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On the Road Again with Merle

Rookie82 said:
This is the Homeshow Midway, which also includes booths set up from a lot of local businesses. Many give out coupons at the fair that you can use throughout the year. Everything from tombstone designs, to water softeners, to churches bible school classes, to roofing and gutters, to motorhomes, and even the local John Deere dealer giving out incentives to buy farm implements.

View attachment 1912618

This is underneath the grandstands, where a lot of local clubs sell raffle tickets, and give out freebies to the kids.

View attachment 1912619

Since I was about 11, my mother and step-father bought a building on the fairgrounds and sold various different fair foods, but the mainstay was homemade curly fries. His last name was Curley, so it was a natural fit. I was allowed to run free around the fair every day from 11am-5, but then helped out in the food stand from 5-close during the after-work rush of crowds. I may have hated it at the time, but looking back it gives a lot of good memories and taught me a good work ethic.

When my step-father passed away, my youngest step-brother picked up the reigns and runs the stand now. They go through around 2000 pounds of potatoes in 7 days, along with all the other types of food they offer (hot sausage, cheeseburgers, rootbeer floats, BBQ pulled pork, etc.)

View attachment 1912620

After a long day, Merle helped cut the wristband off my arm, and we crawled into bed.

View attachment 1912621
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Alright, I have to know, what are garbage fries?
 
Rookie82 Rookie82
What a fantastic visit Carl! Merle must be having a blast with you as his host. Incredible pictures of what must be a intensely satisfying life in rural Pennsylvania. I really especially enjoy your appreciation of family history and the passing down of traditions. Wonderful in so many ways. Thank you sir.
 
mbkr said:
Great job Carl! :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:
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Thanks!
abbydaddy said:
Alright, I have to know, what are garbage fries?
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haha, so is that not a universal delicacy??? I just assumed everyone had those all over the US.

Garbage fries is a dish of fries with every available topping added on (chili, cheese, onions, peppers, ketchup, vinegar, ranch, salt/pepper). Eat it with both hands along with a roll of paper towels, or for sophisticated folks you ask for a fork.
 
Fodderwing said:
Rookie82 Rookie82
What a fantastic visit Carl! Merle must be having a blast with you as his host. Incredible pictures of what must be a intensely satisfying life in rural Pennsylvania. I really especially enjoy your appreciation of family history and the passing down of traditions. Wonderful in so many ways. Thank you sir.
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Thank you Dwight, I happy to host and hope everyone has enjoyed it so far. Still a few more activities planned before Merle packs his bags for the next location.
 
Merle really has been having a grand time. The only time I have been up to Erie has been for steelhead fishing, and it seems that snow and ice are always involved. It looks a bit different in the summer.

Thank you Carl, for the wonderful travel log.
 
This just keeps getting better...some great adventures and astounding bits of history.....but Carl...Im way ahead of you...when you and Red Merle snuck aboard I was already preparing to repel boarders using the time honoured method of swinging impossibly down from the poopdeck on a rope armed with a cutlass between my teeth and a duelling pistol in each hand....thence jumping overboard .. swimming to the security office and making them announce over the tannoy ...
" Security to the Gundeck Security to the gundeck! "
 
meako said:
This just keeps getting better...some great adventures and astounding bits of history.....but Carl...Im way ahead of you...when you and Red Merle snuck aboard I was already preparing to repel boarders using the time honoured method of swinging impossibly down from the poopdeck on a rope armed with a cutlass between my teeth and a duelling pistol in each hand....thence jumping overboard .. swimming to the security office and making them announce over the tannoy ...
" Security to the Gundeck Security to the gundeck! "
Click to expand...
Never trust security, they're turncoats who will waffle for a doubloon and 1/2 a bottle of watered down rum!
 
Rookie82 said:
Thanks!

haha, so is that not a universal delicacy??? I just assumed everyone had those all over the US.

Garbage fries is a dish of fries with every available topping added on (chili, cheese, onions, peppers, ketchup, vinegar, ranch, salt/pepper). Eat it with both hands along with a roll of paper towels, or for sophisticated folks you ask for a fork.
Click to expand...
🤤
 
I will be sending Merle along to his next stop tomorrow, but I've got photos prepared for 3 more days of posts in the meantime.

For today's post we visited the famous Kinzua Bridge Viaduct, which was a railroad trestle that was known as the “8th Wonder of the World” when it was created in 1882. The bridge was 301 feet high above the valley floor, and was nearly ½ mile long. At the time it was made, it was the record for tallest bridge in the world. However, in 1900 it was slowly disassembled/reassembled 1 piece at a time, replacing the wrought iron with steel instead, so that it could support heavier train loads. It was used for commercial freight trains up through 1959, at which point the land around it became a state park, and the bridge was only used for small train rides to tourists ever since.

The bridge made it possible to navigate across the steep valley, carrying coal from Elk County straight into Bradford, PA, and preventing an 8 mile detour to get around the valley. The bridge was undergoing some maintenance in July 2003 when a tornado touched down and traveled up the valley. When it hit the bridge, it caused 11 of the 20 support towers to collapse, ending the use of the viaduct.

In 2011, the remaining portion of the bridge was converted into a walkway for tourists, and they added in a visitors center and museum. Hiking trails were created, and many festivities are now held there. If any of you are ever in the area, I highly recommend you visit. The information, videos, photos, and information in the museum is quite interesting, and it is all free admission.

An investigation in 2004 of the bridge remains revealed that during the 1900 switch from iron to steel, the workers reused the bolts from the original 1882 bridge to hold the upright towers onto the stone anchor blocks. Engineers theorized that if “modern” 1900 bolts had been used, the bridge likely would have withstood the high winds from the tornado.

Here is a photo of the original bridge before the collapse.



Here is the new “skywalk” bridge, using about 1/3 of the original bridge. Merle really liked the view.

(images removed due to BF Attachment limits)
 
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The old railroad tracks are still going down the center of the bridge, with walkways built on either side. You can walk the center and look down between the railroad ties to see the valley far below.



All that remains of over 50% of the original bridge.



Gotta hold on tight. Merle was considering doing some dare devil maneuvers, but I talked him out of it.



As always, still more to come tomorrow!

(images removed due to BF Attachment limits)
 
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