Today was a very relaxing day. We had a full day free to drive to Rochester, New York so we could visit the Rochester School for the Deaf and NTID, so we decided to take a detour and see Pittsburgh. After getting up at 10 in the morning, our longest sleep of the trip so far, and taking a very hot shower at the KOA campground where we stayed at, we were relaxed and ready for an enjoyable day.

We drove around Pittsburgh and enjoyed driving between Heinz Field and PNC Park and seeing the two beautiful new stadiums where the Steelers and the Pirates play up close. Driving through downtown in the mid-day rush hour with a 32-foot RV was certainly a challenge, but it was worth it, because we got to visit the Pennsylvania Association for the Deaf club house. It was nice free standing structure owned entirely by the PAD, and a sign on the front of the building declaring who owned it. We then stopped at the Center for Hearing & Deaf Services to buy a brand new alarm clock so that we can get up every morning this summer. We bought a vibrating SonicAlert portable alarm that we can easily slip under our pillows. After spending about 4 hours in the beautiful city of Pittsburgh, we hit the road again for the five hour drive to Rochester. In our long drives from Columbus to Pittsburgh and then Pittsburgh to Rochester, we had a lot of talks. One of these discussions was that we now feel that is was necessary to officially name our RV.

We’re getting tired of just calling this place “our RV.” Like NASA names its shuttles and captains name their boat, we want to name the Fleetwood that is carrying us across the country and back over the next 93 days. With that in mind, we have decided to have our first DeafNation RoadTrip contest, the “Name Our RV!” contest. Since this RV is a beacon for the Deaf community, carrying with it the hopes of spreading awareness of the Deaf throughout the entire country, we feel it is necessary to have your input in naming our RV. We want your suggestions for our RV’s name along with a brief description as to why you think our RV should be named that. We will pick several of the best suggestions and post them here on our website, and then have an official vote of what we will name our RV. The winner will have the honor of having their suggestion become the official name of our RV, and win a free X-Box system!