A Ride to Gettysburg

Bob rolled into our motel car park just after 9:30 am, with a big grin on his face.

We rode out together and headed south through Carlisle on 34 to Gettysburg, about 21 miles away.

Once we cleared the buillt-up areas the road took us through some beautiful countryside. We stopped in the centre of Gettysburg for photos.

Abe Lincoln features very big in this town - not the least because of the famous speech he made when dedicating the war cemetery several months after the battle.

We met three actors wandering the streets in period costume. The temperature was over 85 F.

They told us about some of the history and pointed out where an original artillery shell from the battle could be seen sticking out of a building wall (just below a flag).

A group of four trikes rode past us. One had a trailer in the shape of a Ford Mustang.

We spent some time at The Union Drummer Boy, a shop selling Civil War memorabilia including swords,  bullets and guns from the period.

We continued our journey south to the Visitor's Center and Museum. Here we had lunch before viewing an interesting and informative movie about the Civil War and the Battle of Gettysburg. Next we visited the cyclorama of the battle. This is a massive painting on canvas 22 feet high and 358 feet in circumference by French artist Paul Phillipoteaux. It is viewed in the round, and is the background for a sound and light show.

We then spent quite a bit of time in the museum, which was really interesting and very well done. We were getting tired, though, and after some more liquid refreshment we headed off.

When we got back to Bob's we met his charming and relaxed wife Amy.

Bob was again buying the beer (what a great guy!) and we chatted away for a while. Chris went off to search on the internet for a motel room. We moved out of the motel we were in last night because there is a truck show in Carlisle this weekend. All the motels nearby had doubled or tripled their rates, so we booked a room in a motel 10 miles back in Harrisburg.

Amy prepared a wonderful buffet meal for us with shrimp and salad and potatoes. Just the thing for a hot day. Thank goodness we didn't eat much lunch!

Before we left,we got a photo of Bob's sculpture of hands holding my hand. (Hands, holding hands...)

Some of bob's stunning metal art.

 

As with all our sojourns with friends, they seem to come to an end so quickly, and it was the same tonight.

We said our goodbyes and rode off to the motel, arriving just before it got really dark.