on the mystery Jeep.....

[lildobe]

Good show! I don't get out towards Monroeville much anymore, so it's unlikely you'd have bumped into me, but it's always nice to hear of other people OC'ing in the Pittsburgh area.

[Emptymag]

clarion44, I was in Monroeville yesterday(wasn't my Jeep)and would have been in the mall too, but we ran out of time.
The mall is probably the last place I'd consider OCing around here. It's also someplace I'd not go to unarmed. Glad the shopping trip was uneventful.
(It's not as "bad" as that comment makes it sound, but to anyone who's lived here a while, it's visibly going "downhill")


Oh, and as we headed to Monroeville, I saw that traffic backed up on the parkway... I've never, in 15 years, seen it backed up as far as I did yesterday. Told my wife "Do NOT let me get on back onto 376 to return home!"

[clarion44]

Originally Posted by headcase

Good report If ya had a flyer, ya coulda stuck it on the mystery Jeep.....

I did have a pamphlet on hand, but never thought to leave it. haha.

[Mabuz]

Just FYI, the parkway is being worked on every weekend for the rest of the summer (I think for the next 3 to 4 years too), so one direction is completely closed down just about every single weekend over the summer (either into or out of down town). Stay away if possible...the detours suck, and take insanely long.

The wife and I had a fun time making our own detour to get to the Pens game yesterday...drove about 30 miles out of the way, and still made it in just under an hour (with no detour traffic), for what is normally a 20 minute drive.

[clarion44]

Originally Posted by Mabuz

Just FYI, the parkway is being worked on every weekend for the rest of the summer (I think for the next 3 to 4 years too), so one direction is completely closed down just about every single weekend over the summer (either into or out of down town). Stay away if possible...the detours suck, and take insanely long.

The wife and I had a fun time making our own detour to get to the Pens game yesterday...drove about 30 miles out of the way, and still made it in just under an hour (with no detour traffic), for what is normally a 20 minute drive.

Geez.... thanks for the heads up. That's just insane. I'll be sure to use a different route from now on.