Amish Country, Lancaster PA

SAT

Today was a laid-back easy day to drive around and enjoy the beautiful farming country in this area and to see the Amish influence. And I learned quickly that I had to keep my camera ready as I missed a picture of a farmer cutting hay with a 4-horse team and of a woman hanging out her wash to dry. FYI she was hanging it over the horse corral and so I expect that when dry it smelled like horse corral and not like summer flowers.

I stopped at a farmers market in New Holland PA that butted up against the main street and when trying to see if the parking meters were enforced on SAT notice that it was only 10cents for 1-hour so I just splurged and didn’t worry about the expense.

Later in the day I also stopped at a big Amish market in Bird-n-Hand PA and enjoyed Shoo-Fly pie and white-cheddar popcorn and an assortment of other samples that it seemed every vendor had out, a smorgasbord of flavors and enough to fill you up.

The roads in the area have wide-paved shoulders for the Amish buggies and horses being horses sometimes leave their calling cards. I mention the calling cards because there are a lot of bicycle riders here and I expect they have to be extra cautious of the road-apples.

The farms are beautifully maintained and the stock of draft horses and mules, buggy horses and dairy cattle are also in magnificent condition; the pride of the farmers of the area is evident and wonderful to see.

Philadelphia

FRI July 30

Today I went to Independence Square and saw the birth of our nation.

I drove in from the KOA campground because they wanted $75.00 for a tour and I knew I could do it for less, Philly Cheesesteak and local micro-brew for lunch included. I researched on the web where it suggested the parking garage at the Visitors Center and then everything I wanted to see would be in walking distance.

I started by getting a free ticket to tour Independence Hall; I picked up the ticket at 10:15 AM for the next open tour which started at 1:30 PM but that was no problem because I had other things I wanted to do in the meanwhile.

I then went to see the original Liberty Bell and they had several exhibits that displayed the Bell’s meaning around the world and pictures of lots of dignitaries at the Bell; I particularly liked the picture of the Dalai Lama at the Bell giving the peace “V” sign, but my picture of that picture didn’t turn out.

I then went over to Christ Church Burial ground where Ben Franklin is buried and then to the Portrait Gallery in the Second Bank of the United States. The bank is home to an extraordinary gallery of portraits of revolutionary heroes and statesman. Those painted represent a Who's Who of the 18th century America. There are signers of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution in addition to military men and foreign emissaries. Many of the works were painted by Charles Willson Peale, the foremost portraitist of his day.

Lunch and when in Rome etc. so a Cheesesteak and local beer. And I don’t know how many of you seen “Parking Wars” about the Philadelphia Parking Authority, well while I was sitting outside eating my Cheesesteak along came a PPA lady and gave out a ticket and then a lady from the second floor yelled down to a friend wanting to know in which direction the PPA was moving.

After lunch it was my time to get in line for Independence Hall and to see where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were discussed and modified, approved and ratified and to see an original of the broadside paper of the Declaration that was read to the people of Philadelphia on July 4, 1776. The chair in the Hall is the actual chair George Washington sat in when he presided over the Convention.

Manassas National Battlefield Park

WED July 29

Today I visited Manassas where “The first major battle of the Civil War took place … on July 21, 1861. Inexperienced soldiers on both sides expected a quick victory, trusting courage more than drill and experience to make it possible. The fierce fighting of the First Battle of Manassas shattered their illusions and influenced the course of the long struggle ahead.” Both sides were sure of a short war, in fact the Union forces were mostly men called up as volunteers for only 90 days.

Another interesting thing about Manassas “Wilmer McLean could say the Civil War began and ended in his home. On July 18, 1891 Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard established his headquarters at McLean’s home… Seeking refuge from the war McLean left Manassas and resettled his family at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. On April 9, 1865 …” Lee surrendered to Grant in McLean’s house at Appomattox.

And another thing; when I went to my first job in the Navy as Disbursing Officer on the USS Mountrail (APA-213) in Norfolk I relieved LTjg James Ricketts and the name of a commander of a battery of artillery at Manassas was Capt. James B. Ricketts, Company I, 1st US Artillery.

Anyway, another well presented page of our history and I did my usual introductory video and Ranger guided walking tour.

First Manassas was where General Thomas J. Jackson got his nickname of “Stonewall”.

First Manassas was a victory for the Confederates because they were outnumbered but fought the Union army to a draw and then the Union army withdrew.

