A Long Way Home

Thursday, Oct. 22, we left out early and drove to Kingsport, Tennessee for the night.

Friday, Oct. 23, we arrived at Nashville I-24 Campground in Smyrna, Tennessee, about 3:00.  We had a great dinner with Becky's sister and brother-in-law. This was our last night together as they were heading on home the next morning.

Saturday, Oct.24, we spent the day with Howard's daughter and family. We mostly kicked back and watched football and then went to dinner.

Sunday, Oct. 25, we again spent the day with Howard's daughter and family, driving to Franklin, Tennessee.  After a wonderful time with them, we went back to the motorhome to get ready to leave in the morning.

Monday, Oct. 26, we left early and drove to Morrilton, Arkansas.

Tuesday, Oct. 27, we arrived home about 3:30 in the afternoon.  We had a wonderful trip, but were ready to be back at home.

Gettysburg

Monday, Oct. 19, we left Massachusetts heading to Pennsylvania.  We drove through Rhode Island and Connecticut and, a arrived at Deer Park, New York KOA that evening.

Tuesday, Oct. 20, we left the campground and arrived at Gettysburg Artillary Ridge Campground that afternoon and got settled in.

Wednesday, Oct. 21, we left about 9:00 to go to the Gettysburg National Military Park Visitor Center and Museum.  We watched the film, A New Birth of Freedom, narrated by Morgan Freeman and sponsered by The History Channel.  It lasted about an hour and was very interesting.  We then viewed the Cyclorama, an oil painting measuring 42 feet tall by 377 feet in circumference. It was completed by Paul Philippoteau, a french painter, in 1884.  He spent months researching the battlefield with veterans, a battlefield guide, and a photographer. It took more than a year to complete the painting.  It is set up complete with sounds and light action to look and sound like you are in the battle.

We then visited the Museum.  This is an amazing Museum and we could have spent all afternoon in it.  As it was, we spent about 3 hours viewing the artifacts, history, and the full timeline of the battle from both sides.

No. 7 is Little Round Top, the part of the battle my

great grandfather, James Harvey Long fought in.

My great grandfather was a member of the 15th Alabama Infantry.

It is marked in red on the right side of the below map.

We finally left the Museum and drove through the battlefield.  We started at West Confederate Avenue and around to South Confederate Avenue and Big Round Top, then up to Little Round Top.

On Little Round Top looking down.

It was a terrible war and took so many lives.  A total of 69,000 were killed in battle from both sides.  Another 220,000 died from disease, accidents and other causes.  Statistics can be misleading as there were 197,000 wounded, but tens of thousands of these returned to battle to be wounded again, or killed in battle, or they died of disease.  I know my great grandfather was wounded at three different battles and went back to fight again each time.

Boston and Cape Cod

Friday, Oct. 16, we left Sunset Point Campground and drove across the tip of New Hampshire into Massachusetts.  We drove to the Gateway to Cape Cod RV Resort near Rochester, Mass., arriving just before dark.

Saturday, Oct. 17, we drove back into Boston. We were interested in seeing the historical areas and decided to walk The Freedom Trail.  We parked in the parking garage under the Boston Common, America's oldest public park.  It was established in 1634 when a group of Puritans bought 44 acres to be used for a common area for grazing.  Looking across the Boston Common to the Massachusetts State House.

The Massachusetts State House was completed in 1798.  The gold dome was originally made of wood, but later overlaid with copper by Paul Revere.  It was covered with 23 carat gold leaf in 1874.

Park Street Church was founded in 1809.  It has a 217 ft steeple which was once the first thing travelers saw as they approached Boston.

Built in 1729, Old South Meeting House was not a church, but rather a meeting house for the Puritans to worship. It was the biggest building in all of colonial Boston and the stage for some of the most dramatic events leading up to the American Revolution, including the meeting that occurred on Dec. 16, 1773 when over five thousand colonists crowded in to discuss what would happen to over 30 tons of tea sitting in Boston Harbor.  They decided to distroy it rather than pay taxes on it and the event became known as the Boston Tea Party.

In 1876 this historical building was sold by its congregation and scheduled for demolition. In its final hour it was saved and became the first successful act of historic preservation in New England.

Just across the street from the Old South Meeting House is the spot where Benjamin Franklin was born.  

