Pennsylvania

September 17, Wednesday FYI, I have taken to the practice of including the day of the week since the other morning in New Jersey, Dr. Mowry, his wife Dorothy, Steve Methner, Sarah, Connie, and I couldn't figure out what day of the week it was. We had to ask the kids and immediately Audrey told us that it was Saturday. So, I now have taken to the, "If I write it, I will know it" study mentality. Today is Wednesday and we are at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Another FYI, my 2-Great Grandfather, Mr. Green Little was killed during the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg. I have brought with me from Port Angeles, Washington the single edge razor that was on his body the day he fell at the Unfinished Railroad Cut north of town (near McPherson's Barn). I have the razor since later on the evening of July 1st Green's eldest son, my Great Uncle David, went to his father's body and took everything from him that he could carry. The razor has been passed down from Green's son David to his nephew, Walter Little, who gave it to his nephew Irvin Little (my Father), and from my Mother to me. I tell you this because this place has a special meaning to me. I hope to convey that "special" heritage to my daughters. Being here, makes it easy to do so. All four of us tear up as we drive and walk the roads, the cemeteries, the fields. President Eisenhower retired to a farm here and I understand why he did. This place is stunning. And, even though it is a tourist destination, this place is also serene and peaceful. For me, this place is a "Wow!" That's about all I can write right now since there is so much to do. Tour Guide Hannah is calling me to plan the evening's activities. Got to go. September 16, Tuesday (Uncle Lester you are going to grimace) On Monday Con and I telephoned Uncle Lester and asked when he was going to be home. He said that he was home except for September 28-October 5th. He said more or less, "Come on down." I like surprises so I thought it would be fun to drive from Jersey City to Bridgeport, WV. So, I programmed the GPS (Lola) with the destination and she gave me a direct, straight line route, of 391 miles. I thought that the kids after all of the NY activity, etc., would be appreciative of nap time in LaFawnduh so I decided that the next time that I would call Uncle Lester would be from Bridgeport. I told Connie the plan for the day and she concurred. I then went outside to prepare LaFawnduh for her departure (more or less a pre-flight in this post-crushed stairs world). As I did so, and unbeknownst to me, Con programmed the GPS for Bridgeport. Well, it seems that Lola believed that the earlier program was one that we didn't approve of and she gave us an alternate, albeit longer route. Unbeknownst to me. We waved goodbye to Lady Liberty which we could see from our campground and we were off. Frankly, Cocoa and I were missing the color green. The absence of grass and trees was beginning to wear on my psyche and I wanted green. Green. Green. It took awhile to see the green. Northern New Jersey is full of industry. Factories of all sorts sprawled out as did the concrete roadways which supported the behemoths. More concrete. More asphalt. No green to speak of. On the positive side of the coin we were leaving during the AM commute to NYC and we were going against the grain. Relatively smooth sailing. The day was one with a low ceiling. No sun to gauge my direction by. No familiar landmarks since this was the first time Con and I, as well as Hannah and Audrey, had ever been here. I had a somewhat vague memory of my geography and as we crossed the Delaware River south of Philadelphia I thought to myself, this is right-on. We're making good time, everyone is either sleeping (Hannah and Audrey) or is in good spirits. Then Lola's voice told us to take the next exit left. I questioned this with, "Left is south and we don't need to go south." Con countered with, "Trust your instruments, they have never let you down." She always knows the right thing to say and I decided to trust the instruments, after-all I had programmed Lola and had panned out on the morning's route to verify it. When I did I had seen the straight line in it's entirity. This little jog south was apparently a short little diversion due to construction or whatever. For all of you in the Seattle area who gripe about toll roads and toll bridges, well, out here, the roads are great and the tolls are frequent. We paid a toll in New Jersey and another as we crossed the bridge and another in Pennsylvania, and now, all of the sudden we were paying a toll in Delaware. Our four axles and the tolls had lightened the pocket book by something like 30 bucks. In a relatively short distance. Geez. Now we were again paying a toll and it was in Delaware. "Delaware?" Why were we in Delaware? I made this inquiry of my navigator and she again told me, "Trust your instruments." As she gave me that look. You know "the look". I somehow managed to say, "We are going south, too far south." She said, "It feels like we're going south but we're actually arcing to the west." I looked for my friend the sun and it was hiding. I recalled my geography and said, "Delaware is not west." The scowl from my navigator made me avert her gaze and return my eyes to the road where they belonged. Then all of the sudden the sign said, "Welcome to Maryland." I again remarked of my impression of going south and Navigator Con said, "We might be a little south but we must be in Western Maryland". I thought, "Uh huh." We drove and drove and the sign said "Baltimore and Washington, DC" just a few miles ahead and I thought, this is not right. I pulled LaFawnduh off of the highway and got out the old paper atlas and we were not where I had intended us to be. I looked at Lola and she was taking us to Washington, DC before heading northwest to WV. I thought, "Yikes." And, some other things. A potty break for the driver and Cocoa was in line "somewhere in Maryland." We then looked at the map and there was no possibility of anything resembling a straight line to anywhere, let alone Uncle Lester's . Routes out here are more akin to a meandering river. We didn't want to be driving forever so, unfortunately, we had to re-think the day's itinerary (sorry, Uncle Lester). The closest place that we wanted to be that wasn't south (requiring us to have to back track north again (diesel was $3.92 in NJ and that is the least we have paid the entire trip, $4.59 being the high water mark thus far)) was Gettysburg. We set our sights on Gettysburg and even though the roads in northeastern Maryland (and later southeastern Pennsylvania) were narrow and windy and up and down (I now understand why the roads aren't straight). The countryside was incredibly beautiful. Hardwood forests intermixed with picturesque farms. Small communities with Mennonite gals selling corn and gourds and green beans. Did I mention the hardwood forests? Green my friends, green (with touches of Autumn's colors). The morning began with asphalt and concrete and I was more than happy to be amongst all of this greenery. My spirits rose. Then we came across a sign that read, "Welcome to Gettysburg". We were there. About this time, Hannah woke up and said, "Are we at Uncle Lester's yet?" As she said this she looked out the window and said, "Hey, I've been here before. That house has a canon ball stuck in it." We all looked and she was right. Hannah was now our tour guide since she had been to Gettysburg before, back in April during her People to People trip. She said, "A block down is a house with bullet holes in it. The Seminary is over there." Audrey woke up when she heard her sister's enthusiasm and she said, "I'm hungry, can we have lobster?" We were in Gettysburg.