Gettysburg PA

It's been 2 weeks & still unable to run. I guess I shouldn't have tried 2 full length duathlons is 2 weeks. LOL, Oh well, I'm feeling positive the left knee will get better soon.

I can't really report on running, so I thought I would tell about my July 4th weekend.

I took the family to Gettysburg PA this weekend, they were having the 145th Anniv. of the Battle of Gettysburg. I told several of my friends I would fall in with their troops and if I limped a little it would just make the impression look a little better. There were no hotels close. So I had to drive to Hagerstown , MD . This also gave me a chance to visit Sharpsburg and Bloody lane. I love it when a plan comes together. 1st thing Friday Morning I left the hotel with plans to drive to Gettysburg & just visit the original Battlefield with my wife and kids. Not 10 minutes later I am driving North through Hagerstown (bad section of town) when a guy pulls out of his parking spot an crashes into the left rear quarter panel of my Sienna Van. I stop in the center of the one way & get out. He is trying to tell me its my fault. Ya Right. He picked his up his left front headlight and tells me to pull through the intersection and stop blocking the traffic. As soon as I move he turns right and leaves the seen of the accident. D_m, HIT AND RUN. I can back up and chase him, because of the one way. Now I'm screwed. All I can do is wait for the police. Several good people see what happened and tell the officer I was in the right. But now I have to get the van fixed. It's not terrible, it's just the idea of it. After the police leave, I continue my trip to Gettysburg.

The weather is calling for on/off rain all weekend. We all had a good time seeing the battlefield and it was starting to get late. I told my wife I think I should pre-register for the reenactment while I'm here to make Saturday morning easier. No Luck, the 1st Days reenactment battle is going on, and they won't let me drive down the road where I need to sign in. D_m again. So we drive back to the Hagerstown & stuff our faces with food in preps. for tomorrow battle. I get up early and get my uniform on. We're back on the road.

They are calling for 10,000 plus Civil War reenactors and I have no idea where the men are I'm to fall in with. Should be fun! The 1st Battle is planned to start about 11:00 AM and I know the proper thing to do is drill and train before it starts. It's about 10:15 after I sign in & get dropped off. Now I just need to find my guys and call my wife ASAP so she knows how to plan her day. I see the men from Ohio in the distance and they let me join the ranks. Just in time. The rain starts to fall. After drilling a 1/2 hour or so. The command comes in. Our men will not be taking the field during the 1st Battle. D_m, all that running for nothing. I think this must be how it really was in the Army back then. You plan something, then something totally different happens. So I call my wife and tell her the 1st Battle should start about 3:30 or 4:00 PM. So she elects to drive back into Gettysburg and do a little shopping while I'm with the men. The rain stops but the air is very heavy. I do picket duty about 30 minutes or so. Then check out the sutlers. I get back to camp and the command changes again. Now they are saying 5:00 PM Battle. D_m, now I need to call my wife again, She was planning on my fighting early, then we could get back to the hotel and eat before it gets to late. She has to be in Toledo, Ohio by 5:00 PM Sunday. After all, it's a 8 1/2 hr. drive home. Then the command changes again. We take the field around 4:00 PM.

It is awsome to see so many uniforms both Blue & Gray. This sort of bring a little sense of realty to reenacting. Even if I know I won't be killed. Our men are ordered to fire. Bang, we do a perfect volley! There had to have been 150 rifles in our regiment all going off at the same second. Wow. The cannons are shaking the ground and hurting my ears and the smoke is filling the air from all the muskets firing.

We are holding our ground, however the Reb's have many more men than us. They push us back behind a creek. I hear one mans gun go off earlier just because his barrel is so hot while he attempts to load. I'm sure lots of men in the real battle were injured in this manner. Several times during this, my 1st battle of the weekend, things came to a standstill because of injuries on the field. One guy went down with the heat, another was thrown from his horse. I hope they will be ok. In the reenacting world, injuries do happen and when they do, we want the medics to get there as quick as possible. So all firing is brought to a stop!

At the end of this first engagement, I elected to call it a day. My powder was low and I knew with another battle expected anytime. I could be on the field for several more hours. It was time. I told my commanding officers I had to leave. So off I went in search of my wife and kids.

About 40 minutes later we were all back together and to Devils Den we went. This was one of the Bloodiest spots during the original battle 145 yrs. before. It's also said to be haunted if you believe in that stuff. As for me, it's hard to say. I'm sure there are lots of things we don't know or understand yet. I guess if you have 51,000 die in one location. It could be possible! I showed my kids exact locations were men had died during the terrible battle years ago.

It was starting to get dark, so we went back to the hotel one more night. Over all, a wonderful weekend, know one was hurt (in our family) & the van wasn't too bad and the wife made it to Toledo. I'm sure it could have been much worse.

Now all I need to do is get healthy again.