Aaahh, the benefits of Garmin wayfinding. Our mission today was to find some of the covered bridges in the area to the east of where we are camping. Strangely, the only information we were able to Google was a description of local specimens with their corresponding GPS coordinates. Our Garmin had a feature that could be selected which would display the GPS coordinates where we were located which is almost completely useless since we already knew where we were. I had already scrolled through the various other functions of the Garmin which did not seem to allow the operator to enter the GPS coordinates of where the operator might want to go but I was unable to find any such feature and I told Peggy that this function was not available on this device.
Peggy fettled with the idiot-confusing device for about 15 seconds and promptly found the function which would allow ignorant mudheads like me to enter GPS coordinates of where I may want to go. We set off using the Garmin only to tell us where we were and drove a very circuitous route to the first bridge which only required about 20 miles of wandering down unfamiliar side roads to cover the 7 miles to the first covered bridge.
The first bridge was quite nice. It is called Hunsecker’s Mill Covered Bridge and is a beautiful structure some 180 feet long and we drove across it noting that the sign ahead of the bridge indicated a maximum load of 3 tons on the bridge deck. I ran a quick calculation in my head and determined to my own satisfaction that Charlotte and her passengers were well within the weight limit.
We set off for our next target, Pinetown Covered Bridge, using our newly-discovered Garmin capability to direct us to the correct location. Perhaps we are not as bright as we tell ourselves because the Garmin’s nice female voice directed us to what seemed to be the proximity of the proposed second stop on our tour of discovery before the voice started directing us to “turn right” directly across some Amish farmer’s very beautiful, verdant but roadless corn field to get to the alleged bridge location. We were reluctant to drive across the farmer’s very well maintained farm property so we pulled up to a local Mennonite church and tried to enter the GPS coordinates of the third target for today’s tour of discovery. The sweet voice from the Garmin suggested we turn left from our rest stop and “continue on route.” We were taken right back to where we had refused to cross the tidy cornfield for target #2. Perhaps we were not using the device correctly.
We tried entering the coordinates for target #4 using a seemingly improved data entry system and the nice voice directed us down the highway to what seemed initially like where we were convinced we wanted to go. Maybe the Garmin determines that you want to get to a programmed set of GPS coordinates by the quickest available route, disregarding the pesky requirement of roads because we were soon at another location where we had the option of not seeing the bridge or possibly seeing the bridge after a substantial off-road experience in America’s beautiful farm country.
If I had not discarded the Garmin’s use instructions with the packing crate, I may have been able read them and to trick the device into taking us to the location of choice using roads suitable for vehicular traffic. Regrettably, this was not the case so we were stumped. It was at this point in time that I embarked on a revised mission to find covered bridges by driving to Lancaster, PA, the county seat, and to go to the visitor information center to get a viable map with directions to the very scenic bridges which could be followed by Garmin-challenged travelers, like me. This only required that we back-track through quite a bit of the very same territory where we had programmed our device to mislead us in the first place. After some more driving through now-familiar territory, we arrived at the Lancaster visitor information center where we were able to get maps and descriptions of how to get to these possibly gorgeous but elusive attractions. Our efforts paid off because we were able to find what we were looking for almost without confusion.
We arrived first at Erb’s Bridge which also had a 3 ton weight limit and drove across the one-lane spectacle. I noted quite a bit of creaking as we slowly moved across the span and it was only after we emerged from the nice wooden covered structure that I recalculated the known weight of Charlotte and passengers and the calculation went like this:
8050 pounds divided by 2000 pounds = 4+ tons
I believe I had discovered the cause of Erb’s creaking and groaning noises as we passed over the bridge and I also believe that I can truthfully tell the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation that the weight limit for this structure may be set artificially low if creaking, groaning or collapse does not bother them.
Our recently discovered method for finding covered bridges was now in full play and we were able to visit two or three more bridges (without testing them for load-carrying capabilities) almost without getting lost. After the minimally successful mission to see covered bridges we decided to go to the town of Lititz, which I pronounce “la tits” but the locals pronounce as “lit itz,” where we found a restaurant / tavern called Jojo’s (I think) located right in the center if town. We ordered a barbecue plate for two ($42) which had cornbread muffins, pulled pork, a half rack of ribs, pulled chicken and a pile of brisket along with four sides which turned out to be cole slaw, baked beans, fries and zucchini, one of Peg’s faves. The food was great and we chased it down with a glass of porter each. After tip, we had escaped from the place only $64 poorer but we had quite a bit of lunch with us in boxes as we departed.