Odyssey of the Barth: June 2008

June 19-21, 2008, DelMarVa Chicken Festival!

Off to the Eastern Shore to help celebrate the Chicken Festival! About 90 miles from Washington, it was a nice easy drive. Got to campsite at last-light Thursday evening.

Trap Pond State Park, just across the Maryland line in Delaware. Nice campground!

Kathy & Lee have been traveling around in the Barth for five years, but this trip had a new twist to it......Their first camping weekend with a grandkid. Raegan, 3-1/2yrs, made her maiden voyage with Bampa & Grandmom. Gotta tell ya, THIS trip had its own set of dynamics to it!

The "pond" in Trap Pond State Park, a few miles outside of Laurel DE. Lot's of local fishing boats, so it must be good fishing........

The Delaware, Maryland, Virginia peninsula (ie: DelMarVa) is known for it's chicken raising.

The annual Chicken Festival promotes this industry - kinda hokey, but fun! It's biggest claim to fame - World's Largest Frying Pan!..........

....and here it is today, still in use (60 gallons of peanut oil!)

No doubt about it......We got ourselves a future astronaut here!

Raegan & Grandmom......(Bampa doesn't do Ferris Wheels...........)

Not chickens, but ya still gotta watch where you step.............Trap Pond, DE

Major accomplishment - Raegan comes within a nano-second of holding a chick!

June 13-16, 2008 Gettysburg/Antietam/Harpers Ferry

After a couple years of "talking about it", Lee and his boyhood best friend Tom Palen finally got together for a trip. Tom is a recently retired high school government & history teacher from Michigan and a very knowledgeable Civil War buff. The itinerary included Gettysburg PA, Antietam MD and Harper's Ferry WV - about 270 mi full circle. Artillery Ridge Campground in Gettysburg is a good choice, being 1/2 mile from the new museum & visitor center. Other than supporting opposing presidential candidates and Tom's obsession with his carb intake, the trip was greatly enjoyed by both of them!

Tom at the entrance to the new museum & visitor center. So new, the grass hasn't come up yet!

The new Gettysburg Visitor's Center just opened in the spring of '08. It's an awesome building with great displays. Plan on about 4-5 hours to read & see all that it offers.

Here's how a major newspaper of the day described Lincoln's Gettysburg Address shortly after it was delivered.......Time has a way of changing things, doesn't it?

Lee with Gen. James Longstreet, CSA. One of Robert E. Lee's most valued leaders. Reluctant but loyal in carrying out Lee's orders for the ill-fated Pickett's Charge, giving the victory to the North.........The beginning of the end for the CSA, although the war would last two more years.

Antietam National Battlefield, Sharpsburg MD, about 60 miles from Gettysburg PA. Site of the highest single-day casualty count in the Civil War - after 12 hours of fighting, over 23,000 troops killed, wounded or missing. (Bloody Lane is in lower left corner)

The Sunken Road, in the middle of the battlefield, became a Confederate defensive position.

After being overtaken by Union troops, it became known as Bloody Lane.

Bloody Lane as it looked shortly after the battle. Books say "bodies stacked like cordwood".

Harper's Ferry WV......In the 1800's, a busy industrial town at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenendoah Rivers...Site of John Brown's raid on the U.S. Armory in hopes of starting a slave rebellion. Today, the whole town is a national monument. We camped at Brunswick MD, about 6 miles away and biked into Harper's Ferry on the C&O Canal towpath........

Cheat River Valley, WV - June 6-8, 2008

Destination: Cheat River Valley, known for it's Class 5 whitewater
and great scenary in the mountains.......about four hours from
home. 9% grades coming down the mountains makes for some
interesting driving!