Nowhere Else

       

          We sat on our front porch and watched a scene you couldn't find elsewhere.

          Across the pasture, along the horizon line of the hill, a young Amish grandmother and her 10-year-old daughter bounced along in a small cart.  Their pony's mane and tail danced in the breeze and "Bobby" the border collie followed a few yards behind as they all headed home with a cargo of frozen food for the evening meal.

          Far off to the side, where they had been hiking, a couple of our Bed & Breakfast guests stood transfixed at the sight.

          Long shadows of late afternoon sharpened the scene and the out-of-state guests watched until long after the pony cart and its party were out of sight.

          Later the guests asked about the scene they had witnessed, straight out of a "picture book," from 1913.

          We explained that there was an old highway hidden back there, behind the pasture.  Neighbors use it to visit our freezers in which they store their precious food, prepared and frozen weeks or months ago.

          No one but our immediate neighbors remembers that the highway is still there.  It was officially relocated nearly a century ago when curves and swerves were built into a new road that better accommodated the emerging new invention called the automobile.

          We love it for its fully-canopied splendor.  It is so narrow you are forced to stop and have a conversation with your neighbor when passing.  It is totally a "dirt" road that becomes a "mud" road in wet weather.

          But it has its advantages.  It's always shaded in summertime, it's well maintained by the neighbors, it's a fabulous shortcut, there are no blaring horns or shrieking tires, only some snorting, clopping or plopping when a herd of cows or horses are being urged along.

          The old road is a source of wonderment to guests who stumble upon it while hiking.  They generally say something like: "What a tranquil trail, it's too bad no one knows about it."

          Uh . . . I don't think so.