Day thirty eight - Wednesday

We hit the road at 8:00 a.m. and decided to go through to Statesville, N.C. today. It was a 258 mile day. When got to Statesville we found the Wal-mart and made our selves at home. We're only eight miles from the KOA where we'll stay until Sunday.

We had a game a Scrabble this afternoon. Ann beat me again. That's twice in a row. I'd say I have to quit having a drink during the game but Ann is having one too. I guess I can't use that as an excuse.

We turned over 4,000 miles today and have covered sixteen states. I haven't added up how much we've spent on fuel yet, but will do so soon. If we're getting eight miles per gallon we would have used 500 gallons. And if we're paying an average of $3.05 per gallon for diesel, that would be $1,525.00.

Day thirty seven - Tuesday

When we left Gettysburg, we planned to have a travel day with no sight seeing. However, as we travelled through western Maryland we realized we were going to be in the area of the National Firefighters Memorial in Emmitsburg Maryland. We pulled off the highway and into the National Emergency Training Center. When we stopped at the security building we were met by security personnel who escourted us to a parking lot where the motor home could be parked. After a short walk we found ourselves at the memorial.

This memorial was built in 1981 and has a brass plaque for each year since. There is one plaque just for Sept. 11, 2001. Each plaque lists, by state, fire personnel who died in the line of duty. The president was here last week.

The flags were at half-mast due to two recent deaths. One, a ninteen-year old volunteer was killed when a building collapsed on him during mop-up. The other, a twenty-four year old volunteer died when he crashed his own vehicle while responding to a call. I just read that a fire fighter died in Big Sur California while fighting a fire there. That'll be another name to add to the list.

After visiting the memorial, we continued to our final destination of the day, Harrisonburg, Virginia. We'll spend the night in the Wal-Mart parking lot.

Day thirty six - Monday, Oct. 8

When we stopped at the Gettysburg National Military Park visitors center, we picked up an auto tour book and CD. This is a self guided tour book and audio CD that takes you through the park and explains the battles and history of Gettysburg the town and Gettysburg the battle. The Gettysburg battle took place over the first three days of July, 1863.

We started our tour walking through the Soldiers' National Cemetery at Gettysburg. Here, many Civil war and subsequent war soldiers are buried. Many of the graves are marked "unknown." These graves, from the civil war, hold unknown remains. The names of the soldiers who fought in the civil war are, for the most part, known, but many of the bodies were unidentified. The civil war was fought before the use of dog tags. So, unless the soldier had something on his person that would identify him, he might go unidentified if he was killed in battle. This cemetery was also where President Abraham Lincoln made the Gettysburg Address on the afternoon of Thursday, November 19, 1863, during the American Civil War, four and a half months after the Union armies defeated the Confederates at the decisive Battle of Gettysburg.

We then began our auto tour of the park. It took several hours and we saw the scenes of the major battles and heard detailed descriptions of these battles. We also saw memorials to soldiers and officers. Each state of the union and confederacy had a memorial to its soldiers and many individuals also had memorials. One of the most impressive memorials was the Robert E. Lee memorial.

Ann made meatloaf for dinner and we watched Dancing with the Stars. Tomorrow we head south. I think we're going to take a couple of days off from sight seeing and just drive about 150 miles each day, park, and relax. On Thursday we'll arrive at the Statesville, NC, KOA where we'll stay for the weekend.

These pictures depict a barn that is on one of the battlefields. The hole in the front facade of the barn is a cannonball hole. Left-Click on a picture to open a large version of the picture in your browser.

Day thirty five - Sunday

Although we're camping within walking distance of the Gettysburg battleground and National Park, we didn't go there today. As I mentioned in yesterday's blog, the Apple Harvest Festival is a big deal here. We decided to check it out.

The festival is held about 10 miles north of Gettysburg, just outside of Arendtsville, Pa. Entry was $8.00 per person and in we went. We found LOTS of vendors and food booths. Classic cars were at one end of the grounds and various bands played on several stages. We walked around for about three hours, had french fried sweet potatos and pumpkin funnel cake. How does that work? We go to an Apple Festival and have sweet potato and pumpkin???

On the way back to the campground, we stopped at the visitors center for the Gettysburg National Park and planned our day tomorrow.

Back at the coach we had a game of Scrabble, cooked fish for dinner and Ann did a big load of laundry.

We also looked at our schedule and found we'd be in the Charlotte, North Carolina area next weekend. NASCAR will be in Charlotte, at Lowes Motorspeedway next weekend. I got on line and bought tickets for the race. So, next Saturday night we'll be at the race in Charlotte.

