Kinzua

I had my best night of sleep on the trip so far which was welcomed.  The loft I have been sleeping in was extremly toasty thanks to the wood stove that had been burning all day.  When I crawled into bed I was just in my shorts and a t-shirt.  However once the fire burned out overnight I found myself reaching for extra covers to compensate.  The temperature when I awoke this morning was a balmy 7 degrees.

Everybody seemed to still be in bed when I got up. I decided I would bundle up and go out to the shop which is connected to the barn where the sheep stay to restart the fire in the stove out there that helps keep the out buildings somewhat warm for the animals.  As I was setting up the fire I could hear a few of the sheep “talking” to me, wondering what was going on.  I walked over there briefly to say hello, unsure what the morning sheep related chores were.  They stared at me confused but at least didn’t run away like they did yesterday.

I got the fire cranking and then headed back inside.  In the time I was out in the shop dad had woken up and taken the dogs with him in the truck to go grab his daily paper and cup of coffee.  While he was gone I went back outside with Teresa to see what she does with the animals.

She feeds them which consists of giving them grain which looks identical to chicken feed and then layering hay on top of it.  The sound of 20 sheep eating grain simultaneously was unique.  I told Teresa it sounded like rain on a tin roof.  She then would clean and refill their huge water barrel and do a brief cleaning of the stall which supplements the weekly full cleaning they have to do.

The one ram named Frasier was one of the babies that was born when Cindy and I visited two years ago.  He is unique in that he has no fear of people since my step mom basically raised him, he was rejected by his mother.   He let me stroke his face without fear and when Teresa started petting him he wagged his tail in approval.  It was so cute.

So Frank and Dee stayed over last night.  After we ate something for breakfast they pulled out to return to eastern PA, leaving me as the lone guest in the house.  It felt weird since a scarce 24 hours earlier there were close to 20 people inside the walls.

Dad suggested a plan where we take the dogs for a walk followed by visiting a relatively nearby landmark, the Kinzua Bridge.  I told him it was fine with me as long as we could stop at the Dollar General Store and the post office for me to try to secure stuff ot help me protect the glued skull for the trip back to Florida.  We hit the store first and I was surprised at the selection.  I scored a roll of bubble wrap and a cheap gym bag that was just the right size to hold the box I hoped to find at the post office.

At the post office I thought I had struck out, not seeing at first the square box I envisioned for the skull in the collection of flat rate boxes they had on display.  However my dad noticed a square holiday themed box on the wall that they evidently sell.  It looked to be the perfect size to hold the skull with some room for padding yet still fit in my cheap gym bag.  I felt fortunate to find everything I needed within a few mile radius.

We did the walk part of the trip first, taking the dogs on around a two mile trek on a snow covered trail.  By that time it had “warmed” up to 12 or 13 degrees.  I felt like I have adjusted somewhat to the frigid air.  The only thing super painful was my exposed face.  Everything else felt tolerable.

The drive up to the bridge took some time.  Dad described the bridge to me but I didn’t get a real appreciation of it until we got there.  This bridge was constructed in the late 1800’s and was meant to cross a huge valley in order to expedite rail traffic to Buffalo.  It’s supports were originally made from iron but were replaced around 1900 with steel to greater support the tremendous weight of fully loaded trains passing over it.  The maximum speed a train crossed the bridge at was 5 mph.

The bridge was used for decades as an important part of the supply route until it was eventually repurposed as a part of the route recreational trains would use on rail tours.  In 2003 there was a F1 tornado that ripped some of the pilings free, collapsing a large section of the bridge which would never be reopened to serve the purpose it had held for over a century.  Instead in 2011, the standing, repaired portion of the bridge was opened up as a tourist attraction.

Just last year an amazing visitor center was opened which is filled with all sorts of interesting interactive displays that tell you about the very long history of the bridge and how it came to be what it was today.  After checking out the visitor center dad and I walked out onto the bridge itself which at it’s highest is some 250 feet off the ground below.  The span you can walk is roughly 600 feet long, at the end of which is a square covered in clear panels that you can walk on, allowing you a rather disconcerting but very cool look straight down.  As you look out over the collapse area you still see all of the bent and mangled trusses scattered in the valley as well as the other standing portion of the structure several hundred yards away.  It was really a wierd visual to take in.

The walk back from the end was pretty brutal as a serious wind smacked us head on, knifing into our exposed skin like little icy daggers.  That 600 feet felt twice as long on the way back.  Even so I really appreciated dad making the suggestion to go there, it was a unique experience I just never would have sought out on my own.

We stopped at a quaint little establishment on the way back in Mount Jewett.  Evidently my dad and step mom like to go there a lot in warmer weather to have breakfast since the dogs can join them at the outdoor tables.  The place had a for sale sign on it that dad said has been there for more than a year.  The woman that runs it was quite friendly and pleasant.  Dad grabbed a side order of bacon and eggs that Maggie and Clara split when we got back out to the truck.

Since arriving back at the house I have been trying to get through a few more chapters in my book as well as punch out this entry.  I also carefully packed the purple skull in it’s new protective barriers.  It all fit together pretty much perfectly.  I was very skeptical before today that I would be able to get the skull back home intact.  I now think I have a good fighting chance.

Tonight will be a chill night enjoying more of my stepmoms delicious cooking while watching some Netflix rental they have on the counter.  Tomorrow I am thinking I will pull out mid-afternoon to head back to Pittsburgh so I can avoid driving the twisting, snowy roads at night.  It’s been a good few days thus far and I have no reason to think the conclusion of the trip won’t follow the same template.