Travel with a Beveridge: Gettin' wiggy with dogs

This is an occasional series about the history of steel manufacturing in Donora, Pa.

Industrialists took a chance by investing in sprawling steel, wire and zinc mills on the western banks of the Monongahela River in what would become known as Donora, Pa., in 1901. Little did they know that an environmental disaster combined with difficult labor relations would cause this complex to become the first of its kind to permanently shut down decades later in the fall of America's Industrial Revolution. The short stories about the rise and decline of this borough, mostly drawn from headlines in the local newspaper, appear under the following links:

A borough rises from hell's bottoms -
Yellow smoke and big money -
The mill is sued over sickening air -
Dangerous jobs among deadly air -
Big promises and pipe dreams

Sorry this story is on hold

WELCOME TO NOWHERE

The author lives in America's rust belt in Pennsylvania, an economically depressed region that has been compared to a Third World country. The journalist's family settled in 1960 in Webster, a village across the Monongahela River from Donora steel and zinc mills that contributed to the nation's deadliest air pollution disaster in 1948. The short stories appear under the links, below, as a continuing series:

Introduction: The warning signs were there

Part 1: Where the houses turned black - The murders killed our reputation - Steel wives were desperate - A cantankerous boom town - Dying for fresh air - A railroad to disaster

Part 2: Bad boys of Webster - The seedy side of town - Swept out the door - A storm was brewing - The search for plant life - Little hope for Donora - Another mill folds

Scott sends dirty clothes home when on the road

If you are like him when you travel, your clothes seem to take up more space in your suitcase after you have worn them. Take a tip from Scotty and mail yourself a package home filled with those dirty socks, underwear and T-shirts after you have been on the road for five or six days. You can buy a box and enough postage at the post office for less than $15. Postal workers seem to get a kick out of the idea, and they will even help you fold your box and tape it closed, too. Seek out a post office in a small town, where the workers have more time to gossip, while driving to a tourist destination. Now, you have room in your carryon to cart home your souvenirs, without having to worry about them getting broken or flown to St. Louis when your switchover is aiming for Pittsburgh.

He also hates road warriors; prefers to chill on down time

The successful traveler packs a personality blessed with patience and some understanding of the road.

Scott says do everyone a favor and STAY HOME if you are an anal retentive, control freak who spends far too much time complaining about life. When traveling, folks always take the risk of flight delays and cultural misunderstandings, or having companions who don’t wear watches or luggage and could land in Macon, Ga., when they are flying to Istanbul.

So keep a book or two in your carryon in case you are stuck in the airport in Haiti while rebels are burning tires in the streets and preventing the pilot from reaching the cockpit of your plane. That bag should also carry any prescription drugs you need, deodorant and toothpaste, along with a toothbrush, clean pair of underwear and T-shirt.

When you arrive, please don't linger in your hotel room. Go outside to meet interesting people. You can sleep when you get home.

Always take a moment to sit down and remove your shoes, like the old man in Hanoi, who is shown in the above photograph at the Temple of Literature in Hanoi.

And before you fly overseas, please check with the U.S. Department of State to find out which countries hate Americans the most.