Gettysburg, Day 1

After a winding drive through the mountains, and lots of impressive fall foliage, we arrived in Gettysburg today.  I was glad Craig did the driving on the two lane roads.  We're settled in at a campsite, and were able to go on the ranger guided Battle Walk, which takes visitors to different parts of the park to learn about specific battles.  Our talk was at McPherson Ridge -- site of hard fought battles with high casualties on the first day of fighting, July 1, 1863.  Our ranger had so many interesting anecdotes about comments by soldiers, decisions the generals made, for good and ill, results of the fighting. . .  It's hard to imagine the chaos, noise, smoke, and terror in what are now peaceful fields and woods.

After the nearly 2 1/2 hour talk with some walking, we came back and hooked up to our first campsite.  All the previous nights on the road have been pulling into truck stops, rest stops, or one Wal-Mart parking lot at midnight or later.  This evening Craig hooked up our electrical cord and the hose.  He backed the rv into the space (with some direction from our new rv friend Wayne who was parked in our space when we came back).  We had a nice chat with him and his wife Jackie.  They gave us their maps from Amish country which is where we'll head from here, and recommended various spots.  

In the meantime, Garvin pulled out his wooden gun cutouts and ran to the playground which was full of kids.  Most of them had toy weapons as well.  I guess we are at Gettysburg after all.  At one point Craig commented that Garvin was giving one boy information on the finer points of shrapnel.  Hmmmm.  

I used the stove for the first time and heated up leftovers (thanks for the soup Mom!) before we headed over to the campground's haunted hayride.  There was a haunted house and lots of decorations, as well as a party with treats afterwards.  We felt they did a great job.  Plenty of ghoulish people jumping out when you least expect it.

Our first quiet night -- though the Wal-Mart parking lot rated pretty high on that score.  There was a harvest moon rising a few minutes ago, and the hooting from the hayride has ended, so I'll bid you goodnight!