RUDIMENTS, pt. 1,320
(the emperor of nothing at all, pt. TWENTY-TWO)
I went down Peggy Runway today,
in my truck, and stopped and parked
at the turn for Cortese Road. All the
leaves were already changed over
and falling down - in that Autumn
way you get after a day of rain, and
some small wind that rustles everything
and the weight and the wet on the
colored or fading leaves just pulls
them down. There were fluttering
leaves in the air and the ground was
covered well enough too. I didn't
go down onto Cortese Road, just
parked there for walking. What I
wanted to see (I had some idea in
my head, for some reason, that
something was going on) was if
any work had taken place at the
long portion of the cliff road that
has been washed out for over a
year now.
-
The cliffs and rocks and the small
waterfall there make for some really
primal scenes, and the treacherousness
of the narrow roadway as it wends
around the ancient boulders and
rock outcroppings, and blind curves
for any oncoming traffic as well,
can scare off any nervous driver.
The waterfall (known as Darbytown
Falls - the old name for this section
of PA. at the river across from
Narrowsburg, NY, was once, yes,
Darbytown), spills all the way down
maybe 500 feet, to the Delaware
River. I know a few females who
swear they'll never take that road,
because of its treacherous approaches.
But, if it re-opens it'll again be great
for me, since it cuts off maybe 3
miles to Narrowsburg, instead of
having to go around the longer way.
-
As soon as I got there today, I saw
that the temporary berms that had
been put in place to keep autos out
had been broken open by a 'dozer,
so I knew something was up. A
short walk around the first bend and
there was a big pile of all the old
guardrails and twisted metal that
they had taken out; plus, nearing the
curve I could hear the work crew's
noises of voices and machinery.
I'm not sure how they're going to
fix it all up, but it appears, to me,
to be a big project.
-
Immediately I got to think about
Jack Stove and what he thought of,
or knew of, the new project. Had he
been comfortable with the road's
closure? For so long now, over a
year, I'd imagined all those folks
along Delia Road, just below him,
and he himself, had had to accommodate
themselves to the extra mileage in and
out and the inconvenience of the
closure, and now the operation of
repair too. Maybe he just better liked
it that way; sort of guy he was. Up
in these parts, losing access and egress
to places can be a real problem; and
in this case, the only alternates out were
roads that were fairly self-descriptive,
and dirt: 'Steep Hill Road'; 'Bavarian
Hill Road'; or my own road (paved in
gravel) 'Perkins Pond Road.' A solid
year of that stuff can wreck a car. (I
just had ball joints done, on my little
car, for inspection; the rattling and
bumps take a toll).
-
What's cool about old Peggy Runway
Road is the primitive aspects of it in
conjunction with the everyday transit
of most people. It's the same with
Cortese Road, less the rocks and
cliffs. You'd never think to make a
roadway out of it, or near there -
too many narrow curves, outcropped
boulders, wet and slimy rocks and
road, and only a simple guardrail to
keep one from dropping to oblivion.
But they're fixing it up, and I'm glad.
One of these days I'll get Jack Stove's
opinion of all this.
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