Day thirty four - Saturday

Our travel day began with a short drive to Hershey Chocolate World in Hershey Pa. Milton Hershey built a chocolate manufacturing plant at a dairy east of Harrisburg, Pa. With the success of his business came a profound sense of moral responsibility and benevolence. He built a model town for his employees that included comfortable homes, an inexpensive public transportation system, a quality public school system and extensive recreational and cultural opportunities. He also established a school for underprivileged children. That school still exists today.

Despite the quality of the man behind the chocolate, we were not impressed with Hershey Chocolate World itself. Our visit began with a slow speed ride through a "chocolate factory." Interesting and educational. Outside this display we found ourselves in a retail wonderland of chocolate goods, edible and inedible. Within an hour we were on our way out the door. We didn't go to Hersheypark which is a large amusement park with rides, including 10 roller coasters and 6 water rides.

Heading south, we drove about 50 miles to Gettysburg, Pa. We pulled into town and began calling campgrounds. Call after call to campgrounds and they all said the same thing - they were full. It seems this weekend and next weekend is the annual Apple Harvest Festival. Apparently this is a real big deal here with 60,000 people coming to town over the weekend.

I called the last campground on my list and got lucky. The woman said she had a spot available because the party who reserved it hadn't shown up. We hurried over to get that site before the people showed up.

Rather than rush through in the afternoon, we relaxed at the campground with a drink and a game of Scrabble. After discussion, we decided we'll go to the Apple Harvest Festival tomorrow and save the Gettysburg National Park for Monday.

Day thirty three - Friday

We finally got our Cracker Barrel breakfast! In the spring of '04, while on our two-month southwest tour, we discovered Cracker Barrel restaurants. There are none in California so we haven't been in one since then. Very good breakfast.

After breakfast we drove around the Amish country a little just to have a last look before taking off. We drove to Intercourse and Paradise via Bird in Hand. We didn't go to Virginville, Blue Ball or Fertility today.

We left the campground at about 1:00 and headed west. We drove to York with the intention to touring the Harley Davidson plant there. In York, more than 3,200 employees work around the clock assembling Touring and Softail models, as well as limited production, factory-custom motorcycles. It's the largest HD manufacturing facility. My bike was probably born here. However, by the time we got to York the last factory tour had already begun. Plus, we weren't able to find parking for the motor home at the factory. So, we continued on.

An hour or so later we were in Hershey Pa. We stopped at the Wal-Mart to spend the night so we could get an early start on the Hershey's Chocolate World tomorrow morning.

Ann made Chef's Salad for dinner and we had a game of Scrabble to complete the day.

Day thirty two - Thursday

We're in Amish country. The Amish and the Mennonites are spin offs from the Catholic religion with the Amish being more conservative than the Mennonites. The Amish are a spin off group from the Mennonites after the Amish decided the Mennonites were too liberal. The primary reason the Mennonites left the Catholic church was that the Mennonites didn't believe an infant had to be baptised before it was three days old.

Our day began with a two-hour bus tour of the local Amish sights. We listened to the bus driver describe Amish customs and lifestyles as we drove along. Occasionally the bus had to slow and veer into the oncoming lane to maneuver around a horse drawn carriage carrying an Amish family. The Amish live very simple lives in that they shun technology including electricity and gas motors. In fact, the local Amish won't even ride bicycles. Many were seen travelling on push scooters.

On our drive we saw the schoolhouse that was built to replace the one that was the sight of the Amish School shootings almost exactly a year ago. Another bus was stopped at the school and people were out taking pictures. Our bus driver stopped and yelled at the people to get back on the bus and leave the kids alone. She was quite upset that the school has become a tourist stop. She knew the families who lost daughters in that incident.

Our first stop was a working Amish farm. Of course there was the obligatory souvenir shop. However this farm had a real treat awaiting us. Pretzels are very big in this area. We were later told 80% of the country's pretzels are made in the area with most of those being consumed right here. Well, we figured we'd give a soft pretzel a try. I bought three along with some dipping sauces. I was handed a bag with the pretzels that was almost too hot to carry. Onto the bus and into the bag. We ate the best pretzels we've ever had!!! These were warm, soft and so buttery the bag was soaked through with butter before we opened it. The dipping sauces were little used because the pretzels didn't need to be dipped.

As the tour continued we stopped at a couple more working farms. At one farm quilts were made and the quilting techniques demonstrated. At the next, the only attraction, besides a petting zoo, was a very large souvenir shop.

After the bus tour we came back to the coach, had lunch and then were off again. This time we went to an historical Amish farm house and farm. After a brief tour of the house we walked the grounds of the farm. Very interesting. The different buildings all had their special purpose including a tobacco processing building and a one room schoolhouse. One building had a wood shop in it and a man giving whittling demonstrations. We spent a little money here.

