Oct 12 Harpers Ferry to Harrisonburg, VA Broadway KOA

Today, we stopped at the Shenandoah Caverns, Quicksburg, VA.  We descended to the cave floor in an elevator for a one hour tour of the  cavern. In addition to Stalactites and Stalagmites, the complex included additional exhibits of antique restored buggies, one of parade floats from  famous national celebrations (like the Rose Bowl Parade) and one of holiday  store window displays.  

Welcome to the Caverns

Original steps to the caverns, no longer
used for safety reasons.

The reminder sign that there was to be no touching the cave walls.

"Breakfast bacon" hanging from the ceiling.

An inner room formed by 2 underground rivers.  Other
rooms were formed by earth quakes.  Great slabs
were tipped on their sides.

Another inner room

Looks like the laundry drying  to me.

Whale teeth?

The guide told us that it would be
15 more years before the top and
bottom actually touch.  It's a
slow drip.

The colored lights set off the cavern walls.  The reflective pool looks like glass.

These talking bears greeted  us on the stairs. They were in on of the Rose Bowl parade.  There were several more exhibits but my phone camera had died.

After we left the parade museum, we headed
to town by-passing the yellow barn with
the antiques in it.  We had enough walking
for a while.

 

Our campsite in Broadway, outside Harrisburg, was quite a ways from town on a windy road  through rolling hills of farming country, not like the city parks
we have stayed in other nights. 

We had an early dinner in Harrisburg at the old railway station. Sonny had a stew called "mulligatawny" with chicken, curry and rice.  He said it was the best meal he ever had!  I had a smoked pork salad that was also tasty.

Revisiting Harpers Ferry

Wednesday Oct 11

We had one more day and at least two places to visit-Harpers Ferry and Monocacy Battle field. In the end, we spent time at Harpers Ferry, the Appalachian Trail office  and Storer Normal School. Parking is non-existent in Harpers Ferry so we took the shuttle bus.  We stopped at several exhibits and learned about Storer Normal School.  Being a teacher, I was interested in the school's history so we spent time exploring the campus.  We didn't get to Monocacy.

The Battle of Monocacy (also known as Monocacy Junction) was fought on July 9, 1864, approximately 6 miles (9.7 km) from Frederick, Maryland, as part of the Valley Campaigns of 1864 during the American Civil War. Confederate forces under Lt. Gen. Jubal A. Early defeated Union forces under Maj. Gen. Lew Wallace. The battle was part of Early's raid through the Shenandoah Valley and into Maryland in an attempt to divert Union forces away from Gen. Robert E. Lee's army under siege at Petersburg, Virginia.^[1] The battle was the northernmost Confederate victory of the war. While the Union troops retreated to Baltimore, Maryland, the Confederates continued toward Washington, D.C., but the battle at Monocacy delayed Early's march for a day, allowing time for Union reinforcements to arrive in the Union capital. The Confederates launched an attack on Washington on July 12 at the Battle of Fort Stevens, but were unsuccessful and retreated to Virginia.

Storer College was a historically black college located in Harpers Ferry in Jefferson County, West Virginia. Established as a normal school to train black teachers, it operated from 1865 until 1955. Established after the American Civil War with the help of philanthropic Baptists from New England and, especially Maine, it lost state funding after the Brown v. Board of Education ruling by the United States Supreme Court that said segregated public schools were unconstitutional. The state decided to fund other facilities that could offer more education.

The defunct college's former campus and buildings were acquired by the National Park Service, authorized in a 1962 appropriation, as part of what is now called the Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. At the same time the NPS began to develop this facility for use as one of its four national training centers.

Hard to read the notes.

I think this was a dorm.

One of the museum volunteers in Harpers Ferry told me about the Storer Normal School. She had attended a reunion of sorts the weekend before.  Several graduates also attended and shared stories.  One told of being a football player who threw the pass that won the only game in the school's history. A cheer leader was also there. I learned that a white man from Sanford, Maine, funded the start up of the school.

This was probably a classroom.

One person we talked to suggested we go to the Appalachian Trail office for information since their office was in  one of the old  Storer buildings.  This office was even more interesting to me because I have climbed Mt Katahdin, the trail terminus, twice. The mountain is  6 feet short of being a mile high so there is a  six foot rock pile at the top that we all added a rock to.  No one in the office could talk about Storer School.

