blm2003

I'm in too! Looking forward to the next post

All your photos of the new light poles made me think how happy this guy must be:

Brown Paint Guy is going to be busy for a while getting all those new poles to match

 

If you ever see plants like this growing in Florida, DO NOT TOUCH them.  You're welcome:

 

 

 

I can't help it, I have to ask, What is this? Unfortunately I'm not in Florida nearly enough to have learned on my own 

Saying we were packed in like sardines doesn't cover it.

We were packed worse than sardines.

The show was supposed to begin at 11:40 from what we heard. It didn't help matters that it started about 10 minutes late.

Bad show there Epcot.



FUEGO!:



I said FUEGO! because that's what all the nice people not from this land who had invaded our space screamed loudly in our ears.

Why are the people not from this land so loud?

We could all see the FUEGO. Why did they need to scream?

I guess they didn't realize that there is a narrator for this part of the show, and a story is being told.

After all, they are not from this land.

But, they love FUEGO!

The Illuminations part of the show ended at around midnight:


 

That was the beginning of the "FUEGO" joke 

 

There were three marching bands that came by before the parade started.

 

Three.

 

That must have been a blast for those kids.  They were all from out of state.  

A little late to the party, but I'm here. 

I timed my high school career perfectly, I was able to take part in two band trip to WDW. I marched down Main St and played on a stage in Epcot....as an 8th grader and as a Senior. It was an experience I will never forget! 

Disney really made us feel like rock stars with our backstage access and just in general with the way we were treated. Some of my best memories of high school are band trips!  

Wow, good job to WDW helping out with that tire.

I have been a member of Good Sam Roadside Assistance for a long time now. They cover all the vehicles in the family, including my motorcycle's and the fifth wheel. If you recall my tire mishap last August on the way back to Boston from Ohio, I had a service company at my trailer within 15 minutes of my first call to Good Sam, on a Sunday morning! They had told me 70 minutes when I spoke with them, and I was ok with that.

In addition, they have an APP for your phone that has all your vehicle info in it, and it provides them your exact location to make getting help when you are travelling a lot easier. 

I have used them twice now while towing the fifth wheel and have been more than satisfied both times. 

Thanks for sharing another great TR with us! 

Great start, I'm in! Looking forward to more

There were some replies to this post when I put it up originally, I found this article (http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123368299 ) on the news regarding the Doolittle Raiders and thought there might be some interested people here. The Raiders are having their final "Goblet Ceremony" on November 9 and we are all welcome to observe this ceremony via the web. I am planning to watch, wish I lived closer as I'd go stand on the side of the road and show my respect / support for these guys!

This next display, right behind the B-25, was really moving. A tribute to the 80 men who made the B-25 a household name in 1942. Here are two photos of the sign which explains the display, and a couple photos of the display itself.

 

 

 

 

 

You can see that at the time of our visit there were only 4 goblets upright. There was a chart next to the display that listed the names of all 80 men and their duties during the raid. As I said, already, this was very moving to me. 

 

Really like the potential of the Musket Mickey Sign! Can't wait to see the finished product

Page one bragging rights! This never happens!

I like your reasoning about reposting and am looking forward reading along (again)!

  :pc:

I'm in! Bring on the Troll Rant's, Troll Fails, and all the other Troll Trip Report Greatness.

Enjoyed your trip report!  You guys managed a reunion and an awesome history lesson all in one. 

Hope you get to do even more next year!

Thanks! We had an awesome time and it was nice to make it a little bit educational for the boys. Can't wait for next year to get here!

 

Wow Tom,  you were blessed with finding that tire....   You also drove through my back yard on your way from Gettysburg...   Several of your photos are from Berks County or as we refer to it  " Dutch Wonderland"...  Next time your coming to Gettysburg let me know and we can meet up...    If you want ghosts and the kids to see something unique,   take a day and do  Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia. 

 

 

I would love to do the Eastern State Pen! We have watched several documentaries about it. I'll give you a yell next year when we are heading that way and hopefully we can meet up. 

Great TR. I loved all the pix and especially the history lesson. Doolittles Raiders display was awesome.