Second Manassas was fought 13-months later with 3,300 men killed and is considered the height of Confederate power but the North with greater resources would ultimately persevere.

Fredericksburg VA Area II

TUE July 27

TIME WARP back to the late 1700s and early 1800s and I went to James Madison’s Montpelier. Our fourth President is presented as the drafter of the Virginia plan that provided the convention with the starting place for the Constitution. Montpelier was sold to the DuPont family who extensively remodeled it and later turn the house over to the National Trust and in 2003 the Trust started demolition of the non-historic remodeling and restoring the home to how it was when James and Dolley lived there, very interesting.

After Montpelier it was back to 1864 and another, but longer visit to The Wilderness where I took a Ranger led tour to hear about the battle and how each side fared. The Ranger said this was where tactics against fixed positions in the Civil War started to change and where Grant introduced war against support elements of plantation and farm products supporting the southern effort and metal forges, etc.

WED July 28

Today was first the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House followed by the Battle of Fredericksburg.

Spotsylvania is the battle after Chancellorsville and was another bloody battle that was not a win for either side and after fighting to exhaustion the armies left and moved south after suffering 30,000 causalities. A monument I saw to the 15th Regiment of the New Jersey Volunteers stated they entered the fight with 429 men of whom 116 were KIA, 159 WIA and 38 were missing. Spotsylvania is marked as the longest hand-to-hand battle of the war.

Fredericksburg is the last battle where Union forces were not unified under a single commander, Grant took overall command as general-in-chief three months later, and Burnside was the Union commander of over 118,000 at Fredericksburg against Lee’s 60,000. And Lincoln very much wanted a victory because he planned to issue the Emancipation Proclamation in two weeks on January 1, 1863 and Lincoln very much needed to PR benefit of a war-time victory, now, and he didn’t get it. Burnside issued vague orders and did not control his troops and even with a 2 to 1 advantage he didn’t press and after two days withdrew from the fight.

More than 15,000 men were killed and 85,000 wounded in these four battles.
Did You Know? [I know that Marla knows, she told me.] During the war, the North generally named a battle after the closest river, stream or creek and the South tended to name battles after towns or railroad junctions. Hence the Confederate name Manassas after Manassas Junction and the Union name Bull Run for the stream Bull Run are the same battle.

Fredericksburg VA Area I

Left the beautiful Shenandoah Valley and traveled first west to New Market VA where the Corps of Cadets from VMI all fell-out to engage the Union army, something VMI is very proud of as the only military school to do this.

Then I headed east to the Fredericksburg area to see four important Civil War battlefields. Along the way I saw one of those yellow highway signs with a deer silhouette warning of possible deer crossing; well this deer crossing sign had a sub-sign stating that it applied for the next 0.42 miles. They must be some wildlife managers in this area to have it down to the hundredth of a mile.

I stopped briefly at the Wilderness National Military Park and after talking with a Ranger, at his suggestion, I moved on to Chancellorsville National Military Park where they had a Visitors Center and video and museum to mold all the Parks and battles together and I took a walking tour with a Ranger. Chancellorsville is where General “Stonewall” Jackson was shot by his own men, lost his arm because of the wound and later died.

Not far from the Chancellorsville battlefield is the Ellwood house, Ellwood is very close to where a year later the Wilderness battle would be fought. After Jackson was shot during Chancellorsville he was evacuated to a field hospital near Ellwood and that is where his arm was amputated. Jackson’s arm was buried in the family cemetery of Ellwood.

I don’t know about you but I was getting confused by dates of what I had seen so I made a list to put things back in place for me:
4/12-13/1861 Fort Sumter
9/17/1862 Antietam
4/27 -5/5/1863 Chancellorsville
7/1-3/1863 Gettysburg
MAR 1864 Grant takes command of all Union armies
5/5-6/1864 Battle of The Wilderness [this was the first Grant/Lee battle]
5/8-21/1864 Spotsylvania Court House
Petersburg
4/9/1865 Appomattox Court House

I am staying at a big KOA campground that seemed to be in the exact location for all the moving around the area I want to do so I made a reservation and was told I was lucky to get in because this is the week of the Boy Scout National Jamboree and they were pretty full. When I checked in and was talking I found out that lots of scouts, some entire troops are coming here to save the $3,000.00 per scout it would cost to go camp at the Jamboree, they can’t participate in all of the activities and events but the save $3K a head.

