The alarm had been buzzing in my ear for what seemed like hours as I reached over to hit the snooze button. Laura, the wife, and Audrey, the two year-old sable Pembroke Welsh Corgi, didn't move a muscle when I rolled over to check out the weather. But Benny, the four year-old red & white PWC, awoke, jumped off the bed and walked to the door. So much for a few more minutes of sleep. Opening the door for Ben, I checked out the weather scene. Fog. All I could see was fog. Not the real heavy kind we sometimes get but enough so I couldn't see the first bank of trees about 60 feet away.

Turning back into the room, I surveyed the scene before me: Laura, head under pillow, and Audrey, upside-down , legs all over the place. "Why don't you get a weather forecast?" It came from under the pillow. I turned on the TV while Laura sat up in bed. Audrey didn't move. The weather was supposed to improve with the fog burning off by mid-morning; and since we had had two previous aborted trips to the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania, we said "what the heck" and started to get ready. Audrey still hadn't moved as her brother's head appeared at the back door.

The Grand Canyon of PA is a beautiful mountain gorge in the Endless Mountain area of the Commonwealth. Extraordinary panoramas, wildlife and forest land make this a great place to go for a walk in the woods. To find it on the map, just locate Wellsboro, and you're only 10 miles from the main gate!

As Laura asked me if I wanted breakfast, a blur flew off the bed, down the hall to the kitchen and into the kennel. Audrey was awake! Thirty minutes later, at 6:20, we were on our way.

We had reservations for the night in Wellsboro so we were in no rush to get there early. I drove, Audrey slept in her kennel, Benny kept walking from Laura's lap to his kennel, and Laura kept up a running monologue on every topic imaginable!

We planned to make the 175 mile trip in about six hours including window shopping, pit stops and doggie walks. And all went as planned for the first 30 minutes when Laura wanted to stop at a Trader Indian-type place that we'd been at several times before (for those of you that have no idea what a "Trader Indian" is, it's an Indian trinket, picture, headdress ,etc. store that looks like a ranch house -- mostly of junk from overseas although some of it IS made by Native Americans). My thought was "why?", but I pulled in anyway ... and pulled right out again as Laura changed her mind!

By the way, the fog burned off, and the weather was beautiful, about 50-55*F, as we pulled into Wellsboro at 12:01 PM. The trip was relaxing, scenic and quiet, well, it was relaxing and scenic anyway.

Our first stop was the Hilton Motor Inn and Car Wash where we checked in to the Bridal Suite (we were the only reservation they had for the day, and the clerk was a recent graduate of St. John's, our alma mater) for which we were charged the regular room rate of $22.50 plus tax! (My question? Why did the Bridal Suite have two king size beds? Were the Best Man and Maid-of-Honor invited? Or perhaps maid service only interrupted every OTHER day!) Ben and Audrey played "jump the canyon" between the two beds while Laura and I changed into our hiking attire.

We left for the Main Gate of the Canyon. It was weird along the road. It reminded us of being out West in that we were the only people around. There were no cars going in with us, and nobody was leaving either. Nothing changed at the Visitor's Center. The sign on the open gate said "Enter at Your Own Risk"; so we did. I mean, what could happen to us with our pair of miniature guard dogs? We drove along the trail stopping at some of the more spectacular looking scenic overlooks. It was as if we were standing on top of the world surveying our domain!

Audrey and Ben take these little hikes from totally different points of view. Audrey never stops moving her little legs. All she wants to do is get from point A to point B without worrying about leaves or sticks or squirrels. Benny, on the other hand, has to stop to smell the flowers and pee on every one of them! That's why, instead of "going for a walk", with Audrey, we "go for a pull" and, with Ben, we "go for a drag".

At what we had decided would be our last stop before returning to the Motel and Car Wash, we left the car on a steep, narrow dirt road hidden in the trees and walked up to the top of a ridge. Mind you, we had been in the park for nearly three hours and still had not seen a soul! I held the Corgwn while Laura took some of her world-famous pictures. You know the ones - where she takes twelve pictures all of the same thing from an inch to the left or a foot to the right.

It was during this camera shoot that Ben started to growl. This is a dog who never barks or growls unless Audrey starts barking at the wind or her shadow. Or, if something is really wrong. We started back to the car. When we got back to the spot, the car was gone! Now Audrey started to get fidgety, and Ben began pulling me down the hill toward the main road. My tires are wider than the normal tire, and we could see the tracks in the soft dirt. Ben followed them down the slope and across the main road. (Still no cars!) We looked through the trees and could see the car sitting nearly three-quarters of the way across a 20 foot wide stream at the bottom of a steep drop. The car looked okay, and the water was only up to the middle of the wheels. If I could get down there, I figured I could drive it out the other side onto the dirt path and follow that out to wherever. The steep drop to the stream, however, was a problem.

Laura spotted a slat and rope bridge about a quarter mile up the slope from where we were. High above the stream, the bridge led across a ravine; and from the other side, we could walk down the path to the stream and the car. I was anxious to find out how the car had just rolled down the hill. I was sure I had left it in gear, and I was almost sure I had pulled the emergency brake since I had been on a steep incline.

As we got to the slat bridge, Benny and Audrey, who were on 20 foot leashes, started pulling us past the bridge. Ben wandered into the brush a few feet past the bridge entrance. He growled and lifted his leg over an old piece of wood. Laura went to investigate. The wood was an old decaying sign. It said "Old Owl Creek Bridge". We stared at each other, then I pulled Benny back onto the path.

We tried to get Audrey to walk with us onto the wooden planks of the crossing, but there was no way she'd try it so I picked her up and carried her. Then Ben wouldn't walk across! Laura took Audrey from me and started across as I picked up the big guy and followed.

The pups were smarter than we were! They knew what we didn't. Almost exactly half way across the 30 foot span, we could feel the bridge start to sag. A noise began to buzz in my ear, or maybe it was Ben. The bridge sagged more. The buzzing got louder. Laura was yelling for us to run, but neither of us could hardly move! I took one step toward Laura and the far side of the bridge and threw Ben as far as I could. Laura did the same with Audrey. All I could hear was the loud buzzing! Laura turned to look at me, and I stared into her eyes as the bridge began to fall!!!

I slammed my hand down on the snooze button. At least the incessant buzzing stopped. Laura asked, "How do you feel?"
"Well, my chest still hurts and my throat is killing me."
"Now aren't you glad I made you stay in bed? At least you'll feel better before work on Monday."

Benny was waiting at the back door. Audrey still hadn't moved.

Eventually we will get to the Grand Canyon of PA. We've now tried three times with no luck. "Thanks" go to Laura for suggesting the aborted trip was story-worthy and to Ambrose Bierce ("An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge") for the premise.

Story by Bob Goodman.