GET LOST: “When you get to the pile of scrap metal on the side of the road, take a left. But if you drive past Busty’s place, turn around — you’ve gone too far.”
We are in Turtlepoint, of course. Who wouldn’t know that?
If you are a local in McKean County you probably have no problem navigating its hills and valleys, its twists and turns, through villages and long stretches of country roads.
But for mere mortals, locating one of these towns — Rew, Kushequa, Wright’s Corners, Coryville, Aiken, Ormsby, Crosby, Westline, Clermont, Rixford, to name a few — is like trying to put together a giant jigsaw puzzle without looking at the picture on the box.
We’ve been doing a lot of traveling McKean County lately and have some advice.
First of all, ignore all advice from locals who will inevitably tell you any place, no matter how remote, is “easy to find.” It’s not because, unlike them, you don’t know where the old school “used to be,” that there is only one “real” road to the Kinzua Bridge, and that a secondary road to your destination isn’t used in the wintertime.
Secondly, don’t rely on your GPS, not in these rural areas. It will frequently tell you “You have arrived at your destination” as you stop in the middle of a cow pasture. Your GPS lady also does not recognize places such as the elusive “Larabee Y.” (Years ago, a cub reporter identified this location as the Larabee YMCA, no doubt surprising long-time residents.)
If you think a map is the solution, forget it. Someone in Pennsylvania must have thought it was funny to name seemingly every highway in McKean County with the number 46 — such as Routes 46, 146, 246, 346, 446, 546, and, of course, Route 646. We kid you not.
On the plus side, as you wander around, hopelessly lost, you will be struck by the remarkable native beauty all around you.
You’ll see what we are made of, too: Pickup trucks, gigantic piles of firewood, hound dogs and horses in a field, mansions and mobile homes. And mud. Lots of mud. Except when there is snow. Lots of snow.
The people — unpretentious, smart, friendly — are a perfect fit for this rough and tumble piece of real estate. A very good group to get lost with.
