ALL THAT FOR A LITTLE PONY

Ever since my wife and I started camping in Pennsylvania back in 1985, we've hauled home plenty of good insulators and eye cups. This year was no exception. We decided to camp closer to our hot spots, and I don't mean Centralia (if you know what I mean). We still wanted to be in the Blue Mountains but closer to the southern end of Schuylkill county. I'm really thrilled about the old railroads around these parts. These places make good hunting spots for insulators. 

Anyways, we camped at Blue Rocks Campground in Lenhartsville, which just over the Berks county line. It is about seven miles east of the town of Hamburg. This is our half way point between Frackville to the north and Adamstown to the south. A good strategic point to phantomize insulators. 

After setting our camper up, we drove back to Hamburg to fill-up on gas. I've just about worn out my Pennsylvania Atlas & Gazetteer, pages 65, 66, and 80 studying all the back roads to and from everywhere. It's fun to take the back roads. You never know what you will find. Returning to camp I chose my route. Mountain road looks like a good way. This road parallels the Blue Mountains on the left and I-78 on the right. It leads you through cornfields and rolling pasture lands that spread out in all directions.

The phantom mobile cruised along making its way through the countryside. Rounding a bend in the road there in the distance I could see a small telephone pole near a farmhouse. As I drove closer there were three poles instead of the one. I slowed down to gawk out the window. The insulators turned out to be CD 101 Brookfield's. Nothing rare about them, just pretty looking aqua ponies mounted on wooden side brackets. The two poles on the other side of the road had the same, except two insulators on one pole.

Rambling about the mouth and staying out of the ditch, I told my wife I wanted to phantomize these poles. I don't think she heard me because she didn't reply back. The two poles on the left side of the road were being used to anchor electric fence wire to keep the cows in. It is amazing how much detailed information you can absorb between those poles and the stop sign coming up.

"There's a problem here," I said to my wife. To my right we have a farmhouse and a barn to my left. By the way the barn had two CD 101 "brookers" on it as well. 

My wife looked at me as if she could read my mind. "You're not coming out here to get these are you?" 

Making a left turn I looked at her with a grinchy grin on my face. "Yes dear, this will be fun."

Then she asked me, "Do you have these in your collection already?" 

Again I replied, "Yes dear, I do." 

Then looking at me like I was crazy asked, "So, why do you want to come out here to get these insulators if you already have them at home?"

"Well, hon, after collecting insulators for twenty years, I still get an adrenaline rush phantomizing insulators in the wild. It's an illness with no cure." 

Then from the back seat came, "Ye-e-s-s dad," from my three year old daughter.

My family is supportive to my need to wander through the country side looking for insulators. A few days later I decided this would be the night to retrieve those jewels. 

My wife, sitting in the lawn chair looked up at me and laughed. "Your really going to get those insulators?"

I answered her, checking my watch, "Don't worry, I'll be fine."

It was seven-thirty, time to move out. Dressed in my battle uniform which consisted of a pair of jeans and dark blue tee shirt I was ready. Fixing the hat on my head I bent down to kiss my wife good-bye. My mission from camp to the farmhouse was two and a half miles one way. I walked down to the campground gate and took a right. Down the narrow road I moved at a steady pace.

It's funny how your mind works when your doing something as nutty as this. You know, what if I get caught? What if I fall? Those kind of things. They're always in the back of your mind. But also thinking how much fun I really have. I enjoy the adventure of the hunt and saving insulators from any future doom. The deafening chatter of locusts filled the air. Little blinking lights of the lightning bugs hovered all around me. The fading blue sky surrendered its colors to the canopy of darkness. It was starting to get creepy out here. Oh, yah, I didn't bring a flashlight. I kind of wanted to blend in.

It was a little after eight o'clock when I reached the intersection where the farmhouse was. A couple of lights gave life to the black silhouette of a house. I turned to the right. In front of the barn, I glanced up to sneak a peek at those two little ponies. I couldn't believe how close they were to the road, and about nine feet up the side of the wall. The mercury vapor light on the other side of the house flooded that whole area with plenty of light. Too much for me.

As I stood there, I noticed across the road one of those lighted windows in the house was facing my direction. There was an old lady in the kitchen. She would stand at the window like she was washing dishes. I didn't need her seeing me stretching up the wall to retrieve those insulators off the barn. It was not a good spot to be. And it wasn't quite dark enough yet. 

Onward down the road I proceeded past the two small poles there on the right. About thirty curious cows stopped what they were doing to watch me parade by. I made my way further down the road to where the woods met. There I waited under a tree for the blackness of night. The roar of trucks on I-78 carried loudly over the rolling field. A large luminescent billboard sign lit the empty darkness in the distance.

I checked my watch, eight-twenty-five. It was time. Out onto the road, I walked toward my target. I passed my thirty watchful moo-moo friends who lined the roadside. Thirty witnesses watching me as I reached the pole. There was that unused insulator, just waiting for me. It seems like an eternity when you are removing an insulator from the pin. There it was in my hand. Man, my heart was beating like a drum. I had one, now to see about those other three ponies.

I walked to the other side of the road to study those electric fence wires. All I could think of was that jumping up on to the pole was not a good idea. One could come sliding down on top of those live wires. Not a situation I wanted to be in. Especially when you're all sweaty. I leaned against a speed limit sign and looked the pole over again. The other pole was the same way. Being as stubborn as I am finally admitted it was not worth the grief. I started back to camp with the one CD 101 "brooker" in my hand. I gave those insulators on the barn one more glance. They were very tempting, but I kept walking.

On my way down those pitch black roads, I played leap frog with the few cars that drove by me that night. When a car approached me, I leaped behind a tree out of site.

I made it back to camp about quarter after nine. There was my wife reading a book under the lantern light. She asked me how I did. I said "I only got one." Although the insulator was nothing to write home about, it was the adventure to me that makes it worth doing. I can still remember my first insulator adventure to this day. That little pony now sits in my daughter Maurisa's bedroom. I can't wait to come to Pennsylvania in August this summer.

The Phantom of the Wires

Remember: Poles should never be CLIMBED! They can be rotted at the base and you could be seriously hurt. Never approach any working or live wires. Always ask permission to remove an insulator from private property. If you find an insulator with no wires attached and you can reach it standing on your tiptoes, the "phantom" will probably be watching you from behind the next tree!!