Oh The Places I’ve Been…

I had the craziest kind of afternoon, and I managed it all by myself! I’ve met Bertie, the Dunham boys, and an old cowpoke just happening to make a U-turn in the same place I was. (the day was full of U-turns!)

I’ve been on more ridges, hollers, on gravel cow paths, and up and down the same stretch of highway countless times in these Pennsylvania mountains! All of this in search of my ancestors, my roots!

Long story, short. My maiden name is “Elliott”, and my 4th & 5th generation grandparents are buried here in PA, not 30 miles from where I’m living.  This is where they were born and raised. This is home.  Now that’s pretty cool for a Kansas girl to figure out.  So I took off in search of the “Elliott” cemetery.

Forget Google Maps, Bing, my GPS, and Navigator on my phone.  This is where they got me…

Words cannot describe the journey up “Owl Hollow Road”, other than it wasn’t any wider than my car, and the farther I climbed (remember we’re in the mountains here) the more I wondered if this is where “Deliverance” was filmed.  I prayed my way through it.  “Oh Lord help me, Oh Lord help me!”  Along with a few bars of Patsy Cline’s “Crazy”, and continually checked my cell phone for a little green bar (not my luck…it kept saying “out of service area”).

Fear got the best of me, and once I came upon the second spot that I might turn around, I took it as a sign from God!  Who knows what’s at the top of Owl Hollow Road…probably the darn cemetery!

After three hours of searching, I gave up.  (I lasted much longer than my Big Boy would have, glad I was alone!)  I did come away with a phone number that might help the search.  I saw deer and turkey, swarms of butterflies, beautiful mountain top scenery, and this just for you…

I love Pennsylvania covered bridges, hope you do too!  Blessings.

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