We got to Gettysburg on Monday. Mark and Julie were also
here in Gettysburg, but at a different campground about 15 minutes away, so we planned on doing some sightseeing together this week. (We are
at Granite Hill Camping
Resort and we'll be here for another week.) When we got here on Monday, we found our site was pretty unlevel,
so leveled up, but the 5th wheel hitch wouldn’t detach. We changed up the leveling several times, but it still wouldn't unhitch. Finally, it did, but that wasn't a good thing. The front left of the trailer was on leveling
blocks and when unhitched, the trailer slid off the blocks😱 We got super lucky
and still don’t know how, but the trailer came to rest on the small fire extinguisher
that is mounted on the wheel well in the truck. Had that fire extinguisher not
been there, it would have landed on the truck rails, and we would have had
damage to both the truck and the 5th wheel. I found someone in the park with a bottle
jack and Mark came over from their campground to help and while it took a few
hours, Brett was able to get the trailer back up and hitched to the truck. We
then moved over to the site next to us as it was a bit more level. Crisis diverted!
But adrenaline did run high there for a bit! We do have some minor damage to the
stabilizer jack, but we’re all good now and Brett will work on that later next
week. We also bought a bottle jack so we have one handy should it be needed
again. (For those that know our story of the motorhome tire blowout in New
Mexico many years ago, you would think we would have had that jack with us!)
Our plan was to tour the battlefield on Wednesday, but
shortly before it started, we got a call that our guide had to cancel, so we headed
out to Lancaster instead. We went to The
Amish Village and took a tour of a typical Amish home and then a bus tour
of the Amish countryside. While we lived near an Amish community for many
years, Mark and Julie had never seen the Amish, so it was fun to see them witness
it for the first time. (They also saw their first lightening bugs a few weeks
ago!) Our guide was a Mennonite and his parents used to be Amish, so he had
first-hand knowledge of the customs and traditions. Since his parents left the
Amish community, they were shunned. One of the rules is that when you are
shunned, Amish are not allowed to eat at the same table as you. He explained
how they would get around that rule, by setting up two tables and his
grandparents, who are still Amish, would eat at one table, and his parents
would have a separate table right next to it, so they would be together, but technically
at different tables.
In this area, only about 30% of the Amish are still farmers.
As many now work in regular businesses or even run their own business, phones
are now often used; however, they are still not allowed in the home, so they
have phone shanties at the end of the driveways. It’s basically a phone booth
where they have to use the phone there, so that it discourages unnecessary use.
One key teaching in the Amish culture is forgiveness. An
amazing example of this can be seen in the school shooting that happened at the
Amish schoolhouse in 2006. The very night of the shooting, parents of some of
the children killed went to the family of the shooter and offered their
condolences. About half of the people at the shooter’s funeral were Amish and
they even contributed financially to the shooter’s family. I find this so powerful and thought provoking!
Interview
with mother of shooter There’s also
a movie about it that you can find on Amazon Prime, called Amish Grace.
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| They have the most beautiful yards |
On Thursday, we had a guided tour of the Gettysburg
battlefield. The guide drove in his car and we followed and had him on
speakerphone as he narrated. The tour was scheduled for 2 hours and he spent
almost 3 hours with us. Last night, we were talking about the battle and how
much (or little) most Americans know about our country’s history, so we did an informal
poll, kind of our version of “Jesse Watters hits the streets”. We called Californians
(so they didn’t live in an area where the Civil War was fought) and asked them
who fought in the American Civil War and what was the war about. Only about 50%
were able to correctly answer those two questions. All polled were adults and some were
recent high school or college graduates. Without naming names, here are some
of the answers we received.
Who fought in the Civil War?
- Soldiers (I guess technically this is a correct answer)
- Red coats and blue coats
- Germans
- Mexicans
What was the war about?
- Something about the McCoys
- Something about Germany
- I don’t know
- Something about the British
Eeek! 😬
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| Monument to George Gordon Meade, Union General |
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| Monument to Robert E Lee, Confederate General |
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| View from Little Round Top |
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| Tennessee monument |
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| Brett, Mark, Julie, and our guide, Eric |
Friday, we headed to Hershey, PA. The first couple of attractions
we did were super cheesy (probably great if you are under 8 years old). Then we
did a “Create Your Own Chocolate Bar” which was fun. You choose what type of chocolate (milk, dark,
or white), what kind of fillings are in it, and design your own packaging.
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| The finished product. We haven't eaten them yet. |
The best part of the day though was definitely a trolley
tour through the town. The story of Milton Hershey is both intriguing and inspiring.
To me, the most fascinating was learning about The Milton Hershey School.
Milton and Catherine never had children, and they wanted to provide a home and
education to orphans. That dream has grown over the years and is now a boarding
school for over 2000 children coming from low-income homes. The Milton Hershey School sits on over 7500
acres and the students live in student homes with houseparents rather than in
dormitories. The school is 100% no cost for the families and covers all of the
medical and dental care, housing, clothing, food, haircuts, etc., for the
students. In their senior year, they transition to an independent living situation,
where they live with other seniors. They are provided a budget and are
responsible for doing things like their own grocery shopping, getting themselves
to school on time, keeping their home clean, etc. Attendance at a weekly
non-denominational service is required, but if the student wishes to also participate
in another religious service, transportation is provided for the student to do
so. The school is fully funded by the interest from a trust set up by Milton
and Catherine Hershey. There was so much more that they did to benefit the
community, such as donating $50 million (in 1963) to Penn State to establish a
medical school and teaching hospital. Our tour guide had attended the Milton
Hershey School himself, so once again we got a great tour from someone with
personal experience.
Back to the candy part, here’s a staggering fact—70 million
kisses are made every day!
We did a lot this week! I worked early each day before we
headed out for excursions and then we often had a late dinner in town, so it
wore me out! (We won’t be doing that again anytime soon.) I slept till noon today
which is about 6 hours later than usual! We ran to Lowes this afternoon and on the
way home, I saw this neon “Gluten Free” sign, so of course we had to stop. It
all looked so good, but the coffee was what I needed most! This cute little
coffee shop reminded me of the places that Sandy Haskins introduced me to through
the Coffee Meetup group in Columbia.
Some other miscellaneous shots from the week:
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| At a tavern, Brett asked for a bowl of whipping cream and the bartender did not disappoint. Eileen Combs...they still don't have you beat! |
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| The Lincoln statue in front of the David Wills House (where Lincoln stayed the night before giving the Gettysburg Address). |
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| These folks are part of a group called The Time Travelers. The couple are from Texas and were visiting Gettysburg and getting ready to join a ghost tour. The lady on the left lives in the area. It's all volunteer and they dress in period attire and provide information to tourists. |