Thanks for reading along! Glad you enjoyed it, it was a lot of fun to write it up.

Wow, thank goodness you found that crack in your tire before a disaster happened!

 

How old was that tire?  It looks otherwise to be in good shape.  Any idea what caused that crack?

 

TCD

The tire was getting on the older side at 5 years, but it had always been kept covered out of the sun, and had under 10,000 miles on it. No idea other than age what might have caused it. 

Wow!  That tire situation is scary.  Glad it worked out....and glad to hear of your great experience with Good Sam.  Good to know. 

 

I have always been fascinated with that abandoned stretch of the PA Turnpike.  It's fun to scroll around in Google Maps and look at it.  Would be really fun to explore in person. 

Yeah, Good Sam is great. Last problem was a broken leaf spring on the way home from the Fort in 08. I figured, based on the unexplainable noise we were hearing, I dragged that thing about 400 miles with a broken spring. (Does my guardian angel comment make more sense now?) 

Great TR, I have really  enjoyed following along with it!

Thanks for following along! 

I meant to comment on the abandoned highway.

 

I would love to explore that too.

 

I find abandoned things fascinating.  One of these days, I would love to explore River Country before they tear it down.  Too bad it is so secure.

 

TCD

I too am fascinated by abandoned things. We'd like to visit the highway as well as the abandoned town of Centralia, PA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia,_Pennsylvania) on our next journey. The kids are all about haunted and abandoned places. I'm a lucky man that my wife let's me pursue these types of adventures with the boys! She may not love all our adventures, but she makes the best of it for us!

Maybe you could get good Cousin Yuri to sneak you in to River Country on your next trip to the Fort, I heard a rumor he knows of a secret tunnel from Wilderness Lodge into RC.   It's been a while since he's made an appearance, he must be do for a visit soon! 

Thanks for reading along! 

I thought we were going to have two more updates, I was wrong, this is going to do it. The Last Update, here we go. 

I packed up as much of the camper and the outside stuff as I could on Saturday night so we had minimal packing to do in the morning. We got up and were on our way fairly early. Before long we drove by this factory, sure would have liked to stop in and gotten some samples

We saw some more great scenery today as we were heading further east

A sign for the “Turkey Hill Experience” It looks like fun, you can see more about here if you’re interested. http://turkeyhillexperience.com/ There ice cream is excellent!

We pulled off the highway and into a Bob Evan’s for breakfast this morning. I grabbed the puppy and brought her back to the camper to put her in her kennel while we ate. I happened to look down at the tires as I was opening the door and it looked like the rear tire on the camper had a bead of water running down it. I thought that was weird as it was hot and sunny out so I leaned over for a closer look and this is what I found

That was scary! I don't know how this tire didn't explode, we had just been travelling at 60+ mph down the interstate. With all the times my Guardian Angel has had to look out for me, I'm getting worried about running out of favors!

Fortunately we have a spare tire for the RV and I had signed us up for Good Sam’s Emergency Road Service before we left. I grabbed the phone and opened the app which took all my info and then placed a call to them. It worked out great. The App gave them my location so I didn’t have to worry about figuring out an address, and they were really helpful.

They told me the service people would be there in about 70 minutes. They showed up in under 10, and had the tire changed in about that much again! I couldn’t have been happier! The family had gone in to breakfast while I was dealing with this, and I was sitting at the table with them before their food had arrived. Super Impressed with the service I had just gotten doesn't even begin to describe how pleased I was!

This was the second time I’ve had to use the Good Sam ERS with the camper and both times I have been more than satisfied! Highly recommend this service if you are doing any long distance travel with your RV.

CJ’s Automotive from Paradise, PA was the service company that responded to help us out. The driver was telling me how he got called out last week to an RV on which the tire had blown up and taken out a good portion of the side wall. I was happy that he wasn’t going to get tell a story like that about me!

Disaster averted, bellys full, we set out for home again. Here is some more scenery that we passed on the way

Somebody was sleepy for most of the day today, it had been a long trip for my baby girl

Back to the great scenery

Getting closer!

