There, after scanning many bus schedules, my co-conspirator and I resolved to visit the Emsworth and Avalon Loops, the former being unknown and the latter un-photographed. My desire to ride an unridden bus route caused us to resolve upon the 16A--Ohio River Blvd followed by the 16B--Brighton.
We EBA'd to Penn Station without incident, then boarded a 16B. Margaret noticed that the NO SMOKING sign above the windshield, which is almost always messed with in some way (often to "NO MOKING") had been changed to "MOOING". This was photographed for posterity. The bus headed without incident to Ohio River Boulevard, a road alternating between hideous hellwayage and annoying five-lanes-but-sidewalksage. Unfortunately for us, we carefully got off at a stop in the hideous hellwayage, at a road called "Toms". Our road map told us that "Toms" would not take us back to Emsworth, leaving walking back on the hellway as the only option. This was done. The shoulder was very wide, with just the expected amount of branches and roadkill, so we proceeded without incident for about a mile, at which point the shoulder became a narrow concrete ditch filled with underbrush and trash.
At one point we had to enter the roadway. I waved my stick like I was crazy, or directing traffic, or directing traffic crazily. Drivers suddenly decided that the other lane was a good place to be.
The consolation was that after this pain, we found ourselves at what is almost certainly the site of the former Emsworth Loop, which will be discussed on the Loops pages in due course. It is particularly satisfying to find a Loop that is neither still in use (e.g. Avalon) nor unused but well-preserved (e.g. Spring Hill), and to do so by relatively subtle clues.
Walking along Center (which becomes Church) we saw an unusual number of bicyclists (mostly young, of course, this being Pittsburgh where adults rarely ride bicycles), walked across several bridges over beat-up shit-roads or bikepath-things, and saw a photo of an old streetcar in the window of a barbershop.
As always, lock your windows.