Shenandoah Hiking

SUN July 25

Drove back up to the Park today to hike a couple of more mountains, proper hikes, first you go UP and then you finish by going DOWN.

I started the late morning by hiking up to Stony Man Mountain summit an easy hike with just a moderate gain in elevation and I was able to maintain my normal hiking pace while enjoying the scenery and sounds. After coming back to the car I drove to another area and ate my lunch before starting up the trail to Hawksbill Mountain, the highest peak in the park. This trail was a lot steeper than I thought it was going to be and it really took it out of me and somewhere along I stressed my right knee because it hurt like the dickens on the downhill return, doesn’t hurt on trail.

The trails I have been on here and in North Carolina are a lot different from the trails I hiked in California and Arizona. These trails have all been part of the Appalachian Trail and the AT is maintained by the Appalachian Trail Conservancy which keeps the trails in excellent shape and that flows over to the other trails. There is also a difference in trees and soil conditions. There is denser tree-cover here with leafy trees and more rain/moisture while in the west there are more open trails, fewer trees and when there are trees mostly evergreen providing less shade and the west is a lot dryer. The trails here as I said are well maintained by a non-governmental Conservancy and the trail-soil has a good mixture of gravel in it to maintain the trail. Trails in the west tend to be very dusty after the spring rains have stopped. Also since the trails I have been on are so well maintained I don’t have to spend as much time looking at where I going to step and can enjoy my surroundings. Oh yes and they makr trails with color blazes, white if for the Appalachian Trail and blue is for a local trail.

And since I find myself mostly hiking along that makes it different, not better or worse, just different. Alone it gives me time to hear the sounds of the wind in the trees or the water in the creek, very relaxing.

Its hay cutting time in this area of the Shenandoah Valley and you can see and hear the tractors and scythes at work and in the morning smell the scent of new-mown hay.

Back in the Shenandoah Valley

7/24

When I was backing to my space at the RV park last night I noticed that one of the torsion bars on my weight distributing hitch had come loose and the bar was just hanging down, definitely not doing what it was designed to do, and resting on one of my trailer safety chains; I hate to think of what could have happened if the bar had fallen on to the highway when I was at highway speeds. The little pin that holds the bar in place had broken out a week or so back and I went to a trailer hitch installation place and they told me not to worry because the weight of the trailer on the bar would keep it in place, that was several hundred miles ago. Well as I drive down the road and hit bumps and highway undulations and the trailer moves up and down I guess the torque weight can come off the bar momentarily and at some point it can come out. I don’t know if it happened on the road or just last night when I was backing into the tightest campsite I’ve had on this trip, all I know is that I feel lucky.

I asked around and a lady told me her husband might know someone so she called out to Buddy, who was in bib-overalls, who looked at the hitch and said he thought Allen could fix it and he called Allen. Buddy told me to go about 4-miles down US-340, past a commercial building on my right, he said it was some kind of mechanical contractor building, and then turn right at the next road that was “Allen’s Rd.”, yep; love exact directions but they got me there. Allen said he had fixed this kind of problem before and would work on it and call me when he was done but first he had to go out and see about two silos and if they could be fixed. Allen seems to be that person that every small-town has that fixes everything. He wouldn’t let me pay him. You can see that I really couldn’t drive into his shop area because this rig operator had gotten jack-knifed and now his tractor wheels were spinning, so I just disconnected the hitch from the Tahoe and walked it over.

I spent the rest of the day back up in Shenandoah National Park hiking and drinking in nature. What I did was one of those dumb hikes that I don’t like but sometimes do because it just works out that way. What I mean is first you go totally downhill for 2.3 miles and then you have to return back uphill for the 2.3 miles when you are not fresh, blah! And to really keep me on my toes before I left the trailhead at the parking lot I saw a rattle-snake, other than bugs, the only other thing I saw on the trail was another snake, a garter snake. The trail was well maintained and it was 83 deg on the mountain and probably a couple of degrees less in the tree and on the trail, it was 101 deg when I got back down to the RV park, pool time.

Oh yes, when I got to the top of the waterfall I was hiking down to what to my wondering I should appear but a group of Korean men and women hikers and one of the men was yelling a Nature and the others thought it was funny; different cultures.

And to celebrate what a good day I had I went out for a Virginia Ham supper; um, um, good!