Today we had an at home day to just relax and do nothing but hang out. It was also a day when we found that one of our RV problems was a "user mistake" in trying to take care of another problem. You know the kind I mean. We have all had them. Our excuse is that this is a new RV for us and we did not have some of the things we have now in the old RV. Sound familiar? Good excuse?
Wednesday, July 29, 2015
We are up early this morning taking the RV to the repair shop down the road for another problem that is not user error. We have a jack that tells us it is not up when it is. Diagnosis is that we will need to replace the jack which will have to be ordered. Hopefully it will be fixed by either Friday afternoon or Monday meaning we are staying here for an additional three days. No problem as we do not have any reservations beyond here so far. Thank goodness for the Extended Warranty.
Today we finished our drive through the Battlefield and came away in a contemplative mood after seeing where the final battles were fought
and entering the Soldiers Cemetery where Abraham Lincoln gave his Gettysburg Address. The cemetery is huge and much of it is behind locked gates so you only get to view it from afar. There are many large monuments including the two below having to do with Lincoln's address.
Much to think about here.
This evening we go to a Crab House for dinner which is located in Emmitsburg. There are 14 of us (all family) and 27 fire fighters including my son-in-law, Kyle. They will graduate on Friday from their management program. We meet several of the group including one of the instructors. I ordered a crab dinner which I thought was out of the shell, but that turned out not to be the case. I have done my share of cleaning crab out of legs, etc. in my past, but it's not something I enjoy doing. I did manage to get something to eat, but it was a slow process.
Thursday, July 30, 2015
My grandson Garrett's 12th birthday. Happy Birthday, Garrett. Where have the years gone?
Today Ron and I take the bus from the Battlefield Visitor Center to the Eisenhower National Historic Site. This is the home that President and Mrs. Eisenhower purchased in 1950 and lived in until both their deaths. The house built prior to the Civil War and 189 acres was purchased for the extravagant price of $44,000. It is still furnished with most of the Eisenhower's furniture and memorabilia and is still a working farm and cattle ranch leased by a local farmer from the United States National Park Service. It was interesting to learn that the land was very depleted and this appealed to "Ike" when looking for property as he was very interested in soil conservation. He obviously brought it up to "snuff" as it is still a working farm.
The house and furnishings are what I would call typical 1950's style and reminded us very much of visiting our grandparents homes and the ones in which we grew up. Now we are dating ourselves.
The Eisenhower's did not live lavishly thou Mamie did have a personal maid and they had a couple who did things around the house and cooked for them. It was not until after 1961 when the President left office that they lived here full time. During the time prior to this, the Eisenhower's used the property as a retreat and often entertained well known dignitaries as Eisenhower "practiced his one on one diplomacy." A docent gave us some brief information and then left us to tour the house on our own.
We enjoyed our visit and the commentary given by the tour bus driver who brought us to the farm. When the Eisenhower's left the property to the park service, they stipulated that there was to be no parking lot on the property, thus the bus. The property was not open to the public until the 1980's.
Gettysburg really is an interesting place. While there is a historic downtown and community and lots of old Civil War period homes and commercial property, the city is pretty much surrounded by National Park Service property which is comprised of the battlefield and monuments. During the Civil War there were many farm houses, etc. which were there among the battles and which survived. Today all of those homes on the battlefields that survived are owned by the Park Service and lived in by employees who are responsible for maintaining them. Interesting. I had just assumed they were privately owned.
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