We had a Lay Day today, which due to more rain was fortuitous, albeit it meant a day of damp sightseeing.
Gettysburg is unspectacular in so many ways, not as quaint or pretty as other small towns, in fact almost unmemorable, except that being the site of some of the most intense fighting of the American Civil War, it carries the burden of history, and the souls of the hundreds of thousands whose lives changed over the three days of fighting in July 1863. My morning started by leaving the hotel shortly after 530am, loaded with our laundry bag and a pocket full of coins, headed for Dolly’s (sounds like the name of a bar or house of ill repute, but alas, a large commercial laundry). As early as it was I was not first in the door - 3 local guys, seemingly occupants of a local sheltered workshop had things in full swing, and were as keen to ignore me as I was to be ignored. Having cranked things up, I wandered a short distance to a 24 hour diner (one of those fabulous places frequented by Jack Reacher) for a coffee and to pass the 34 minute wash cycle. A short time before the drier finished its work, Chucky arrived on a similar mission, and we chewed the fat, both pleased to have this chore in hand. We joined Doc and Barb (with Dave and Raewyn) in the big Chev Suburban down to Battlefield Harley Davidson - no two stores carry the same range of gear, and you just never know... From there, off to the Civil War Museum for a couple of hours of history, sad, sobering and almost unimaginable. The cost to what was a young nation was unbelievable- the price paid by the flower of its youth and in having the “guts” of the country torn apart is incalculable. The riding component of our 2019 epic from New Orleans to Washington draws to a close tomorrow as our destination from Gettysburg is Eaglerider to drop the bikes off. Some will depart quickly, others in dribs and drabs over the next few days after a day or two taking in the sights - perhaps we’ll manage to finagle an invitation to the White House for a BBQ on the back lawn... Comments are closed.
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Don MalcolmA perfect day involves being on my Harley with a long ride ahead.
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