Road Trip: Belleville and Big Valley, PA

Early on Wednesday, July 2, a carload of us left Guitner Road for Belleville. Mom, Dad, Joel, Susie, Lane and I were off for a wonderful day together. We went up Route 75 and crossed over to Route 522 at Cowan's Gap. We stopped to look at the Saint Mary's Covered Bridge.

It's been a few years, maybe five, since I've been to Belleville, but little had changed. Once again, I searched for a sign indicating whether the town's name came from the Belle family or because it's a fine little town but we didn't find that info. The market had more produce than I expected. Lots of cherries and berries and some veggies. There were the usual crafts and flea market finds. There were plenty of baked goods but since we had filled our bellies a short time earlier, I was able to leave them alone. We checked out the horses and buggies. Mom asked about the different colors of buggies (we saw white, black and yellow) and was told the white were owned by the most conservative of the Amish. The white buggy group use lanterns, not battery power, to light their buggies at night. Lane was impressed by the size of the horses' hooves. I was impressed by how many horses were there.

We left Belleville and drove north to Reedsville. We stopped at the flea market and browsed till lunchtime. There were some neat finds at both places but since my house is full, I spent only $1. (Yes, I'm a tightwad.) A book of 5500 quilt patches caught my eye and came along home with me. By lunchtime we were all wearing down. Flea marketing is HARD WORK :) We detoured off Route 655 as we headed south and saw lovely parts of Big Valley. There were a lot of horses working the fields, cutting and raking hay. Sorry I didn't get a better shot but this shows you the fields are big.
There were long clothes lines filled with clean laundry. We stopped for lunch and refilled our bellies. I was ready to nap after that and glad I wasn't driving. It was a special day telling stories and being together. What a lucky person I am, to have such a great family.