Winter Walk

       This is the Tionesta River, a popular fishing and float stream near Warren, although it becomes too shallow and rocky in summer to be much good for either except in some deeper pools. I walked the old railroad grade alongside it yesterday, and passed these icicles formed from water flowing off the steep hillside to the left. It had been about four years since I'd been at this specific spot, and that time lapse made me think of the last time Chelsea and I had been here-which is often the case when returning to old walks; they rekindle fond memories of  how she would rush ahead and sniff for chipmunks and, if it was summer, take a quick swim to cool off. Dogs are remarkable animals who become part of the family and whose short lifespans remind us to cherish each moment for the blessing it is.

 

More Southern Travel Observations

  I had never seen a cotton field before my first journey south a couple years ago, and was surprised to see the hay like bales scattered over the landscape. Cotton is still big business, as is lumber, and pine trees are clear cut by the millions, then replanted like corn. The south has thousands of abandoned, rotting buildings, including old gas stations, houses, stores, motels and other structures. In one town I counted six  abandoned motels in various stages of decay, and can only speculate that whatever economic boom had led to their construction no longer existed. I do not know why so many buildings are left to rot, but possibly the relative poverty of the south means that people simply abandon them when life gets tough and either lack of insurance or lack of new buyers means they sit empty for decades. Another very common feature in the south is churches; there are thousands of them, from small school house type buildings to million dollar mega churches. Regardless of the economy, religion is important in the south so the churches always seem to have priority; the photo illustrates a typical middle of the road congregation. Finally, a peculiar driving habit of southerners- four out of ten of them anyway-is a hesitancy to pass slower vehicles. As I drove the van along two lane roads, which are often straight and flat for miles, sometimes I would either be at the posted speed limit or as much as 10mph below it, and a car would approach rapidly from behind-obviously traveling ten to twenty mph faster than me. That car would pull in and tailgate one or two lengths behind, then stay there for miles-despite many opportunities of  open road to pass. There seems to be a hesitancy-an intimidation maybe-for some drivers to pass, and they would rather drive much slower than make the effort.

 

Southern Travels

   This is part of the Lower Suwanee River Rail Trail at the border of South Carolina and Georgia along Highway 301, that follows the old highway paralleling the new highway. In one picture you can see the new and old bridges, the latter still showing the remarkably well preserved wooden pilings. In fact, along the three miles I walked only one railing showed overt deterioration of the concrete after 83 years. The old highway culminated in a pivoting bridge that turned on a turnstile to allow boats to navigate the river. The new highway bridge was constructed at a higher level. This is just one interesting artifact I stumbled upon while meandering down south.

 

 

The Election Travesty...or...Hopefully This is the End of This

   this is a smaple of the emails I have been sending my representatives..

 >As a Pennsylvania resident I object strongly to your immoral and unethical and probably treasonous attempts to enable Mr. Trumps false claims of election fraud. The use of mail in ballots here was a totally reasonable adaptation to help save lives during an extremely unusual and deadly time-just as masks and social distancing have been. The votes were accurately counted and Mr. Biden won. To argue a legal technicality in order to dismiss the votes of millions of American citizens is both despicable and dishonors all those men and women who have died protecting our democracy. Shame on you for being on the wrong side of history and humanity. As a white man I now understand the centuries of voter suppression that the black race has faced in this country. Stop the madness and your support of the immature child man ranting in the white house...This is McCarthyism all over again, but apparently some people- mostly Republicans like you- have never learned genuine integrity. Pathetic…<

     The above is an email I have sent to my representative Glenn Thompson and, in a modified form, to Mr. Trump, Mr. McConnel, Mr. Cruz and others in our state and national governments. In all my 65 years I have never experienced such an egregious assault on the integrity of our elections, nor such a blatant, self serving distortion of the good spirit of the vote. For the Republican party to support these attempts is absolutely disgusting to me, so it is difficult for me to disguise my contempt for the men and women whose personal character is so lacking. If nothing else, this year should remind all of us of how easy it is for a nation to fall into anarchy, when millions are willing to follow a leader into lies and darkness. Some of these people are threatening civil war because of totally fabricated conspiracy theories and the self serving distortions of their cult leader. The disheartening thing is that many of these people are so called good Christians, yet they lack the critical, consistent thinking to comprehend the most basic facts and assertions....So again I write rather than be complicit in silence, and I pray that our institutions continue to defend the people rather than the corruption of those in power.

 

Loleta Rec Area etc

  Took a hike at Loleta Natl. Rec. Area again, where some of the great stone work of the CCC is evident. Just zoom in on the dam to see that they don't build them like that anymore. I am a fan of some kind of national service to help unify this country, and doing infrastructure work such as much needed maintenance on our state and national parks would be a way to employ people after this pandemic ends.

 As for the car...It is now 3 years old with 40,000 miles and I have had absolutely no problems other than a loose heat shield that was easily tightened. The warranty still has 2 years remaining on the bumper to bumper and 7 years/100,000 miles on the engine and drive train-not bad for a purchased new price of $9,995. Mitsubishi Mirages get terrible reviews by the 'experts' yet many owners- including me- love them,  It is great everyday transportation and averages 47mpg... What's not to like? I  think the 'experts' are fools on this one, and totally missing the point of this car for people who simply want good, basic, reliable transportation.

Chapman Dam

   Circled the pond at Chapman today-a state park about ten miles from the house. A cross country skier had proceeded me in the new snow, but it is always a tranquil, beautiful  park just a short drive from Warren. The pond is popular for fishing, swimming and kayaking in summer, as well as ice fishing and sledding on a groomed hill in winter. Most years there is a festival in January, with dog sled races etc, but Co-vid has canceled that for this season. Winter is Beth's favorite season, and despite my preference for warm weather, I am not blind to the beauty of a winter woods. In fact, hemlocks draped in a fresh snow offer me a humbling contrast to the muttering under my breath I do when I have to scrape the windshield almost every day.

One of many nationwide

   " ANF-13 (Bull Hill) was operational from July 2, 1935 until 1946, but it was converted to a German POW camp from 1942 through 1946. It was also used as a YCC, Youth Conservation Camp, in the 1970s, with the addition of mobile trailers on the site. There was a Univ. of Iowa forestry field school here in the 1980s and it was an 82d Airborne exercise area. The CCC men from here built the Farnsworth Fish Hatchery, and also Forest Roads 116, 119 and 154, as well as many other projects. Besides Bull Hill, it was also called the Austin Hill and the Cherry Grove Camp. See the "Valley Voice" (Sheffield newspaper) for Friday, Oct. 1999 for interviews, photos and maps. A 1994 edition of this paper has many more photos. An article in the Sheffield "Observer" for Aug. 13. 1935 lists the eleven buildings, which included five 110' barracks. It is west of Sheffield,PA on Route 2002, between Forest Roads 416 and 481. There is a road side historic marker, erected by the ANF. Isabelle Champlin, University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, Bradford, PA., has site maps, as does the ANF."

        Walked past this marker a few weeks ago-in the middle of nowhere essentially- but I never saw any of the buildings which were torn down years ago. A lot of stonework the men did in the forest-dams and buildings and walls- has aged well. Quality stonework is a lost art and usually replaced by concrete in the modern age, although even modern concrete seems to break down much faster than that mixed in the last century. There are concrete bridges from the 1930's which are only now crumbling and ten year old concrete bridges down the road that already show signs of deterioration. It is a sad fact that workmanship is not what it used to be in many places, or at least, too expensive for the majority of us to experience.