The Old State House was built in 1713 to house the colony's government.  The movement for rebellion against the British began here.  It was from this balcony that the Declaration of Independence was first read to the people of Boston in 1776.

It was also the site of the Boston Massacre on Mar. 5, 1770.

Faneuil Hall was built in 1741 as a center of commerce.  It was the site of Boston's first town meeting and it was there that the Sons of Liberty first proclaimed their dissent against British oppression.  There is a statue of Samuel Adams in front.

Boston Latin Schood was founded in 1635 and is the oldest public school in America. 

The statue of Benjamin Franklin graces the spot where the school originally stood, even though he was a dropout.

Nearby is King's Chapel, first built in 1686 as a wooden structure for non-Puritan worshipers. The current building was built in 1749.

King's Chapel Burying Grounds is a fascinating historical cemetery.  It is the burial place of the first woman to step off of the Mayflower, Mary Chilton.  It has many unusual headstones.

A statue of Paul Revere marks the place where he was born.

Bunker Hill Monument was erected to mark the spot of the first major battle of the American Revolution on June 17, 1775.

The USS Constitution was launched in 1797.  The oldest commissioned warship afloat earned her nickname "Old Ironsides" during the war of 1812.  The warship is currently undergoing a major restoration.

A model inside the museum.

After a long day and a lot of walking, we started back to the motorhome.  On the way we decided we were so near Plymouth Rock that we just had to make a detour by there.  This is only a portion of the rock that originally marked the spot where they came ashore.

There was also a replica of the Mayflower.

And a beautiful sunset.

Sunday, Oct. 18, we had to leave the campground because they were closing for the season. We had learned that most campgrounds in the New England area close between Oct. 1 and Oct. 15, so we were glad to have found this one open through today.

As we were leaving we saw the harvesting of cranberries.  The field is flooded and the cranberries float to the top.

We decided to drive the motorhome to Cape Cod to see some Lighthouses and the Pilgrim Monument.  There was no place to park, so we had to do a drive by of the Monument. This is where the Pilgrims first landed and where the Mayflower Compact was signed.

We also drove by Long Point Lighthouse.

We were able to park at Nauset Lighthouse.

The Atlantic Ocean off Cape Cod.

These are called Three Sisters Lighthouses.  They are not in use.

By the time we got off of Cape Cod, it was getting late and we needed to find a place to park for the night. We finally found an RV campground not too far away at Middleboro and settled in for the night.

Harrington, Maine

We left the Frosty Acres Campground in Schenectady, NY on Monday, Oct. 12 and drove into Vermont.  The trees were beautiful.

We continued into New Hampshire and stopped at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the guys to see.  The Porsche Club was raceing and they watched for a while.  Tuesday, we drove into Maine.  The day started out rainy, but it was still beautiful.

It had stopped raining before we arrived at Sunset Point Campground in Harrington, Maine to spend the next couple of nights.  We saw lots of fields covered with a reddish low growing plant.  We did not know until after arriving and asking that these were blueberry fields.  Maine is well known for their wild blueberries, but we had never seen any plants this small.  The berries are harvested in August and after the first frost the leaves on the plants turn red.

This is the inlet near where we were staying.

Wednesday, Oct. 14, we took the car and drove east toward Quoddy Head State Park, just outside of Lubec, Maine.  These are a few of the pictures taken on the way.

West Quoddy Head Lighthouse is located on the easternmost point of the contiguous United States.  It was built in 1808 and is the most recognized of Maine's 65 lighthouses.

We walked down to the ocean to watch the waves.  It was a little windy, but beautiful.

We decided we were hungry and stopped at Uncle Kippy's.  This late in the season, there wasn't much else open.  We all had lobster and it was very good.

Thursday, Oct. 15, we drove into Acadia National Park and up Cadillac Mountain, the highest point on the East Coast of the United States.  We had a full 360 degree view of all of the surrounding area.

A cruise ship from Germany at Bar Harbor.

A seagul in flight.

Later, we went back down the mountain to Bar Harbor for a late lunch.  We decided on West St. Cafe and that was a very good decision.  The food was wonderful, the best we have had on the trip.

With very full tummies, we decided to walk around town a little.  There were lots of people, both traveling in cars and from the cruise ship.

Egg Rock Light Station

After a very enjoyable day, we finally made our way back to the campground.