Second, and last, picture from New York…Heading over the Tappan Zee Bridge

The boys got excited for this one, as they do every time we drive through Stamford, CT. Kind of hard to see but that black flag in the middle is sporting the WWE Logo, that’s their headquarters right behind the flag. The kids are into wrestling at the moment.

This would be the best photos we managed of our Welcome Home sign. The blue blurs should say, “Welcome to Massachusetts”!

That’s it, 45 minutes later we were backing into the driveway at home!

Thanks so much for reading along, I hope you all enjoyed my report, I sure enjoyed writing it and reading all your comments!

Joe

A little bit of info. General George Meade was stationed in my home town during the 2nd Seminole War. He was Lt. Meade at that time and the town is named for him now after the fort that was there, although the for was named Fort Clinch when he was here. Who would think a famous general from Gettysburg would have  a connection to a small town in central Florida. Fort Meade the oldest town in Polk County. Also had Stonewall Jackson stationed here.    

Thanks sharing that! I never would have been aware of this info had you not posted this! Thanks for reading along, another update coming up in a couple of minutes

Let’s get right back at it this morning.

Our last stop was just outside the Pennsylvania Monument. This pulled up behind us as we were parking.

You can rent these in town for a battlefield tour. $10/hr or $40 for the day (8am-6pm)

The view from the top of the Penn. Monument

My best friend just retired after 20 years in the Army National Guard in an engineering unit. He has this building tattooed on his leg. So this picture is for him

The last observation tower of the day (thank God). Also the tallest I believe. This was on top of Culp’s Hill.

DW didn’t feel she was needed on top of the tower

I call these next three photos “Today’s Heroes learning about Yesterday’s Heroes”

I mentioned earlier the statue’s of Gen. Lee and Gen. Meade on opposite sides of the field looking towards one another, We saw Gen. Lee earlier, here’s Gen. Meade looking back

That’s the end of my battlefield photos. We didn’t visit the Cemetery, we will do that next year.

Here’s a better shot of the flag pole in the center of town

It’s pretty here, but I wouldn’t want to live in downtown Gettysburg. The houses are stacked one on top of the other. Get a little outside of the town center and everything spreads out quite a bit, much nicer. Here’s a shot a street leaving the center of town

A shot for any motorcycle fans out here reading along

You will not find a billboard anywhere in Massachusetts advertising a Gun Show

Remember I told you the Gettysburg KOA had a great dog park for the four legged family members? I found a couple of pictures my wife took of it

Anyone hungry? A truck we saw in town

There are no more pictures from Saturday. That was it. Tomorrow is Sunday and we are heading the rest of the way home to Massachusetts. I think I have two more updates to post. But that’s going to wrap this one up.

Tomorrow is going to be a sad day, with an exciting beginning, the possibility of a total disaster, and a great story about the Good Sam Club.

Stay tuned

Joe

Wow, we are flying through this today, Does this make up for my several day hiatus?

Another observation tower to climb, these towers gave my legs a work out, but they were worth it!

The view from Little Round Top

The rock formation at the center / left of this photo is the infamous “Devil’s Den”. We’ll get a closer look at this are in a few short time.

“Devil’s Den” dead center this time

More from Little Round Top

This is Brig Gen Gouverneur Kemble Warren, the statue is alleged to be on the spot where he stood and overlooked the battle. I would not have wanted to stand there during a battle.

The good General’s plaque

We moved on, heading down towards Devil's Den. Here’s a look from the bottom of Little Round Top up to where we just came from

Explaining to the boys how the snipers would have been firing up to the top of the hill from this point.

The family in the Den, I'm a lucky man!

I liked how this rock has an almost spider web cracking going on.

There are several trench like passageways through the rocks in this area

Another Massachusetts Monument

The sign outside of Maj Gen Daniel Sickles headquarters location.

This is the barn mentioned on the sign, the cannonball hole is almost right between the two diamond shapes

We came across this group outside the Pennsylvania Monument.

It was hot out today, I felt bad for these guys, they must have been dying

This was their camp

I’ll end this update with a photo of the Pennsylvania Monument, the largest at the site.

I’ve got a lot of photos left, I might be able to get one more update in today, if not I’ll be back tomorrow morning.

