Sunday, October 14, 2018

Our First Storm!?!

May 20, 1972 we were married. About the middle of June 1972 there was a terrible storm. We had over 6 inches of rain in one afternoon.

I was working at Buck Iron Foundry in Buck,PA. About 10 mile east of Lancaster City. There was a four lane highway connecting the Buck and Lancaster City. We finished work at 3:30 PM. About 1/2 the crew lived above Lancaster, the other 1/2 lived south of the Buck. Buck Moorpark was not built yet! A tractor pulling arena.

The bridge above the river was the only hurdle till we enter the city. There was an old VW bus in front of me as we entered the water washing over the bridge. His motor was in the back, mounted low in the frame. I could see he was having trouble. There was a car in the left lane beside him. I was eyeing his bumper. If the engine flooded I would push him till we hit dry land. Luckily his engine kept running.

I had traded my convertible for a Chevy station wagon. I was married now, a responsible man, or so I thought. I drove the rest of the way to, and out of the city, with no more high water. I saw a blue Maverick up ahead. Looked like Mary's car. But this was a rough part of town, what would she be doing here? As I pulled beside the blue car; it was her! She was looking for the AAA office to renew her card. Someone at her work thought the office was there. It was not!

I parked, got out and told her to follow me, lock your doors and stay right behind me. We made it to route 72, clear drive to Manheim? NO!! In east Petersburg route 72 was under water. We tried several roads, all flooded. The last road had one bridge over a stream. Two lanes, no markings for the edge of the bridge.

I stopped, got out and walked all over the bridge surface. I got 4 of the kids, probably 14 or 15 years old to stand in the corners and drove over to dry land. I motioned Mary to follow the path between the kids. The water was muddy, you  could not see the road, but I checked the pavement again. Mary made it. We went this back road, no other emergencies happened.

We lived in the trailer park high above Manheim. The trailer park was one of the highest areas in Manheim. We pulled in our driveway, at last home and safe. Looking down toward Manheim, it looked like Venice with just buildings sticking out of the water.

Two years later Mary & I decided to walk about 1 1/2 miles to a soft ice cream place. Laura in my backpack. Great soft ice cream in cones. Walking back went good. Going in the trailer door, I did not duck low enough, Laura hit her head. She did not  scream, just whimpered. Her husband to be liked when we told him of my blunder, he said that explains a lot.

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