When you think of a bike friendly downtown waterfront city with breathtaking views, do you think of Pittsburgh? Yea I know, neither did we. To be completely honest, the only reason I wanted to stop there was for a sandwich from the famous Primanti Brothers. Which was insanely delicious! Have you heard of it? They franchised it, but the original location is where to go. Itʼs in the Pittsburg strip district. They pile your choice of meat, french fries and coleslaw between two thick slices of Italian bread. The local favorite order it with fried bologna. They call it “jumbo”. Itʼs epic and you should definitely eat there!
After crushing some sammies, we set out on an amazing bike ride along the Ohio River. is known as the “3 rivers town”, The Ohio, The Monongahela and The Allegheny. Rivers converge to make this landlocked city seem like youʼre not in the middle of the rust belt. We rode all the way to Five Points Park which is huge park with an abundant green space for a city. We biked back to the van and found an awesome spot about 3 minutes after 6pm which meant free parking for us. We posted up right by the park in front of a Marriott Hotel.
We secured the bikes to the van and cooked dinner in the van. As the smells began to pour out of our roof vent people got curious about what was going on inside the van. We dined with the doors open and met some really cool people who were passing by. One kind gentleman from the local steamfitterʼs union offered us a free place to sleep in their parking lot. After dinner we decided to explore more of the outskirts of Pittsburgh and ended up near the airport about 15 miles from town. We pulled into a Walmart and slept there for the night. It was awesome to see other van lifers stopping over to sleep there as well. Best part about sleeping in a Walmart parking lot is if you need anything at all, you just have to go inside.
When people think of Pittsburgh, they think of sports a lot of the time, but Pittsburgh is a very diverse city with lots of attractions. The Andy Warhol Museum is there which is a must see. Oh, and the hills…there are a few very steep inclines that we didn’t think the van would make it up but did. We recommend checking your transmission before tackling the hills in Pittsburgh just to be sure.
Location: Pittsburgh
VanUnity 