Finally today we got rained on. We've been lucky that this is the first time it’s rained except for during the night when we’re sleeping. We left Williamsport and drove southwest through the mountains. Unfortunately because it was raining, visibility was down, because we were driving through some amazing scenery that we couldn’t see. We drove past State College, PA, home of Penn State and saw their stadium from the highway. A beautiful setting for a university, but I still think UW with its classroom buildings, dorms and Memorial Union right on the lake is still the most beautiful campus ever. I might be prejudiced.
Not too many photos today....I am still trying to convince Armando that he can take lots of photos and it's okay.....he is NOT wasting film!!! When I take pictures out the car window he fusses and says they won't turn out - yeah most of them don't and I just delete them, but every once in a while I get lucky. So I stole a few photos from the internet.
After Altoona we jogged to the west, to Johnstown, site of the devastating flood of 1899. First we stopped at the National Parks Monument north of town, where the lake and dam were located. Their presentation was excellent and you could look down into the valley and see where the lake used to be and imagine the water rushing down. We meant to see the old clubhouse but somehow missed the turn.
Then we went into Johnstown to the museum there which is housed in a Carnegie Library building. (Andrew Carnegie gave money to build 2,509 libraries between 1883 and 1929, 1689 of them in the United States.) It has the Acadamy Award winning documentary movie, but that’s about all. The presentations weren’t as good and whole thing seemed disorganized, starting with the parking – signs that point to museum parking, but when you get there, no signs for the museum, just a lot of parking lots for permit holders only. The National Parks Monument had a movie too, and although it didn’t win an Oscar, it was very very good.
So if you don’t know the story, here it is. There had been a dam at South Fork on the Conemaugh River that had collapsed years ago. A bunch of steel barons including Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick from Pittsburg rebuilt the dam to create a lake for their exclusive "South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club". They built boathouses, cottages and a large 3 story clubhouse. Unfortunately when they rebuilt the dam they didn’t bother to hire an engineer. The level of the lake was higher than it should have been, the spillway wasn’t built properly, and the Club didn’t bother to maintain the dam properly.
On May 31, 1899 it rained and rained and rained, the dam collapsed sending twenty million tons of water roaring through the valley, picking up trees, houses, cars, railroad engines, a plant full of barbed wire, crashing into Johnstown, destroying the town. There was a bridge just south of town that held, and all the debris piled up there making a dam that backed up the water 30’ deep. Then the pile of debris caught fire, killing many who were clinging to the debris to keep from drowning. The death toll was set at 2,209 but no one really knows. Ninety-nine families were completely wiped out. Hundreds of people were never identified. None of the Fishing and Hunting Club members were ever held accountable for the disaster.
It was also the first time that Clara Barton and the newly formed Red Cross came to aid victims of disaster. They brought in “Oklahoma" houses, temporary housing for the homeless, nineteenth century version of FEMA trailers.
From there we drove to the Flight 93 Memorial Site. It was in a field here on September 11, 2001 that the fourth plane that was probably meant to crash into the US Capitol was brought down by the passengers and crew. The flight path of the plane was from right to left over the memory wall and crashed just beyond, leaving a debris field all along the black wall next to the walkway.
We then took a scenic route from Somerset PA to the west hoping to find a hotel, but the little towns along that road are barely blips in the road. Amazing scenery though and a bit harrowing for the driver. We went up and down some really steep hills and the car’s lower gears have been getting a good workout. I don’t know how anyone gets around in the winter. The hills are really really steep! We finally found a motel in Connellsville, PA which is probably not on your map. But it’s close to where we’re going tomorrow.
So far we’ve traveled 2,720 miles or 4,350 km. Which averages to only 170 miles per day which isn’t bad. We had a great bug collection going on the front of the car – bugs from 12 different states – but the rain managed to clean some of them off.
Day 16 - Williamsport PA to Connellsville, PA
Saturday, May 16, 2015
Connellsville, Pennsylvania, United States
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Comments

2025-02-13
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Nora Williams
2015-05-18
Looks like you are having a wonderful trip!!
crazy.travelers
2015-05-18
We are! We have seen some amazing things. There are many great places in Europe and South America, but there is also so much to see here in our own country. I'm already thinking of where to go on the next road trip!
Mary
2015-05-18
Of all the places you visited I would like to see the Johnstown Flood museum and area. I know you like the Falling Water house but I would like one of the "cottages" on one of the islands to be my home.
Have a safe trip home!