Days on the road: 1
Miles covered: 396
Provinces/States driven-through: ON, NY, PA
Day 1 was about making sure the wheels stayed on, lying to the border guards about the length of my stay (MW - thanks for the tip), and getting somewhere. My goal is to avoid interstates when possible and take some scenic routes along the way unless I really have to be somewhere. And today, once in Pennsylvania, allowed some fairly interesting driving on good roads. I can report that a good portion of PA has a bit of a stink to it. Especially near the Domtar plant in Johnsonburg. It reminded me of that time I spent in Cornwall, ON - Stinky.
My first road lunch proved that not all gas stations serve good food. A BBQ place called Gio's was less than gourmet. More frighteningly, however, was the sign for an All-You-Can-Eat KFC. It made me shudder with fear. The only thing I wondered was whether their new sandwich, The Double Down, was available at the buffet. Wrong and Wronger.
I pulled into Gettysburg around 6:30PM and grabbed a hotel room in the middle of town. G-burg has some pretty parts steeped in history, but the rest of the place is a bit lacking. I joined a walking tour of haunted Gettysburg to kill some time and take in the local culture. The group included a couple "from the East Coast", our guide, and a real-life cowboy and his wife from Nevada. She wore a lovely horse-patterned sweater and announced to the group that she was very "sensitive" when it came to the spirit world. So sensitive that on Saturday night she woke at 3AM due to a spirit strangling her. Her words, not mine. Her husband, the cowboy (black hat - makes him a bad guy, right???) confirmed her story in a very cowboy-esque few words. Fortunately for our group, nothing attacked on our tour. Just before bed, I glanced out my hotel room window and noticed that an extremely eerie and soupy fog had rolled into town. It was a little freaky as the sky could not have been clearer on our tour.
It saddens me that such a great President is reduced to giving directions to tourists - I have no idea what this is supposed to mean:
In the aftermath of the bloodiest battle ever fought in North America, the little town of Gettysburg was engulfed in the worst man-made disaster in U.S. history: close to 21,000 wounded; very few doctors; heroic women coping in houses, barns, and churches turned into hospitals; dead horses and mules rotting in farmyards and fields; and at least 7,000 dead soldiers who had to be dug up, identified, and reburied. This was where Lincoln had to come to explain why the horror of war must continue.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it fucking obvious from the statue?