Joe

Great updates.

 

I love the Gettysburg photos- the blue sky and sunshine makes everything look so nice.  As you noted, it's hard to conceive the carnage that happened there.

 

It's been a long time since I visited Gettysburg.  The new visitors center makes me want to go back.

 

TCD

The visitor center is great! Lots of artifacts displayed in the lobby areas. There is also a museum area that you can go through ($$) as well as a Cyclorama and film area ($$) We did not do any of this, but would consider it next time.

Next year I am going to reserve a guided tour for our family. You get a licensed tour guide who will drive your car around the battlefield while stopping and visiting key points. The cost for up to 6 people in one vehicle is only $65. There were several of these tour guides on the field while we were there and we were able to listen in to some of the descriptions they were giving and these guys are really really good. I feel that I missed a lot by having to drive around the area while everyone else was able to sightsee, I was watching traffic 

Some more photos of the Eternal Light Peace Memorial

These signs were great, they were everywhere and did a good job of giving you an idea of what happened and when.

These photos were taken from the top of an observation tower

A monument to the 12^th Massachusetts

This next monument was really cool. It is for the 11^th Pennsylvania Infantry and their mascot, a brindle bull terrier named Sallie. After the first day of the battle she went out to where the members of her regiment had fought and died and laid down with them until she was found on July 4^th. She remained with the unit and fought in every battle until she was mortally wounded at the Battle of Hatcher’s Run in February 1865. The men gave her a proper burial and, never forgetting the most devoted member of their regiment, memorialized her likeness on the 11^th Penn Monument.

Here’s the boys sitting with Sallie

I bet a horseback tour of the battlefield would be a lot of fun!

The North Carolina monument

DS1 noticed this guy had an “infection” on his eye!

I know Dave is from Tennessee, I think there are some others who read here that are also down his way, so this one is for DaveinTN and friends

This is the Virginia monument, it features General Lee atop Traveller, his favorite horse, looking over the battlefield. On the other side of the Battlefield General Meade is sitting on his horse, "Old Baldy", looking across at General Lee. At the base of the Virigina monument are a group of seven soldiers. See the plaque below

Despite this last sign, there was a couple not of this land, and the woman was happily climbing on the monument with her dog, a beagle, on a leash so her husband could take pictures. I can’t begin to tell you how angry this made me, fortunately they got the idea as everyone who was there was giving them looks and they collected their dog and moved along. I can’t believe how disrespectful people can be. Were they not taught anything growing up? My DS1 made a comment about how that ‘wasn’t right dad” and that made me swell with pride. I might not do a lot of things right, but moments like this let me know that I’m getting this whole parenting thing down pretty well.

We’re pretty close to the limit here, so let me put you all on hold again, don’t worry, it won’t be several days this time. Just a short hold

Till then

Joe

Here we are having just backed into site 35. Full hookups including cable, a nice level, gravel covered site.

That’s it for campground photos tonight. I get another big fail in this category. But I have an excuse. After setting up the rig, cooking dinner, and taking care of the dog, I had been pretty busy, I sat down and that was it for me.

The next morning we took a short drive through downtown Gettysburg

Then we pulled in to our attraction for the day

I had visited here when I was a teenager with my parents, and I was looking forward to seeing it all again as well as having the boys experience the visit

The rather new visitor center

Honest Abe and DS2

Abe again with DS 1 and 2

I’m a old musician (and both boys are new musicians) and we all took an interest in seeing this display

Some relics from the home state

The display was quite large and very interesting, to me at least!

Some weapons of the day

The Rebel Uniform of the Day

And the Union Uniform of the Day

There were a lot of people from our home state at this battle. Hard to fathom

This photo was enormous

We purchased the audio tour and set off on our journey. I was shocked to learn that not only did Abner Doubleday not invent baseball, but my father, John Burns (my fathers name sake) was a local legend! I made sure to give dad some ribbing about this when I got home, “knew you had been in the war, just didn’t know it was the Civil War”, etc. We got a chuckle out of it

Take a moment and picture 1,000’s of men engaged in brutal combat in these fields. Kind of hard to wrap your head around how much death and damage occurred here in just 3 short days.

