Lincoln Slept Here

On Friday night, Bruce came to pick me up and the Big Trip was on! I loaded my stuff in the back of the Tundra which for me was clothes, my Ipod, newspapers, books and magazines to read when I have the chance and the week before, we had gone to BJs to load up on dried fruit and nuts and other snacks to munch on for on the road. Bruce was so excited he didn't even want to stop at a restaurant for pizza (I had a coupon!), so instead we went through a Wendy's drive-thru.

I figured that for our first night, we'd end of sleeping in Connecticut, but it turned out I underestimated Bruce's driving enthusiasm as we would go a bit further that. As far as I am concerned, the 'trip' doesn't even begin until we at least get to the New York State Line.

We hit the road at approximately 7PM and off we went into the wild blue yonder. Through Rhode Island, a small, but boring state because I've been through it so often and then on into Connecticut. No, we did not stop at Foxwoods, as we hugged the coast and motored through New Haven and Bridgeport untill we hit the New York State Line.

So, I was wrong about sleeping in Connecticut. In fact, Bruce's goal before calling a night, was a town called Springfield, New Jersey. Why Springfield? Probably because it reminded him of the Simpson's Springfield. We talked about visiting as many Springfield's as we could, after visiting Springfield, Vermont, but I opted for an attempt at visiting all the Newports instead. I've been to the one in Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Oregon, and Newport Beach, California.

Even Springfield turned out to be underestimating it. We arrived in New Jersey during the middle of the night. Both Bruce and I 'collect' states and we had both had been to New Jersey before. I'll talk about the 'criteria' for collecting a state in a little bit. We stopped at a gas station where I stretched my legs and bought junk food (pork rinds). I am on a low budget so I really didn't need this crap but it was there, ya know, along with a Slim Jim and some bacon and cheese.

Within a short time after that stop, we crossed the state line into Pennsylvania also in the middle of the night, headed for our first scheduled stop, Gettysburg. It was now getting late and we decided to find a place to pull over and rest for the night. We ended up at a truck stop in New Smyth, Pennsylvania. It was my first night ever in a truckstop. Truckers however, usually have a bed on board and a way to block out the light, so we had to find a place to park where we did not have lights in our eyes. Truckstops aren't just for trucks, as I found out, as there are parking areas for cars as well and I also saw near us, a panel van truck, not a big rig, whose driver also pulled over for the night. Nearby was a gas station, and a diner. We love diners, and I'd love it more if it has a bathroom in the morning.

When it was light, we ate at the diner, which was right out of Central Casting for 'Alice's Restaurant'. There were a few truckers and a solitary waitress. While Bruce was in the bathroom, I overheard the following conversation between the waitress, who reminded me of 'Flo' on the old TV show 'Alice' and a balding trucker.

He: "You do good work, you oughta win a prize."
She: " Whadda I win?"
He: "ME!"
She: "Let me go home so I change ma shirt"

I had scrambled eggs and bacon (Adam and Eve, wreck 'em in diner parlance) which was okay and so was the coffee. Truckers are a good source of where the good road fod is. I had heard from one trucking podcast I listened to that there is a good restaurant, an undiscovered gem, off the main highway in Pennsylvania, but I doubt it was THIS place and probably nowhere near here. After breakfast, we hit the highway, first towards Harrisburg and then on to Gettyburg. Oh, but for limited time! as I would have loved to make MANY more stops then we did as Bruce was determined to arrive in Winfield, Kansas, EARLY Wednesday morning. I would have loved to 'collect' state capitols and check out each state's 'stately' structures.

Along the route in Pennsylvania, which was mostly super-highway view, nothing much too notable and I tend to check out the names of some of the towns we pass by. One was Nickel Mine, a town I had mentioned to Bruce, which was the site of a tragic school massacre just a few weeks ago. We arrived in Gettysburg about 9am.

The image to the left is of the Gettysburg Battlefield. Both Bruce and I have an interest in History (I majored in it) as well as an interest in the paranormal and one reason I picked Gettysburg as a must see stop is because Gettysburg is always listed as one of America's most haunted places. In fact, one Podcast I have started to listen to is 'Ghostly Talk' and they pointed out that the Eastern States Paranormal Convention was held there in July.

When we arrived, although it was September, the weather was quite warm and humid, not the best weather for me to want to walk around and explore, but explore we did, the tourist shops and colonial structures of Gettysburg. We stopped at a farmer's market where I picked up a few red ell peppers, although I had no salt and a small berry pie, that I failed to eat. I saw a lot of touristy things, but nothing tickeled my fancy but there was a superb gallery specializing in Civil War themes. I picked up a small book of Gettysburg Ghost Stories, as I found out later was one of several volumes. Haven't read it yet.

I make no claim as to having any kind of 'sensitivity' about having 'otherworldly' experiences, but Bruce has had a few. We have visited many graveyards in the past so he can collect pictures of historic and interesting gravestones and I usually imagine what the lives of some of the deceased might have been like. Bruce didn't have any particular 'feelings' but I, on the other hand, felt an overwhelming sense of sadness about the Gettysburg National Monument.

In fact, as the picture to the left shows and a plaque at the monument states, there are about 6000 bodies buried at the cemetery, about half of them are 'unknown'. The graves that you see have no names, just numbers like 623, 624, etc. No wonder I felt the sense of loss and grief there - no one knows who is buried there and future generations have no one spot to grieve at. If there ever was a monument that points to the futility of war as politics by other means, this is it. We would spend about 4 hours in Gettysburg, a place I am glad I visited, but I was also glad to ,eave, since it is one of the saddest places I've ever been. We left about 2 pm, Bruce asked me if I was hungry for lunch and despite the fact he mentioned pizza (PIZZA!), I declined and said let's hit the road and head for Maryland.