Gettysburg, Appalachian Trail and… Robin v. 36

We pulled into the Gettysburg National Military Park at about 4:15 on a Monday afternoon, only to find the perfect way for us to tour the area- by bike.  I remember going with my dad when I was about 12.  Tour guides then, as now, are trained and certified by the national park.  Almost everyone tours either by bus, or gives their keys to a guide for a personal auto tour (which my family did in our VW bus way back when).   The bike tour outfit is set up in the RV lot.  We have our own bikes, but there are plenty to rent as well.  I reserved the afternoon tour- more battlefield, more park roads, less traffic.  Ahh, exercise!

Monuments everywhere- near the peach orchard

The view from Little Round Top

There are monuments everywhere, for every unit, on both sides of the battle.  There are even markers as to where one regiment ended and another began.  A very sobering place.

One of Rebecca’s picks was to hike on the Appalachian Trail, so we made plans to go on a guided hike on “family day”.  Unfortunately, they cancelled the hike.  Fortunately, the AT cut right through our campground at Caledonia State Park in Pennsylvania.  Another bonus- we would be able to see an AT “shelter” nearby, where “through hikers” (not us…) can stay the night.  The plan was to hike to the shelter, the turn around so we could get on the road to our next destination.  I studied the AT map on line, and brought the hiking guide provided by the park with us.  Becca wanted to keep going after the shelter, and after consulting the hiking guide, we chose a path.  The guide was not completely accurate…  We had already PASSED the turn off on our chosen path, so our 3 mile hike turned into a 3 hour tour.  Becca and I bore some resemblance to a dry land Gilligan and Skipper.  Thank goodness for cell phones and GPS!  We did see the best shelter any through hiker had ever seen, and a gorgeous rhododendron tunnel.  We also had plenty of time all by ourselves to talk more about birds, bees.... and how the sun helps you tell time of day and direction.

This is the map I wish I had printed out...

Robin… One more bit of excitement that Becca thankfully slept right through.  2AM the night before our bike tour, someone starts banging on the RV yelling, “Can anyone tell me the way to the main road?!!?  They said to turn right at the stop sign!!”  Now there were only 2 RVs and 3-4 tents in this park.  The main road was to the right of the stop sign.  I think the poor tenters  gave her that advice.  She woke me out of a dead sleep.  My first reaction was that someone needed help, so I profoundly said, “WHAT?”,   and stumbled out of bed.  Then she said the courts ruled against the Pope, and she was part Native American, and why can’t anyone tell her how to get to the main road?!!  With that, she quickly established herself as a 911 candidate.  Thanks to the Appalachian Trail map- the good one that I didn’t have on the hike- I remembered what county we were in.  It took the State Police 911, then the county 911, about 5 seconds to say- “That sounds like Robin.  Someone is on the way- it’ll be about 20 minutes”.

 “Should I keep talking to her to keep her here?”

“No, don’t put yourself in any danger”.

It was hard to not do anything else, but that last statement kept me quiet and inside.  Sure enough, 15 minutes later headlights came up the road, and some calm voices got Robin settled and out of the cold.

We’ve been praying for Robin and others as we not only see the USA, but also people we don’t usually come across in our little Hudson, Ohio “bubble”.