6/9-10/13: Sunday-Monday, June 9-10: So This Is Gettysburg. Yesterday's drive (Sunday) started out with the GPS unit, which I had set to take me to the KOA in Gettysburg, PA, sending me around in circles back to the KOA in Willamsport, MD. After the second pass by the KOA turnoff in 5 minutes, I turned the GPS unit off so it could chill out till I was nearer Gettysburg.
   Once I was off the interstate, I had to follow the kinds of roads that had scared me so in North Carolina and Virginia: tiny, winding, next-to-no-shoulder, about the size and shape of a sweat duct, but posted for 55 mph. "These Easterners are freaking NUTS," thought I, until I realized that they are horse-and-buggy roads designed for 150 years ago and speeds of 8 mph tops. Giddyup, horse! Now, that would have made sense.
     I'm in Gettysburg, PA, now (Monday), getting ready to take a couple of tours of the battlefield today, one for the major sites of the battle and a second for human-interest stories of the battle. I don't quite understand why Gettysburg suddenly has such a pull for me; maybe I'm finally realizing that of all our wars, THIS is the great American tragic war and battle. Almost all the participants were so young; so many lives that might have been full were instead never finished. The winter at Valley Forge; Pearl Harbor; 9/11 -- all tragic, but never was the slaughter so great.

    Causes? I keep thinking, Stubborn old men, sure, but at least in the South, headstrong young men longing to prove themselves and young women egging them on for the reflected glory. Was our Civil War really necessary? I'm reading a novel related to the Trojan War now, and it made me reflect on the ancient Greek ideals of mortal fame, glory and booty in battle being the principal ones. One hundred fifty years ago, many young men must have received classical educations including Latin and Greek, must have read the Iliad and the Odyssey in the original Greek, imbibing those ideals along the way, and reached their first years of manhood just itching to claim their own battle fame.


   My eyes got puddly driving past the national cemetery yesterday, seeing headstone after headstone after headstone.

    Lucky me, it's raining today and is supposed to rain all day long. Oh, well, the soldiers of our Civil War endured worse.
   MONDAY: And it rained all day today, too, so I wore my rain gear over my regular clothes.
   Took two amazing tours of Gettysburg, one of the battlefield and battle sites and the other of human interest stories about the people involved in the battle. "Classic Gettysburg Battlefield Tours" (http://www.historictourcompany.com/): don't know how they compare to others, but I can truly say I found both tours fascinating, well worth the time and money -- more than worth it. I was the only person on the 5 PM "Stories" tour, billed at a little over an hour long, and enjoyed two hours' worth of exciting, sad, heartwarming, and even funny stories with visits to the locations where they took place, thanks to tour guide Wes.
   I was surprised at how modest the area's relief was -- Cemetery Ridge and Seminary Ridge hardly worthy of the names, I thought, and Little Round Top perhaps 50 feet high at the most. (Wikipedia says 63 feet above the low saddle connecting it to [Big] Round Top. Standing at Little Round Top's summit near General Warren's statue and looking down into, among other things, the Devil's Den, I finally saw how even this modest an eminence could be very advantageous to whoever commanded it, and a difficult obstacle for those attempting to take it.
   Between tours, I enjoyed lunch at a local place recommended by Tim, the 10 AM Battlefield Tour Guide, then crossed the street for a huge scoop of wonderful ice cream homemade at a small, local ice cream and candy parlor, and finally walked through part of the National Cemetery.
   As I left the tour headquarters to go back to the KOA, the sky cracked open and spilt great sheets of rain. It took me 5 or 6 tries to get Maybelline back into her space; I thought for sure I'd fetch up on a rock, because in addition to the soaking rain, it had got quite dark by nearly 8 pm. At least I didn't back her into a ditch.
   In spite of the rain, it's actually quite warm, and I have the fan going. Moving near-liquid air is more comfortable than still, smothering, humid air. I don't know why, but I'm very tired tonight. I think I'll sleep well!