This barn was standing at the time of the battle

Seminary Ridge behind the trees. I imagine the trees were not here 150 years ago.

The three boys of the family (If only we'd had a cannon ball, some powder, and a match....Just kidding :rofl2: )

The DS’s

The Eternal Light Peace Memorial. Dedicated by FDR in 1938. The kids thought it was cool to be standing where the President had stood so many years ago.

We were having a really nice time, and the weather was perfect, if a little hot for me. Lets pick this up in the next update

joe

Sorry guys, I had to work for a couple days here, but let’s get this baby cranking again and see if we can get through to the end.

We left off cruising east through Ohio, fairly soon we came upon this sign

We were just passing through though, didn’t even get off the freeway, so before we knew it we were leaving West Virginia in our dust

We drove through some more gorgeous country. Did I mention I love travelling by car so we can see what our awesome country has to offer?

What do you suppose is in this barge?

Kind of looks like salt to me, are there salt mines in PA? I do not know.

I bet this flag is pretty when the wind is blowing, would also be a good place to watch the train go by

A cemetery on a hill, from this vantage point I’m willing to bet it’s pretty old. Those grave markers don't look very modern, but we are a long way away

It was hard to defeat the cries from the back seat to visit the caverns. Maybe next year on our trip we will plan a visit here.

Some more countryside

I’m not sure I was supposed to pull the trailer with the propane through this tunnel, but I did and I didn’t get a request for a donation from the Highway Patrol, so I guess we were ok

This tunnel makes the 14 billion dollar big dig in Boston look sad. The tunnel’s in Boston are so dirty and grimy, this tunnel looked brand new. I guess with all the money we spent on construction we couldn’t afford a pressure washer to clean it once and a while. Or maybe the cleaners are just afraid of ceiling tiles or lighting fixtures falling on them and won’t go into the Boston tunnels to clean them? I don’t know

Finally, a sign for our destination today

Right here where US 70 and US 30 meet there is an interesting piece of history that the kids had hoped to visit. You can see the start of it in the photo above behind the exit sign, the jersey barriers and guardrail in the bottom left of the photo are at the beginning of it. There are 13 miles of  abandoned highway here. Including two tunnels through the mountains. They are part of the original PA Turnpike which opened in 1940. This stretch of road was abandoned in 1968 as it had become unable to handle the amount of traffic on the highway. The tunnels are open to the public and it is legal to visit and bike through them. We had planned on stopping, but our late start in Ohio made this impossible if we wanted to get set up tonight while the sun was up. Another activity to add on the list for next year. You can read all about the abandoned highway by clicking the link if you are so inclined. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abandoned_Pennsylvania_Turnpike

 My wife has finally caught the photo bug, she’s been taking pictures constantly as we are driving today.

I’m not sure if any one here has ever driven route 30 east through PA, there is a stretch about 9 miles long with an 8% downgrade. This put a workout on the truck, but it did well. I wouldn’t trade my Duramax / Allison combo for anything else. I averaged 12.9 MPG over about 2100 miles. I was happy with that number, here’s a couple of photos going down the hill

This nice person wanted to ride her brakes the whole way down the hill, she didn’t understand why I was flashing her with the high beams to get off the brakes before I ran her over

She finally got the point at the bottom of this hill and pulled over so we could go around, I could really smell the brakes at this point because I had to stand on them for so long to avoid driving over her……some people just don’t understand the idea of driving

Back to the landscape photos

Wish we got a better one of this sign. Epcot doesn’t have the only Wine festival

Finally, we found a sign for our home for the night.

We were staying at the Gettysburg KOA tonight. First impression on pulling in was good. They have a dog park with all kinds of fun things for the dog to play on, a nice looking pool, and a well stocked store with really friendly staff.

We were escorted to our site by two gentlemen, and they helped me back it in so we put it right on the spot on one try. Really helpful!

Let’s pick it up from here in the next update….coming right up!

Great trip report and even better photos, if your in laws knew how many times the Windseeker rides got stuck they might not have ridden it. Anyway looks like you had a great trip looking forward to more.

