We had a wonderful week at Tracy Ridge Campground in the Allegheny Forest of northwestern Pennsylvania. The forest up on the ridge is a nice quiet place, which was a restful change from the hubbub of home. The campground is one of several nice campgrounds on or near the Kinzua Reservoir. Most of the campgrounds are next to the water, and have boat launches and swimming areas. The lake is some thirty miles long with miles and miles of wooded shoreline. Tracy Ridge, however, is up in the woods and, therefore, is not as popular as the others. It is wonderfully quiet and relaxing there.
The last day was especially nice. It was a wonderfully warm and sunny day. We spent the day down by the water of the lake, picnicking, swimming, wading and throwing rocks in the water. Unfortunately, all good times come to an end, and soon it was nearly checkout time at the campground. We drove back up the ridge to the campground to pack up the Airstream and make the journey home.
The Airstream packs up easily for travel, but since at that time we traveled with 5 children, we had a lot of "stuff" to stow away before we could move. A 1971 Globe Trotter 21 does not have a gray water holding tank, so we have to carry one of those blue dollies with us to collect the waste water. We had used the toilets at the campground, like we almost always do, so we had no black water to worry about. We hitched up the old trusty '73 Chrysler station wagon, and soon the Airstream was ready to go. We dumped the gray water dolly at the trailer dump station and took off down the road.
It was a clear and sunny day. The scenery was typical Pennsylvania hills and forests; a great day for a ride! Coming down from the ridge is like riding a soap box derby car; it's several miles of coasting. There was no traffic on the road and it was as if we had the whole place to ourselves.
While rounding the last curve before we got back down to the lake, I observed what looked like a tree in the middle of the road. This is when my great analytical mind kicked in.
"That's a tree in the middle of the road !!", my eyes told my brain.
"Yes, but this is a clear, sunny and WINDLESS day", my brain retorted.
"Sure looks like a tree!", my eyes argued back.
"We just came this way and the road was clear", my brain remarked.
"But you must admit that that looks like a tree!", replied my eyes.
"Yeah, but how is a tree going to get across a road on a windless day?", my brain argued back.
Well, while all this arguing was going on, my foot should have been on the brake pedal instead of the gas, because the next moment my eyes said, "Dammit! That IS a tree in the middle of the road!!!"
"Oh, yeah" said my brain rather sheepishly and not without a little embarrassment. That's when my eyes and my brain both yelled, "STOP!!!" to my foot, which quickly applies the brakes. By then, however, it was too late to get the rig stopped in time. While the tires screeched and smoked across the pavement in a desperate attempt to stop, the Chrysler and the Airstream both went sailing right through that tree in the middle of the road. Leaves flew everywhere and the branches smashed into the grille and windshield. The curbside front of the Airstream took a hit also. The radio antenna snapped right off the Chrysler and branches got stuck in the roof rack. Once stopped, we got out to look at the mess. There were leaves and branches stuck all over the car and scattered all over the road. Luckily, the old Chrysler is made of heavy metal (and not a bunch of cheesy plastic) so nothing else was damaged but the antenna. The side of the trailer, however, being made of aluminum, had a scrape down the side of it, stained green with chlorophyll. Fortunately, without the green smudges, the damage to the aluminum itself was minor.
We had stopped just a few feet beyond the tree, so I ran back to the tree to satisfy my burning curiosity as to why that tree was across the road in the first place. It turned out that the tree was an aspen, which is the favorite food of the beaver. A beaver had apparently chopped down the tree for lunch. Unfortunately, he chopped the tree down right across the road. Geez! ...what luck.
Since we had just been camping, I had my saw with me that we use to cut firewood. So, we set to work sawing up the tree to get it out of the road before the next unsuspecting bloke came sailing around the corner.
If you look at the side of the Airstream, you can see where the clear-coat was damaged by the beaver incident. Just like one of those stickers or decals you buy at the tourist-trap souvenir stands, it serves as a reminder of places we've been. That's why a used trailer, especially an old trailer like a vintage Airstream, has a lot of character. Each dent and each scrape tells a story and like the wrinkles on an old person's face, they are a badge of honor, a testimony to a long life of experience ...You know? I almost hate to remove them! That's my excuse for not polishing my trailer, anyway!