We dined in what was billed as a local smorgasbord but found it to be just another restaurant. Back at the coach we watched Gray's Anatomy and baseball. It's tough to take in all three playoff games because on the east coast the last game doesn't get started until after 10:00 p.m. and doesn't end until 1:00 a.m. or later.

G'night

Day thirty one - Wednesday

Today was pretty much a travel day. We left the Cherry Hill Campground at around 10:30 and headed north. A little over 100 miles later we had left Maryland and re-entered Pennsylvania. We drove through, but did not stop in, York, Pa. From there we headed east.

When we got to Lancaster, Pa, we found the freeway being blocked at various locations. At one point we got off the freeway but found our path blocked by police cars. I made a u-turn on the freeway overpass and got back on the freeway eastbound. It was then I realized we were the only vehicle on the freeway! Kinda spooky. A couple of miles behind us they were blocking the freeway with dump trucks. I didn't know what was going on but it looked like the prudent move would be to get off the freeway ASAP. At the next exit we found a large shopping center and got off. Traffic was being diverted here too but we were able to get into the shopping center lot.

I turned on local radio and the TV trying to figure out what was going on. Finally the news came on and we learned the president was in town. That figures! We spend ten days in DC and don't see any evidence of presidential presence. We drive over a hundred miles and suddenly we can't get where we want to go because he's in town.

We spent a while at the shopping center, did some grocery shopping and then continued east after the traffic opened up. Pretty soon we were at our campground. We're going to spend a couple of days at the Country Acres Campground in Bird in Hand, Pa.

We had a nice dinner, a game of Scrabble and watched lots of baseball along with the final episode of Top Chef.

Day thirty - Tuesday

The plan for today was to go into DC, visit the Supreme Court, the Law Enforcement Memorial and the Air and Space Museum. We didn't do any of those things.

Today ended up being a relaxing day. Ann did laundry and I washed the windshield of the motor home. I also started putting things away because we are leaving here tomorrow. We also enjoyed a game of Scrabble, tacos for dinner and watched the Dancing with the Stars results show.

Although we extended our stay three days, we still didn't see everything we wanted to see in DC. We saw lots of sights including most of the things we really wanted to see. Some day we'll come back and see more of DC.

Tomorrow will be a short day with our drive being only a little over 100 miles. We're heading to the heart of Amish country, Lancaster, Pa.

The green line on the map shows where we've been that past 30 days. After a short jump north tomorrow, we start heading south and west.

Day twenty nine - Monday, Oct. 1

We took a chance today and got back into the car. We had to if we wanted to see our next sight. We were off to Mount Vernon, the home of George Washington, about 30 miles away.

I programed the Streetpilot GPS and we were off. We got pretty close when we ran into freeway construction. The off ramp we needed was closed and we ended up well off course. After wandering around for a half an hour and a gas stop, we finally got back on track.

On the way, we stopped for lunch at Five Guys Famous Burgers and Fries. This place was suggested by Phyllis who ate at a Five Guys when she was back here earlier this year. We each ordered a cheese burger and shared an order of Cajun fries. The burgers turned out to be double burgers and the regular fries were a small grocery bag of fries. Both were too much for either of us to finish but both were very good. There was a list of things you could put on your burger including the usual stuff like lettuce and mustard. However, there were other options such as fried onions, mushrooms, BBQ sauce and others. We ended up taking over half the fries home and had them with dinner.

Once we arrived at Mount Vernon, we paid our $13.00 each and started our self-guided walking tour. We walked the grounds, seeing the slave quarters, ice house and other outbuildings. In the main house we moved from room to room where guides gave short talks to describe the room and answer questions. The highlight of the house tour was seeing the bedroom where George Washington lived and died.

The guide explained that George Washington got sick one winter and died within 36 hours. Later, in the museum, I read that experts feel he died after contracting epiglottitis. Something that would be easily treated today.

Next we visited the two burial sites of George and Martha Washington. They were first entombed in the family tomb overlooking the Potomac River. Thirty-eight years later their bodies were moved to a new tomb as directed in Washington's will.

Lastly, we spent over an hour in the Museum on the grounds of Mount Vernon. This was a fascinating trip into the past with movies, displays and artifacts from the life of George Washington.

Despite the freeway construction, the trip home was uneventful and quick. We got home too late for Scrabble since we had to have dinner and watch "Dancing with the Stars."

Pictures show Ann posing with the Washington family in the visitor's center at Mount Vernon. The second picture shows the main house at Mount Vernon.