 Just a FYI if you still have the same 5th wheel next year you might want to check out the FROG rally in Goshen Indiana. FROG stands for Forrest River Owners Group and while at the rally they will repair things you have wrong with your unit, that was worth the cost to me.

Wow, maybe I'll think twice about getting on Windseeker myself next time we are out there. Thanks for the info on the FROG group. I think I may have joined their forum a number of years ago when we bought the 5th wheel. The gentleman we bought it from owned an RV shop for 40 years, we got a lot of little "personal" touches from him that we love. It will make getting rid of the rig harder than it should be when the time comes. 

I've been following along, but have not gotten the chance to tell you how much I have been enjoying your report.

I love zoos. My kids are not huge fans so we don't go too often.

My dad was in the AirForce for 22 years. I'll have to ask him if he has ever been to the museum. If not he enjoys traveling and he just might enjoy going. I think we would even enjoy it.

When we go to Nebraska we usually stop in Kansas City and go to Worlds of Fun which is owned by the same company as Kings Island. Now you've got my mind thinking things like if we got one of those passes where you can go to all the parks owned by the company......

Somehow I do not think DH's wallet will be in agreement with my thoughts. :rofl2:

Excited to see where you are headed next.

Thanks for the comments, we aren't done yet! My wallet and your DH's have some things in common, they never seem to agree with the DW's!

Those particular cars are covered coil gondolas which are used exclusively to handle coiled sheet steel.   Tank cars are completely rounded. The  cars in the photos are flat gondolas  with the half cover.      Full disclosure is that my uncle was an engineer for 35 years....  I also love trains.....

Thanks for sharing that John. My great uncle was a conductor for Amtrak for a long time, unfortunately he retired before I was old enough to take advantage of his position to gain some behind the scene access. 

I love the Air Force Museum. Ive been there several times. But Im an aviation buff. I always visit any air museum in the areas I go.

 

A little info on the museum:

 

Museum Operations

The U.S. Air Force operates the museum complex through government appropriated funds. The commander of the Air Force Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base maintains operational oversight of the museum, with the History Office of the Secretary of the Air Force in Washington, D.C., providing policy guidance.

Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. John L. Hudson serves as director, and Mr. Terry Aitken as senior curator. The museum's 96 federal civil service positions cover a variety of areas, including exhibits, collection, research, aircraft restoration, operations, education, special events, planning, public affairs and administration. More than 500 volunteers provide an important contribution in diverse areas from greeting and assisting visitors to leading tours and helping restore aircraft.

 

So it is government funded subsidized by donations and merchandise sales.

See, I knew that nice old lady at the gift shop was lying to me!!   I can't believe that we got bad information from an employee at an attraction! who's ever had that happen to them

Thank you for sharing this special trip with us! I love all the pictures. Just looking at the roller coasters makes my heart pitter-patter rapidly!

Sadly no more roller coaster pics in this report. But we do have some more pics, stay tuned

Really enjoyed your TR!

Not over yet, just had to take a couple days off from here to go to work.....need to get my priorities straight, I know!

 

After reading the TR, does it sound like something you and your wife might like to do? 

 

In comparing the HAL and DCL cruises, they are apples and oranges.  Depends on what you are looking for.

It sure does! I really want to do a DCL trip with the kids. It's just a cost thing at the moment. I love the sunrise and sunset pictures you are putting up. They are so nice, I can only imagine how much nicer they would be in person....I have to get the wife over here to read your report (and TCD's latest cruise report)....maybe then she will open the purse strings a little bit for me 

That.....is......AWESOME! 

Thanks Dave! This was what the whole trip was about!

Any idea what these train cars are for?  There's a major East-West train line near my house and I see these all the time.  No clue what's in them.

Hard to tell Judy, they are liquid tank cars for the most part, but are used for a huge variety of commodities, from Milk to Liquid Nitrogen.

Looks like a great day at King's Island!  Was surprised that your wife rode all those coasters.

 

The Ohio countryside is beautiful.

I loved the driving through the countryside. I too was shocked by her bravery, she doesn't do things like that! It was fun to watch

Great report Judy. I really enjoyed all your photos. Thanks for sharing your trip with us!