Pulling Out

New Home on Wheels

So, the adventure begins. In Katonah yoga they say the potential is in the future which lies ahead of you and memories are in your past. I still reflect on all wonderful memories and look forward to the potential that lies ahead of me.

The first leg of the trip will take me to my home town in Central Pennsylvania for my high school reunion. I’m not sure what to expect but it should be fun none-the-less.

Living in the same town your entire life creates deep bonds between people and their community. There’s a comfort in the daily routine and relationships with people that share similar values. On the other hand, traveling reveals different cultures and communities, opens the mind to different opinions and exposes you to varied ways of living.

Traveling changes you in so many ways. It can be awarding and even scary at times, but the opportunity to explore, meet new people and learn new things is always calling.

Day 1 of my trip was uneventful. I Traveled from Simsbury, CT to Hollidaysburg, PA. It took 6 1/2 hours with one break in Scranton (Montage Mtn.). There’s a shopping plaza with a Starbucks that sits halfway up the mountain. Montage Mtn. is known for skiing and in the summer various events take place there including the Peach Music Festival.

I had frozen custard at The Meadow’s (very popular with the locals). The original custard stand was opened on this site in 1950. My parents knew the two brothers that started the business. Over the years, they ventured into many different businesses, a golf driving range, scrapple, outdoor trampolines, groceries, go-karts, miniature golf and probably a few I’m not aware of. After 70+ years, the custard stand still remains the cash-cow that keeps on giving. Part of the business was sold years ago to Kraft foods and custard stands began to popup in various states. I mentioned to my son recently that it would be difficult to move this stand and have it be popular in the same way. It is a local icon and place to congregate for the surrounding communities. There’s something that’s passed down, generation to generation now, that keeps this 50’s icon hopping as it always has been.

Day 2: I spent a few hours riding the streets of Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania where I grew up, reminiscing about places I spent with friends. I remembered weddings in different churches, funerals of so many relatives and friends, restaurants that once were and homes of close relatives.

The town has changed a lot since its heyday as a railroad town. I road the railroad tracks and visited the McLanahan foundry, the scrap metal yard and Slinky factory. Even the Slinky factory has had its ups and downs over the years. Apparently, the Slinky is still being manufactured in Hollidaysburg. Many of the old buildings are gone or renovated, but the town still tries to preserve the historic buildings when they can.

I had a delicious meal of salmon and corn with my friends, Barry and Carol at their beautiful home. Two other classmates from high school joined us later (D Field and R Truesdale).

Day 3: My brother and I took a trip south to the Bedford County historical archives to find genealogical data on the Ott family. I was a little disappointed in the lack of information they had for the Ott family. They also charged us $10 each per hour and 25 cents a page for anything we copied. It didn’t take much time to rack up $25 in charges. They did have a few things that were interesting for the family tree. Although most of the information is online for a fraction of the cost. We learned that the Ott Mill was actually purchased from Samual Diehl around 1760 and gathered records about the exact location of both Ott mills (lumber and grain). We had been told that the Otts didn’t fight in the Revolutionary war or Civil war. In fact 4 of the family fought in the Civil war and Henry was killed in Virginia.

Returning from Bedford, we took a side trip to the quaint little town of Martinsburg, Pa. in the heart of amish country. We had lunch at Maimie’s Cafe and Backery. I had a very delicious salad with chicken and poppy seed dressing. The salad had layers of flavor and included various types of lettuce, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, olives, a couple of Ritz crackers (which worked), cheddar cheese and chicken which was cooked in a poppy seed mustard marinade. It was a lot of food and so tasty. I should have saved half the salad and left room for the baked good. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming.

On the way back we stopped at a new nature park in Hollidaysburg near Chimney Rocks. The park didn’t look very old or it’s very well maintained. It was an educational park that explained the need for a Multifunctional Riparian Forest Buffer.

I skipped dinner because of the three meal lunch. My brother drove me to the US Hotel in Hollidaysburg for a casual gathering of my classmates before our reunion. Surprisingly, there were about 40 classmates there. I had never been to a class reunion in 51 years. So, I had absolutely no idea who anyone was by just looking at them. We all looked very different. The people that had remained in the town knew most of the people. Old friendships were sparked and long forgotten memories resurfaced.

Day 4: After breakfast, I went to my friends home to teach a yoga class. My three friends had never done yoga. So, we spent a lot of time getting into various basic poses (cat/cow, downdog, warrior poses and some yin poses). After two hours of yoga, we all seemed ready for some really good coffee. Thank you Carol!

A friend was having a show of two centuries of bridal fashion at Baker’s Mansion in Altoona. I got a private tour with a lot of detail on how wedding gowns have changed from the victorian period to today.

That evening we had the class reunion for the Hollidaysburg Class of 71. More classmates came to the dinner at the Blairmont Country Club in Hollidaysburg. Mr. Duncan, one of our teachers was the master of ceremonies and killed it at 86. For dinner, we had a choice of filet mignon, chicken or my choice of salmon. Everything was well prepared. They had a DJ that played songs mostly from the 70’s; not a period known for its dance music.

Day 5: A travel day. There are many of these days ahead of me. I left Hollidaysburg at 10:30 am on my way to Canandaigua Lake in New York for a family reunion.