If I leave here tomorrow, would you still remember me…
That was the theme to our out of the blue “I need to go to Confluence“ road trip. Many of you know my friend Jackie . Jackie and I pondered the thought of who would visit us either in their grave or in their mind if we passed away. Morbid I know but…we have similar pasts and we both have lost loves. he lived in Confluence almost 11 years ago and had someone that lived there (he was very special to her) pass away, Jimmy. We went to visit his grave and see her old stomping ground. It’s about 31/2 hours fro Lancaster. We forgot several things on our trip, #1 being a camera, although I took pics with my camera phone they suck! I uploaded them to the gallery but you can hardly tell what they are. The best picture you won’t see is when we were right on the outskirts of Confluence, “cows at a bonfire”. We stopped the car so I could get a pic of all the cows socializing at the bonfire by the road, I was laughed at by the towns people and I was told they are keeping warm! All the cows looked up at me as I was taking the picture, when I turned around to leave, Jackie said they all looked down at the fire again. I googled “cows at bonfire” hoping I could get a pic but it’s so unusual that this is all that really came close.
Cow at bonfire
To make our car ride more entertaining we popped in our “Road Trip To Long Island NY 2002″ mix. It was very interesting we rocked out to Avril, Morrissey, Ani, and Mary Me Jane (it was an angry chick mix) ! We also realized that we are not good listeners when it comes to Mrs. GPS. It was a beautiful day when we left in our flip flops and short sleeves but Jackie recalled how chilly it gets up on the mountain! #2 of our important things for a road trip that we forgot…socks. We arrived at our destination around 7:30ish Friday night. It was still light out so we went to find Jimmy’s grave and visited a bit. After,we went to the small town bar called Dodd’s (it opens at 9am). We were gawked at briefly when we walked in. The town has a population of 200 so they know out -of -towners. I was waiting for some lifetime movie to play out but it turned out to be non climatic. We drove around and Jackie showed me various places such as the Community Center which has a roller skate rink and a rabies clinic??? in it. It was dark and we were tired so we set out for a hotel close to Confluence. We used the resourceful GPS and found a hotel 6 miles out called National Trial Motel at 4617 National Pike Markleysburg, PA 15459, you can reach them at 724-329-5531. They asked us to “pass the word” so there ya go. It did the job, we needed beds and a toilet. We watched the 5 channels till we fell asleep and were woken up at 3am by people next to us and I had dreams about drugged potatoes???
We woke early and headed back to Confluence for some breakfast at Sisters Cafe. We went to see Jimmy’s grave one last time and set out for a new route home. This was the best part of the trip! We went down the windiest hills and curviest roads. (Jackie get your breaks checked) This one road had “runaway truck ramps” the roads we so steep, first time I ever even heard of them!
We also went to Fallingwater, but now they charge admission so we made a big U turn.
Oh and important item #3 toothbrush and tooth paste! Anyway, let me list a some things we saw and learned on our journey…
- 30 Bison that I thought were buffalo
- 3 rivers; Yough, Casseman, Ohiopyle
- retention ponds
- there are ATM machines that dispense $5
- History of Johnstown flood
- flip flops not a good idea
- strip mining
- new Depeche Mode album is better than the new Pet Shop Boys
- Flight 93 Memorial (I left my guardian angle there)
- the difference between 0.3mi, 300ft
- Rt 30 goes far
- saw giant working windmills
- tissues at a rest stop cost $4
Lancaster, PA
