Centralia PA

Hey guys,

I took a 400 mile round trip ride Saturday to Centralia PA. What a sight it was! The entire town is in ruins from the fire that started in 1962.

We started out at 8am and rode a back road route to Centralia(about 162 miles). Had to stop right before we made it to fuel up(damn pipes and PCIII). The 3 guys I was riding with were all on BMW's(2-1150rt's and one 1200), so they had no problems with fuel. We got there around 1200 and had lunch before we headed to the site. Once there I realized just how lucky I am. Miners and their families live a VERY poor life. The surrounding towns were what I would call VERY poor. These people are the backbone of the country, but are probably the least appreciated(IMHO).

The town itself was eary, from what I could see there are two house and a cemetery left. It's filled with a lot of roads that lead to no where. We had to ditch the bikes to see the route that the government had closed. It was wicked! You could see the steam coming from the craters in the road, and actually feel and smell the coal burning.

Once we had our fill of the ruins we mounted up and headed home. The 180 mile return trip proved to be a lot for my ***! We stopped about 4 times to strech out legs, refuel and shoot the ****. We got back to my buddies house around 630, I decided to have something to eat and relax a little before I made the 60 mile trip home. It had to be the longest 60 miles I have ever ridden. I got home around 830, and my *** has never been so happy as it was that night after I finally got off the bike!

All in all it was a great ride with a lot of great guys. I had a chance to give the Chatterbox system a try on this trip as well. It preformed great, but I'm not happy withthe mic.

[nomedia]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjtmaCI9_wM[/nomedia]

A quick film on the town

Crazy cool man. I have seen pictures before, but never met anyone who had been. I bet that was a hell of a experince. Thanks for posting it.

It was a humbling experience for sure. I will have more pics once the guys I was with send me theirs, and I will post them.

ant_mb said:

It was a humbling experience for sure. I will have more pics once the guys I was with send me theirs, and I will post them.

Click to expand...

Thanks, I had not heard of this disaster before. How did the fire start?

Wow.....that was a sad film on the town.... I too had not heard of the fire

when did it start.... kind of an erie destination for a ride

Wow, my missus loves the Silent Hill film, yet I never realised it was part factual.

OK the demonic beasts running around tearing limb from limb is a tall order but an underground coal fire that has burnt for over 30 years, jaw dropping!

The fire has actually been burning for 45 years. They say there is enough coal for it to burn another 1000.

I linked you to the UTMC and Ninja250 as well.
1000 years I wonder what the area will look like then?

Google it. There's a link in there that tells you that they were burning trash in an abandoned coal mine in 1962 because it was a hole in the ground and they thought that there was no more coal in it... the ground baked off and found a seam and went ape**** after that.


Khyren

:edit check this one out. there's alot more than just centralia that's burning one even from 1915! clicky