A Little Bit of History

 Doris Day…Can you believe it? It was Doris Day! She was looking out the window of the hotel along with a bunch of other patrons. They were watching a movie that was being filmed outside. I was there, beside the camera. Turning to look at the actors, I noticed that she was now standing beside me. There was no mistake, it was her!

    Together we went over to a red Karmann-Ghia convertible, with the top down of course, and drove away. It was right about then that I woke up. Just a few minutes before midnight, it was still Monday. I wanted to go back to that dream but it wasn’t to be. I tossed and turned.

    Finally the alarm went off, a soft gentle blues tune playing. I opened my eyes and discovered that I was holding a cup of coffee in my hand. I must’ve fallen asleep with it.  Feeling around, I realized nothing had spilt. There was still coffee in it, I could smell it. Probably pretty cold by now I thought.

    I swung my legs out of bed, without spilling anything and instinctively took a sip. It was hot and it tasted wonderful! Wow! I looked at the alarm and wondered why it was playing music, for that matter, the blues. Why hadn’t my phone alarm gone off? They were both set for the same time! It suddenly dawned on me and I exclaimed “Because, I’m dreaming!” and then started to laugh. That was when I woke up the second time, laughing no less!

    It was 4:00, the alarm was set for 4:30. No sense going back to bed. I’ll get up and jump into the shower and start the day. I was going to leave for Frank’s house at 5:30. I’d have time for breakfast and some coffee. We had some caches to find!

    Looking outside, I saw stars! Making the shower extremely quick, I grabbed my gear and drove to the near-by hilltop. The Moon was fairly high in the sky and off to the left was Mars and Jupiter. 

    Combined with the thin clouds and the brightness of the Moon, a group shot wasn’t possible. I took a few pictures and returned back home for a quick breakfast and made some coffee to sip on the way. I still made it to Frank’s house 10 minutes earlier than planned.

    We had 8 caches to find, 5 were in the Blairsville area. The first one, hidden in a tree alongside the road went well. It took us a few minutes, but we found it. The next one didn’t go quite as we had planned.

    Hidden near Dean’s Diner, it is a cache that I have looked for numerous times. We searched high and low without any luck. Some caches just aren’t meant to be found, this one is one of them! We went inside and got some coffee and something to eat and then looked some more. Nope, it wasn’t there.

    We did a few in the town but by far, the best one was across the river in what used to be Cokeville.

    A small town used to sit here but now it is mostly weeds. A long time ago, there were coke ovens on the hill here. (I don’t believe they are still there, that will be another adventure!) The houses and businesses were removed when the Canamaugh Dam was built.

     A set of cement stairs leads up to a flat spot where a house used to sit. You can see where a driveway used to be between them and the tree. Small trees grow where the houses used to sit. By looking carefully, we could see other remnants that were left behind, most of them, nearly hidden from view.

Blairsville and the bridge in 1908

    Bits of a roadway lead to the foundation of the old bridge. Who knows what else lies underneath the weeds? The Pennsylvania Canal crossed through this section of land, there might be evidence of it somewhere!

After the St. Patrick’s Day Flood in 1936, a new bridge was built. A lot of the houses in the town were destroyed by the high waters.

    It took some scrambling around with a little hill climbing through brambles and jagger bushes, before Frank found the cache. It was hidden in the notch of a tree.  We had found this cache in 2011, it isn't in the same place now. It was the toughest cache of the day but it was also the most satisfying one!

    We did a couple more in the area and then turned back towards home. Out of 9 caches, we found 7. Not bad for a quick morning hunt.

    Back on rt.22, we were surprised to see that it was only a little past 10. We usually end up returning in the early afternoon. We were home in time for lunch and afternoon chores. It was a great morning; I always enjoy looking for caches with Frank but finding a little bit of history made it even better! 

    As for the caches we missed…Que sera, sera!