Mountain Top, Pennsylvania, how many times have I driven through this town? When I met Susan, we frequently visited her parents in Sayre, Pennsylvania. Upon retirement, they opened a bed and breakfast in Milford, Pennsylvania. We took annual trips to visit Susan’s brother in Amherst, Massachusetts. Now we head to Vermont to take Sophie to school—all of these trips drive through Mountain Top.
An hour before we hit Mountain Top, we pass through Ravine, Pennsylvania. To the early settlers of the central state, it was, no doubt, a joke. You call your town Mountain Top; we’ll call ours Ravine. For twenty-five years, dozens of times, I’ve connected these dots on the map. Every time I make this trip, I spend the hour between the towns wondering if there’s a big rivalry between the high school football teams. Mountain Top versus Ravine: who will come out on top? This is how my brain works.
Sixteen years ago, arriving in Gettysburg, relocating from Washington, DC, I wondered the same thing about our neighboring towns. Biglerville v. Littlestown, the pep squads must go mad that week.
Looking at a map, you might wonder what our problem is. A much more direct route to Vermont passes through New Jersey. Nope, can’t do it. The drivers there are insane. Driving up Route 78 is like a high-stakes gamer of Frogger. White-knuckled, we dodge the cars swinging from left lane to right, jumping two lanes in an effort to chop two minutes off of their trip. The last time we traveled that way, a car cut Susan off so severely she locked up the breaks doing seventy to avoid an accident. The final straw, no more Route 78 through New Jersey. Now we take the low-traffic Route 84 through Hazelton… and Mountain Top.
Our route allegiance used to go the other way. One spring, Sophie just a toddler and Susan pregnant with Eli, we popped up to Scranton for a morning funeral. I had a proposal to edit, due the following day. We planned to be back on the road heading home by noon, leaving me plenty of time to finish my assignment. The snow started as we climbed in the car. An hour later, just outside of Hazelton, the roads became so inundated with snow that the traffic stopped dead. I called one of my partners to report being stuck in deep snow, and my inability to edit the proposal. “What the hell? Where are you? It’s pouring here in DC.” We didn’t move for ten hours.
Hazelton, you say, where have I heard of that before? Hazelton made news in the mid-2000s for passing a law making it illegal for landlords to rent an apartment to an undocumented U.S. resident. This of course caused landlords to refuse to rent to anyone who looked like they might be an immigrant, setting off a national racism debate. That, combined with the possibility of a blizzard arising at any moment caused us to avoid the Hazelton/Mountain Top route for years.
We drove it today on our way to Vermont. Clear and cold, really cold. Four degrees up that mountain. It’s the longer route, but if it isn’t snowing, it’s more relaxing. But ultimately the quiet Pennsylvania roads feed into busy New York roads, and New York drivers, just like their cousins in New Jersey, think driving is a contact sport. So some of the trip is still stressful, but a much smaller portion.
Our problem is tomorrow, Sunday. Forecasters have been calling for snow for over a week—the same system that dumped on the Midwest today. Snow will start late tomorrow afternoon, before we can make it home. Our goal is to clear the mountains before it starts coming down. Mountain Top to Ravine, the trip in reverse. After that the roadway is generally flat the rest of the way home.
Assuming we make it home without incident, I’m looking forward to this storm. If things go as forecasted, there is a possibility of no work on Monday.
Photo by Anne Nygård on Unsplash
The Other Stuff 
Yay to no work on Monday! Stay safe
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Hoping you get a snow day Monday for sure. I recall hearing either Wilkes-Barre or Scranton had some epic flooding around 1970 that brought up some caskets from the cemeteries that went floating down the roads. That’s my vibe on that area. Woo-boy, it ain’t good.
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It’s MLK Day on Monday… don’t libraries close for Federal Holidays?
Sound like NJ drivers are like SoCal drivers. 🙄🤦🏼♀️ I like taking State roads or County roads when I’m on a road trip. I haven’t been on one in years… sitting in a car longer than an hour causes my Fibro to flare. Sucks to be me🤷🏼♀️
Better make sure you’ve got food, water and blankets. That last storm messed things up bad. Good Luck!
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Libraries in PA aren’t government run. My wife and I both have work days tomorrow but Eli has off. MLK as a school holiday is a fairly new thing here and with the stupid “CRT” backlash I wouldn’t be surprised if that holiday went away. I used to be a real highway jockey. Now I’m a total pansy.
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Those snowy drives can be terrifying. Good luck stay safe and yes shouldn’t Monday be a holiday anyway. Maybe Tuesday’s the snow day in your future.
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My wife and I both have work days tomorrow but Eli has off. MLK as a school holiday is a fairly new thing here and with the stupid “CRT” backlash I wouldn’t be surprised if that holiday went away.
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I am excited for the storm as well. I am taking the two youngest to my parents for my mom’s birthday and I plan to be on the road from their house by 3 at the latest. I want to be here and enjoy not having do be anywhere, watching the weather outside. I agree with you about NJ drivers. I am an anxious driver and get very upset when drivers do not stay in their lanes. As soon as I enter the state my knuckles are completely white. I’m right with all the idiots trying to get to AC. It’s awful. I hope you have a safe trip and make it back before the weather hits!
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Thanks Robyn. We’ve decided to brave the Jersey traffic to stay out of the mountains. Yuck. Hope you have a relaxing evening.
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I’ve driven 84 and 78 many times. One of the best parts of living in New York City now is that I don’t have a car and never drive, no more cheating death one trip at a time! Hope you arrive home safely!
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I hate being reliant on cars. I can’t stand driving. We will not beat the snow. Hopefully not too hard.
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Safe travels!
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There’s always an upside! My colleague has Covid which means I won’t have a helper on Wednesday .On the upside there’s not much electives so it will be quiet and if I’m by myself I can ditch the N95 mask for the day.
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Mild covid, I hope. My family is still dodging it, That can’t possibly keep happening for long. We’re home safely and I keep checking the library website to see if we’ve closed yet. Upside – fingers crossed.
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I’m trying to dodge it for the next 1-2 weeks. I’ve just received my booster thus still not as protected as I would like. There are only two of us on regularly at the hospital and my in charge has a baby to contend with.
Thus we both need to be well. The staff that caught it was a reliever for our tech.
And that person worked with both of us whilst infectious. It’s day 5 after exposure for me and I’m still feeling okie so fingers crossed the N95 did its job.
Glad you made it home safely.
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Hope you avoided most of the snow; it didn’t start falling until sometime in the wee hours Sunday night/Monday morning. Now, late morning on Monday, it’s swirling all around, pushed by strong gusts of wind. I trust you’re safely home by now and enjoying any snow falling at your house.
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Yes, we got home safely. Thanks. At work now, really sloppy roads here. Rained all night. Have fun in the snow.
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