We woke to a wet morning with intermittent showers and a temperature of about 45 degrees. Are we in Washington? After taking the dogs out and giving them breakfast, we walked down to the KOA Clubhouse for a pancake breakfast. We both ordered blueberry pancakes with sausages and coffee. It was really good! After breakfast I borrowed the desk phone and called a local tour company to see if they had room on their 10:00 AM tour. We were in luck! So we walked back to the coach and got the dogs and headed into town.
We got to the tour place and it turned out to be an old garage behind a small deli restaurant. There was a 1932 Ford and a 1937 Ford Tour bus in the driveway, one with a solid roof the other with canvas and it’s raining. We walked into the building and it was evident that they were still in the process of organizing for the tourist season. It looked like a flea market stall. The owner was standing behind the counter and greeted us with a friendly “…good morning.” Even though we were early for our tour, we were the only ones there. 
We chatted for a while then we were joined by our tour guide and driver. Now we were four. Eventually another couple joined us and we made introductions all around. Apparently, the tour company doesn’t officially start touring until after May 21st, so things were still a little disordered. At 10:00 AM the four of us on the tour and our guide went out to the solid roofed 16 passenger 1932 Ford Tour Bus, once used at Yellowstone and got in. Our guide spent a few minutes orienting us to what we were going to see on the tour. He also gave us some of the pre- battle history on troop movements and how the Union Army of The Potomac and the Confederate Army under General Lee ended up at Gettysburg. The tour was broken up into three sections to reflect the battles that took place over July 1st, 2nd and 3rd and the geographic areas where they took place. We started out in the same area Tina and I had toured yesterday but got all the running commentary from our guide describing who was engaging who, what happened during the battle and so on.
“The two armies began to collide at Gettysburg on July 1, 1863, as Lee urgently concentrated his forces there. Low ridges to the northwest of town were defended initially by a Union cavalry division, which was soon reinforced with two corps of Union infantry. However, two large Confederate corps assaulted them from the northwest and north, collapsing the hastily developed Union lines, sending the defenders retreating through the streets of town to the hills just to the south.” Next we covered the fighting that occurred on July 2nd and through town and up towards Cemetery Hill.
“On the second day of battle, most of both armies had assembled. The Union line was laid out in a defensive formation resembling a fishhook. Lee launched a heavy assault on the Union left flank, and fierce fighting raged at Little Round Top, the Wheatfield, Devil’s Den, and the Peach Orchard. On the Union right, demonstrations escalated into full-scale assaults on Culp’s Hill and Cemetery Hill. All across the battlefield, despite significant losses, the Union defenders held their lines.” Finally we went out along Cemetery Ridge where the bulk of General Meade's soldiers were, back along Seminary Ridge where General Lee had most of his troops then out to Little Round Top where we made an extended stop to get out and see the area where the most critical battle was fought.
“On the third day of battle, July 3, fighting resumed on Culp's Hill, and cavalry battles raged to the east and south, but the main event was a dramatic infantry assault by 12,500 Confederates against the center of the Union line on Cemetery Ridge. Pickets Charge was repulsed by Union rifle and artillery fire, at great losses to the Confederate army. Lee led his army on a torturous retreat back to Virginia. Between 46,000 and 51,000 Americans were casualties in the three-day battle. That November, President Lincoln used the dedication ceremony for the Gettysburg National Cemetery to honor the fallen and redefine the purpose of the war in his historic Gettysburg Address.” After returning to the bus we continued down into the boulder strewn valley below, past the Peach Farm and back to Cemetery Hill for the close of the tour. Once again we were treated to an almost private tour with a very knowledgeable guide and a well prepared tour tape with sounds of battle, cannon, muskets, men giving orders and also men dying integrated into the tour. It was very well done and I would highly recommend “Historic Tour Company” to anyone.
(Above quoted battleground descriptions courtesy of Wikipedia)
After we got back we drove back to town, took the dogs for a walk then toured the Gettysburg Train Station. By now it was 1:30 PM and starting to rain pretty heavy so we decided to go home for lunch and spend the rest of the day reading.
To see all of today's photos click on the following link:
Monday the 4th
Since we would be going into Canada in a few weeks we needed to make sure the dogs shot records were up to date so I had made an appointment with the veterinary hospital to update their shots.
We drove into town around noon and got to the Vet’s. We met the doctor with the dogs and he gave them a check up, reviewed their existing records then gave them their shots. We got all the updated shot records squared away then went back into town and had lunch at the Lincoln Diner, a real diner as seen in the Food Network program, “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives”. It was a polished silver converted Pullman with an expanded kitchen. Really cool! The food was good too! After lunch we went for a drive south of town in search of a working covered bridge. With map in hand and Tina driving we found “Jacks Mountain Bridge” with no trouble and took a couple of photos. Then we set off on a drive back into the hills through the old coal mining town of Wainsborough then back to the valley and the town of Iron Springs.
Returning to the highway we drove a little ways towards Gettysburg and got off onto one of the side roads where we drove through an area dedicated to apple orchards and the small town of Ortanna. Eventually we wound our way through the back roads to the KOA. Once we got home we gathered up the laundry and took an hour to catch up on small chores before we called it a day, settled in for the night and listened to the rain come down. To see all of today's photos click on the following link:
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