Vincentown, NJ (Bob and Jan's) Philadelphia, PA Gettysburg, PA
Our first trip to Gettysburg and to see Uncle Bob and family. This trip was punctuated by an accident as someone backed into our motorhome. I had some concern as the NJ turnpike only has unleaded fuel! Well, let's see. It is now the 13th and I still have not done even the 10th! We left for Vincentown at about 2:30 AM, a bit later than we wanted to. We thought Meg and Matt would go right to sleep. Matt did but Megan stayed up until 5:30 AM. We had a nice night trip. Little fog and little traffic. We arrived in Philly about 1 AM. Stayed at Bob and Jan's on both the 11th and 12th. Went to Philly on the 12th. Saw Independence Hall but nothing else. Rain and conditions were very poor. Left Bob and Jan's about 10 AM and arrived in Gettysburg about 2 PM. Staying at "Drummer Boy" campground. Showers are VERY hot. Hit a downpour just before getting to the campground and everything around the campground got soaked. Matt's playpen kept him busy for a while, until he began sticking his hands out and picking up rocks!!! Only 7:30 PM and everyone is ready for bed. 8/14/84 We all got up about 8 AM and had breakfast. The campground is really muddy. Meggie wants to go back to the pool. They have a wading pool and she really got into that. Even Matt liked it; he could crawl around in the water! It was raining and very hot, everyone is stuck inside the motorhome. We broke camp and went into Gettysburg. First stop was the NMP (National Military Park) visitor's info center. We first took the tour to the Eisenhower Home, a nice and practical place, not stuffy like Hayes. Next, we walked through the visitor's information center. Oh .. the tour to Eisenhower was on a bus and Meggie just ate it up!!! Matt was very good, too. Afterward we were eating lunch in the motorhome when BOOM! A guy backing his trailer into the next spot hit us. Minor F/L damage. Had a ranger take a report. We then went to the Civil War wax museum. Very interesting. A trip through the park with a Cc, Inc. Auto Tour was very nice. It is a cassette you rent ($8.50) and it explains things as you go around the park. That took three hours. We came back to camp exhausted! On top of our exhaustion, it was pouring out. We had rivers of drain water past our site. We decided to find another campground as this one will be muddy for a week. We had been staying at Drummer Boy campground. We are checking Battlefield campground. It seems to have everything, including a wading pool. It is listed as a grassy campground so should not be so muddy. Kids sacked out 10-10:30 PM. Oh well, here I sit at midnight. 8/15/84 Well, we are at site 43 at Battlefield campground. We should have came here first! Really nice neighbors on both sides. Gettysburg Campground was where our neighbor was. At 2 AM on Saturday night they woke to screaming. They have a flash flood and the water was half way up their trailer ( a big 5th wheel). They pulled out without even taking their jacks down and broke them. Driving out, the water was all the way in the truck. Many campers and tents were lost. Two cars were swept away. Eleven people were hospitalized. It was a terrible mess. At any rate, glad we didn't get caught in that mess. Today we went to the National Tower, had an excellent time there. We were going to go to a few other museums but all had slide-show types of shows so we passed them up. We went to the "Quaint Shops of Gettysburg", a village of about 15 small businesses that was a lot of fun. We then came back to the campground and went swimming. The pool was very nice, about 2 foot deep on one end and both Meg and Matt (with help) could walk around. We then ate and took a walk. Another swim. That did it for the day. 8/16/84 Well, not a terribly exciting day. After breakfast Eater, Buzzard, and I took a walk. We ate then went to the playground. We then went to the playground. After lunch and a quick swim we left. Took eight hours to get home. We took PA 15 to PA 94 hoping to stop at the Appalachian Trail. The trail cut the road right at the base of a mountain and we figured we better not stop. We stopped and got some fruit. A nice side drive. Getting home was rough as Matt would not go to sleep.
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