The Mind’s Eye group headed southwest from Sunbury to Johnstown, Pennsylvania. On the way, they stopped to hike in the White Mountain Wilderness in its sub-alpine forest. Johnstown is perhaps best known for its floods, the most infamous of which occurred in 1889, when a poorly constructed and maintained recreational reservoir dam collapsed following an unusually large rain, causing a flash flood that wrecked the town and killed 2,209 of its residents. It was an important event in the history of the American Red Cross. Its founder, Clara Barton, brought 50 doctors to the area and stayed for months staffing field hospitals and relief shelters to accommodate the flood victims. Laetitia and her group visited the city’s historic district and the Johnstown Flood National Memorial.

Some local gossip heard at happy hour was the basis for the limerick of the day.

A fine lady from greater Johnstown
Was at all county taverns renown
Where men called her “ Honey”
And handed her money
As she danced in a transparent gown.