Pilgrimage to Jumonville

On New Year's Eve, we trailed close behind my brother's ailing van. Through grey rain and fog, our own van packed with more family, we left Pittsburgh to quietly honor and celebrate the life of a grandmother and a mother. Our destination: the Jumonville Cross, located on a mountaintop outside of my grandmother's childhood home near Uniontown, PA. My brother and I used to drink from the mountain's many running springs, and hike to the summit with my older cousin, who would hide in the woods from us on the way back down the mountain. On this trek, we passed through spooky Brownsville, stopped to peer into my great-grandparent's old house in Lemont Furnace and drove along windy sections of scenic Route 40. My aunt and I were stunned to see a a pile of rubble in place of Fayette County's most beloved potato chip haunt, Ruse's Roost. For more on this endangered roadside fowl, visit The Pittsburgh Signs Project: http://pittsburghsigns.org/archives/2004/02/ruses_roost.html