Friday, July 23, 2021- Gettysburg and Home

      It's the last day of our trip, but we always try to squeeze as much out of a day as possible.  It ain't over till it's over.

     So Scott was up this morning and out walking the battlefield.  He headed to the southern portion of the battlefield this time and parked near the Wheatfield.  He walked over to the Crawford monument and started recording there.  He walked through "Valley of Death" past the dramatic view of Little Round Top and over the gigantic boulders of Devil's Den.  Someone asked him if he was getting good shots with his GoPro, and Scott said.  "I hope so.  It's for when I'm on the treadmill at home."  They said it was a great idea.  Scott went on to the Rose Woods and managed to find the stone where Capt. Henry Fuller fell.  (Fuller was in the 64th New York and is now buried in Little Valley, NY.)  The spot is always hard to find, but especially so in the summer when there is a lot of undergrowth.  To make it harder this time, there was a tree that had fallen across the path.  When Scott did get to the spot, he checked the GoPro, and the little red light was still blinking, meaning he still had battery power and was still recording, so he continued on.  He went past the 64th New York's monument, past the Irish Brigade's monuments and around the far side of the Wheatfield.  He kept treating the camera as if it was still recording and was pleased to see that when he finally got to the car, it still seemed to be going.  It was a 52 minute recording and Scott figures it was about a two mile walk.  We'll see what was recorded when we get home.

     Meanwhile, Julie and Abby were waking up, having breakfast and taking a swim in the indoor pool at the hotel.  Julie said the water was bathwater warm, and Abby absolutely loved being in it.  It looks like we will have to start booking hotels with pools again, the way we did when Anna and Emma were little.  Scott joined them at a little after 10:00 and helped pack the car to leave.  We had one errand to run while we were in town.  Scott had brought along his bayonet because there was something wrong with the way it was hanging.  We stopped so that Scott could go into the Regimental Quartermaster's store on Steinwehr Avenue to get a new frog and scabbard for it.  We were on our way out of town when he remembered that he also needed caps for his musket, so we went back again to pick up those.  

     When we were finally on the road, we were heading north on Route 15.  Scott was driving and construction meant that the road was narrower than usual,  with traffic cones along the side.  Scott watched as one tractor trailer was merging into traffic in front of him from an entry ramp.  The truck sideswiped a similarly sized truck just then.  There were pieces of the truck's red cab flying up into the air.  Scott pulled over behind that truck.  He called 911 while Julie went up to the truck's cab to see if the driver was hurt.  He was slumped over his wheel and looked dazed, but he gave Julie the "thumbs up" signal that he wasn't hurt.  (The other truck had stopped further up the road.)  The construction workers who were in front of the accident also witnessed it, and one of them took charge and was directing traffic around the debris.  He said that there wasn't a reason for us to stay, that they had seen it all, and said we could go.   

     The rest of the drive was pretty uneventful.  We stopped a couple of times to let Abby stretch.  We had left Gettysburg before noon and were home around 7:30.