The field trip to end all.
I mentioned our sixth grade teacher was very involved with local history. We had our first ever final exam in June on history of the county and the state pf PA. But before that, we took a field trip like we’d never had before.
All over the county–6 or 7 stops at historic sites, not counting lunch. If you were failing, you couldn’t go–I think 2 or 3 kids had to stay behind. Our class was so small that we could fit one kid to a seat. It was great weather, as I recall–sunny, slightly cool, no breeze to speak of.
Pull up to a stop, get lectured about not straying, then everyone piled out into rejuvenating sunshine with our little cameras.
The movie I mentioned above has one scene that turns your blood to dry ice: two guys take a truck loaded with Nitro across a rickety rope bridge in a biblical rainstorm. My wife had to leave the room when I showed it to her.
Believe it or not, one of our attractions that day was a rope bridge. Not as terrifyingly unstable as the one in the film, but enough to make your eyeballs spin.
As you see, it did have hand rails, but it was far from five steps and done. There you stood, gazing at this thing, swaying slightly in the breeze and you knew that you had to cross it, you only lived twice. But you could sense that death was one step behind you (hey, it was 6th grade) The first step immediately began to sway the ropes. It was a scary stroll–like the laws of physics resigned. You always had something solid under you when you walked, what in God’s name do you do when the wood under your feet starts dancing the cha cha? You have to re-align your brain (and your balls) to accept the new input and walk boldly, shifting your center of gravity with every step.
Some girls took one look at that thing and took a hard pass. Others charged across like bull elephants, feeling the shake and experiencing the thrill of feeling queasy but still safe (we hoped). On shore to the left, stood our teacher, barking orders and threatening to force some boys back to the bus.
And of course, poison ivy awaited you on the other side.
I think I crossed that thing 5 times; It was one of the coolest things I’d ever seen.
I believe it was removed in the late 70’s due to safety concerns. No shit!