Gettysburg, PA - May 11 - 19, 2007
Our last installment brought you up-to-date with the delivery of our motorhome and trials and tribulations of getting it ready for travel. After our long drive over the flatlands, hills and greedy toll roads from Indiana to Pennsylvania, we were extremely happy to arrive in Gettysburg. Ecstatic actually. The prospect of having our new home to ourselves without having to rally out early each morning to greet service technicians was very appealing. The beauty of our location added sheen to our "new home" bliss.
We parked at Artillery Ridge RV Campground, which proved to be a perfect location. The campground is situated on the site where the Union Army maintained their horse and artillery reserve during the battle at Gettysburg. The campground still offers horse facilities and trail rides through the battlefield, as well as a sound and light enhanced diorama of the Battle at Gettysburg. It was an easy walk along the horse path to the park where we could explore at our leisure.
Today the Gettysburg Battlefield is such a lovely and peaceful location it is hard to believe that a three-day battle in July 1863 resulted in over 53,000 casualties, and marked the beginning of the end of the Confederate States of America. We hired Barry Adams, an independent, park-approved guide, to drive our car around the battlefield and explain the battle as it unfolded. He was very informed and enthusiastic and brought the battle to life for us. He explained the military leaders' strategies and provided insight to their personalities. He also read excerpts from letters and diaries, which provided faces to the embattled soldiers and citizens of Gettysburg.
We wondered what made the soldiers go forward in actions such as Pickett's Charge and the quest for Little Round Top in the face of such overwhelming odds, and with soldiers dying all around them. We surmised it was the same then as now. In the heat of battle, a soldier fights for his comrades in arms, friends and family, rather than an ideology or cause.
After our tour, we walked in the path of the soldiers to see the fight through their eyes. To try to gain some sense of what it was like trying to charge up a hill held by opposing forces; to see the enemy soldiers and cannon. We tried to imagine a hot, humid afternoon in July, to hear the sound of the cannon, guns, clashing bayonets, screams and groans, and experience the stench and fear.
Advice: If you plan to visit Gettysburg go during the spring or fall, hire a park service approved guide, and spend time walking or biking the area to gain an appreciation for the events that took place during those hot days in July 1863.
One day we chose to explore beyond Gettysburg and headed for Frederick, Virginia and Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. On the way we stopped at the National Shrine Grotto of Lourdes in Emmitsburg, Maryland. Catholics seeking religious freedom first settled the area in the 1720s. They established a church and university after the Revolutionary War, but the shrine and grotto was not developed until the late 19th Century. The grotto is a replica of the grotto at Lourdes, France, and is linked to the American Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton.
We moved on to Frederick, a charming town established prior to the Revolutionary War in the north Shenandoah Valley. It has preserved its historic architecture in the downtown section where we had lunch and roamed the lovely streets. Actually, because Susan turned right instead of left when leaving the restaurant, we roamed more than planned. We eventually reached our intended destination - the burial place of Francis Scott Keys, the author of our national anthem.
After our 'hike' we moved on to Harpers Ferry National Historical Park at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers in West Virginia. Visiting this quaint village is like stepping into the mid-19th Century. The town is situated on steep hills overlooking the rivers and has been restored to the time of abolitionist John Brown's pre-Civil War raid on the armory. Because of the town's industry and strategic location, it changed hands eight times during the war.
Harpers Ferry is also an outdoorsman's paradise offering whitewater rafting and fishing, as well as biking on the 185 mile -
Chesapeake-Ohio Canal Path, and hiking on the Appalachian Trail.
You may think that our lives are all play and no work, but let us assure you that is not the case. Well, at least, it is not the case for Bill. We arranged to meet Ken and Annette at Gettysburg for some one-on-one HughesNet - Dustyfoot satellite system training. So while Bill was slaving away, Susan was out exploring the beautiful area. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner with Ken and Annette before we headed south to meet up with friends in Washington DC, and Ken and Annette headed north to New York.
On May 20, we hooked up Kermit (the car) and headed toward DC, with a wee little bit of anxiety about driving the beast (the coach) in an urban environment. Our destination is the Cherry Hill RV Resort in College Park, Maryland just off the I-295 Beltway. See you there.
