Hesston, PA to Cresson, PA

We left Raystown Lake in the rain and headed north on PA 26 towards Huntingdon, PA, and then west on US Hwy 22 (the William Penn Highway) to Cresson, PA, about an hour drive. On the way, we were slowed down for a period by two large pieces of John Deere farm equipment. Photo. As we traveled into Cresson we were on the Admiral Byrd Hwy. Byrd was from Cresson. Our good friend, Ron, who is originally from this area but has lived in Sydney, Australia for several years just happened to be there to renovate a small house he owns in Cresson. Photo of house. It was our good fortune to time our respective trips to meet up here. Ron also lived in San Diego for several years in the 1980's, was a roommate of Steve for awhile, and they were running and triathlon workout partners. We hadn't seen Ron since 2002 when we stayed with him in Sydney. Unfortunately, it rained most of the time we were there. However, this didn't deter us as we visited several important sites in the area. Soon after arrival, Ron's neighbor, Ted, took us to lunch where we had hot turkey sandwiches with lots, and lots of gravy (even on the french fries!). It seems gravy is an important dietary necessity in this part of the country. We then went to the Allegheny Portage Railroad Visitors Center. In 1826, Pennsylvania officials authorized the Main Line canal system between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, an ambitious plan requiring 82 miles of railroad track and 276 miles of canal. They were so anxious to get this completed to compete with New York's Erie Canal, that they didn't have a plan as to how they were going to get the canal boats over the Allegheny Mountains. Once construction reached the foot of the mountains, they devised a plan whereby canal boat passengers and goods would be moved to railroad cars and towed by stationary steam engines up a huge staircase of five inclined planes. On the decent they would be let down five more planes, then transferred again to canal boats. The portage railroad was an amazing stroke of engineering that worked remarkably well when railroads were only experimental. We also visited a "skew arched bridge," built in 1832 to allow an existing wagon trail to cross over plane six of the Portage Railroad. The bridge was built at a skewed or twisted angle so the wagon road and railroad could cross each other and both maintain a straight path. Photo of bridge. Later, we went to the Johnstown Flood Visitors
Center. In 1879 several Pittsburgh industrialists including Andrew Carnegie and Andrew Mellon, had purchased a man made lake for a hunting and fishing club. The reservoir was originally built to supply water for the Main Canal. Over time the earthen dam had deteriorated, having not been updated by these wealthy industrialists despite warnings of disaster. After a night of heavy rain, on May 31, 1889, the water feeding the reservoir from the Little Conemaugh and Stony Creek rivers overflowed the dam, then broke through, sending 20 million tons of water crashing down on the narrow valley where Johnstown was situated. This devastated the town with a 36 foot wall of water filled with huge amounts of debris. More than 2,200 people lost their lives in this, the worst inland flood in the nation's history. Photo of Ron and Steve standing on an overlook where the reservoir once was. The next day, we traveled to the nearby site of Flight 93. On the way, we stopped at the Inn at Georgian Place (Photo) for lunch. There we met Suzie (with a z), an office manager there. Apparently, the inn, built in 1915, is haunted by ghosts. Suzie proceeded to tell us of her encounter with one on a night she was working at the inn by herself. It was delightful listening to her and watching her animated expressions. Photo of Suzie. We then traveled to the site where Flight 93 crashed on Sept 11, 2001 near Shanksville, PA. The memorial there is a temporary one, plans are being made for a permanent memorial. There is a large board where visitors have left various items and notes. This is located several hundred yards from the actual crater made by the plane. One of the photos to the right, if you look closely, you will see an American flag. The actual site is between the flag and the forest beyond it. The actual crash site is accessible only to family members of those killed on Flight 93. The Flight 93 temporary memorial is a place for quiet reflection and expressions of respect for those brave passengers who likely prevented an attack on the Capitol Building (both houses of Congress were in session on that day. We were particularly proud of Mark Bingham, a gay rugby player from California who was one of the passengers who overpowered the hijackers. Needless to say, it was a very somber and emotional visit, one which we will never forget. Photos of the memorial to the right.