Reading, Pennsylvania

We start the day with an unexpected setback before driving the Benjamin Franklin Highway to Reading, Pennsylvania, where we visit the Reading Pagoda on Mount Penn, the Ugly Oyster downtown for lunch, and the Reading Public Museum.

Dad and I left Harrisburg after a leisurely morning and headed for Reading, Pennsylvania. We had picked a route that would take about 90 minutes, giving us time to see Reading’s Mid-Atlantic Air Museum and the Reading Pagoda before lunch. We were making good time as I turned off one highway to join another. My route curved to the right, and I looked left briefly to check the line of cars stopped at the light ahead, ensuring I had plenty of clearance. That’s when the flat edge of the road on my right turned into a sudden curb.

POP!

I felt some resistance from the wheels, then a bit more. I had clearly blown the tire. I pulled over next to a pharmacy and confirmed the situation.

This is a good time to introduce our rental car: a new Jeep Wrangler 4xe hybrid. This was not at all the car we chose when we booked this journey with Budget many months before. We had reserved a crossover SUV. But when we arrived in Washington, D.C., after a cross-country flight and a shuttle to a small and very busy offsite parking lot, we were asked by the lot attendants whether we would like a pickup truck instead. This wasn’t an upsell; they had very few cars and were washing and releasing vehicles as they came in. I declined and was then offered the Jeep hybrid. Predicting a long wait, I agreed to take it and drove away with the Jeep still dripping from its hose-down.

Driving this more-exotic car meant we might not be able to get a good replacement tire quickly. We did have a tire on the back of the Jeep but thought it might be an emergency replacement. I called Budget, and to their credit they quickly found and dispatched a local tire-repair service. The guy who came out was fast and professional, and he was surprised to discover that we indeed had a full replacement tire. In less than 90 minutes, the whole thing was over, and we were back on our way with one schedule adjustment — we would miss the air museum.

My phone rang just as we exited the driveway. It was a producer at WFMZ, an independent TV station covering Pennsylvania’s Berks County and the Lehigh Valley. She said she was interested in doing a story on our trip and asked if we could meet at the ballpark in Reading about an hour before the gates opened for that night’s doubleheader. We agreed and adjusted the schedule once more.

Reading Pagoda

To get from Harrisburg to Reading quickly, you can take Interstate 78 to the north, or Interstate 76 to the south. But if you want to enjoy the drive, take the middle road, rural Highway 422, the Benjamin Franklin Highway. We cruised through the towns of Hershey, Palmyra, Lebanon, Myerstown, and more, with farms in between dominated by corn.

When we arrived in Reading, we drove past the city center and up Mount Penn, a 1,120-foot-high peak rising above the town. We came to see the Reading Pagoda, which has been an unusual symbol of the city for more than a century. Built in 1908 at the southern tip of Mount Penn, the Pagoda was meant to be a hotel and restaurant that would be the centerpiece of a luxury resort, with a 30-mile panoramic view of the city. When those plans were abandoned in 1910, the building was sold to another businessman, who donated it to city the following year.

The pagoda contains a massive bell that was cast in 1739 and was formerly installed in a Buddhist temple north of Tokyo. It includes an inscription naming the bell’s donors and giving a prophecy about the end of time.

Downtown Reading

Reading is the fourth-largest city in Pennsylvania, with a population of over 95,000. It is in Berks County and is named for the town of Reading, England, which is in Berkshire County. The sons of William Penn helped map out the town in 1743, shortly after the establishment of North America’s first Amish community in the area. Local ironmasters later supplied weapons and ammunition to the Revolutionary War effort, signaling an industrial future that centered around the Reading Railroad — which transported anthracite coal to ports in Philadelphia — and also included early success in the auto industry.

As with so many industrial cities in America, Reading’s fortunes peaked in the 1930s, then went into decline through the second half of the 20th century. According to the 2010 U.S. census, Reading had the highest percentage of residents (41.7%) living in poverty of any U.S. city with a population over 65,000. Things have improved in the past decade, but there is still work to be done.

Dad and I paused for lunch downtown at the Ugly Oyster Drafthaus. The Irish Pub is set in a building from the 1700s and is the oldest bar in Berks County. The building was renovated in the 1990s to create an authentic pub feel, with stained-glass windows, cocktail tables for conversation, and a wooden bar made in England.

I ordered the Reuben sandwich, because I’m rarely able to pass up a Reuben sandwich. In a three-week baseball road trip, I’m likely to have about eight Reubens, with no regrets.

What I did regret was sitting in a booth just across from an older guy at the bar who could only be described as completely wasted. At noon. He spoke a nearly constant stream of slurred nonsense which the barkeep mostly ignored. Spurned in his desire to communicate his sage insights, he turned to us to continue his sudsy soliloquy. I tuned him out and stared intensely at my sandwich, which was easy and gratifying. After all, it was a Reuben.

Reading Public Museum

We continued our sightseeing with a visit to the Reading Public Museum, founded in 1904 to showcase achievements in the arts, sciences, natural history, and culture. The museum’s grounds also include both a planetarium and a 25-acre arboretum.

When we visited, the museum was featuring the vibrant work of Cuban-American artist Carlos Luna, who emigrated in 1991 to Mexico, where he met his wife (and subject of some of his paintings) Claudia Catalina Luna. The couple moved to Florida in 2002, where Carlos is also engaged as a sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and tapestry-weaver.

Carlos Luna, *El rapto de la Catalina,* 2001

The museum is nothing if not eclectic, with displays of everything from wild animals to religious iconography to medieval armor and robot animals. But it was an easy palate cleanser before a very busy night of baseball.

Dale Chihuly, *Dappled Chalk Violet Ikebana with Fuchsia Frog Foot,* 2002

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