The Appalachian National Scenic Trail, generally known as the Appalachian Trail or simply the A.T., is a marked hiking trail in the Eastern United States extending between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine.^[1] The trail is about 2,200 miles (3,500 km)^[a] long, though the exact length changes over time as parts are modified or rerouted. The Appalachian Trail Conservancy claims that the Appalachian Trail is the longest hiking-only trail in the world.^[2] More than 2 million people are said to do at least one day-hike on the trail each year.^[3]

Manassass (Union side) or Bull Run (Confederate side)

Tuesday, Oct 10th

Today, we drove over windy country roads to the Manassas, Virginia battle field.  The countryside was pretty with rolling hills, big lawns, horses, wineries and Halloween Decorations.

Practicing those selfies at the confluence of the
Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers in Harpers Ferry.

Fall colors

Many homes are made of stone or brick.

Old homes along the way, so close to the road.

I have a 325 i, also.  It looks a little different than this one.

    Here it is below.........

Union solders retreated over this bridge twice.

Henry Hill Visitors Center at Manassas

Halloween decorations at the KOA

Oneonta, NY to Carlisle, PA and on to Harpers Ferry

(Note:  I notice that some of the photos in this section do not show in the published version.  I'm not sure how to fix this but I'll work on it. I am often frustrated with this program.)

Sunday  October 8, 2017   273 miles  81*

Today, it was a warm  ride, though rain misted off and on.  We were back to paying toll fees on the highways.  It's a feat to read the signs to find the lane we are supposed to be in.  Usually, it's the wrong lane but it's too late to change lanes.  Sonny was considering storming the barrier but a live person came along to help. 

Monday October 9, 2017   Carlisle, PA to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.

We had  planned to visit Harper's Ferry again (we were here a few years ago) and a couple of other battle sites so we booked 3 nights at the campground. 

Antietam was the bloodiest one-day battle of the Civil War.  23,000 were killed, wounded or missing.

One of first photos of a Civil War battle field.  Dunker Church in the background, like many civilian buildings,became a hospital.

 Looking out to the battle field from the Visitor's Center.

This sunken road was filled with bodies after the battle.

The battle field was huge.

This monument was erected in honor of the Union soldiers. Sonny walked out to the monument for a closer look.

Monument  Ceremony

General "Stonewall" Jackson got his
nickname from General Lee who proclaimed:
"look at Jackson standing there like a stonewall."

I'm finding a spot where I can look
up to see Sonny.

There was a stone tower observatory on the battle field.  Sonny climbed to the top and took pictures.  Tower stairs scare me so I waited  at the bottom.  Can you see my Maine pines in back of the truck?

Section of battle field.

View from the tower of the sunken road.

The Union  cannons fired point blank at this house since Confederates were sniping at them. Cannon fire hit an 85 year woman inside who wouldn't evacuate. She was the only civilian death in this battle.

Confederates were initially buried on the battle field where they fell so the people of the town dug them out of the battle field, erected a cemetery and placed them in marked graves.

The cemetery castle

Henniker, NH to Oneonta, NY

Saturday October 7, 2017    226 miles

We followed Rt 9 into Vermont and Hogback Mountain. Since it was a weekend during "Leaf Peeping" season, there was more traffic on narrow roads.  We did see lovely old homes, lots of antique shopping, large green lawns, rolling hills.  A Jeep tried to end our trip by pulling a turn in front of us. Sonny had to dynamite the brakes to avoid a crash.

This trailer was left behind at a rest area.  Doesn't look good.

Driving Through New England in the Fall

October 6, 2017, we are leaving Maine to explore Civil War sites in the South.  Truck mileage began at 99,197 and now reads 105,662 so we have traveled 6465 miles so far. We started off on Route 2 from Farmington. We traveled along Rt 9, passed by Story land, Pinkham Notch and camped at Mile

Away Campground, on once we figured out how to cross the river.  The directions took us to a covered bridge that was

too low for us. We rambled a while and finally found the correct entrance.

Trees are beginning to have more color as we drive into New Hampshire.

The peak of Mt Washington is hidden in  the clouds. Sonny and I have driven up to the top on the one and a half lane, gravel road.  It was a clear day so  the view was magnificent.  There is also a 9 gauge railroad that takes passengers. The buildings on top are chained to the ground as winds have  been clocked at 200 mph.

Traffic was manageable as we headed towards Mt Washington, the tallest peak in the Northeast at 6288'

These signs always made me nervous when we were riding the bikes.

A small country church.

The only moose I saw outside,  LLBean does have several stuffed animals including two moose with locked horns.

This cone was a nice attraction.  It caught my eye.

Either flea market or farmer's  market. Somebody
scored a vintage Shasta camper.

Color getting brighter and traffic getting thicker.