PA, MD, WV

We've sort of been busy! News from Waco is confusing enough to prompt an about-face and head for Texas. So a number of nice folks in Pennsylvania allowed us to renege and we are on our way, spending tonight just west of Charleston, WV courtesy of Wal-Mart, a first for us. I asked the nice greeter if wifi was available anywhere in the store, response: "I've been wondering what exactly that is!" I took that as a NO, but did fill her in before moving on.

The west side of Appalachian Mts is decidedly rougher than the east, or at least from our viewpoints of the 2. The farms of Pennsylvania and Maryland are wonderful, with rotated crops spanning the hillsides. If you can't farm going up, you are out of place here. There are no observable farms in West Virgina! This is way more rugged and forested. The trees are massive. The entire drive was delightful.

We did get to Gettysburg Battlefield on Saturday, I should have written about it earlier. The auto tour circles the city, those people were under siege for 3 days. So much has been written about the event, I certainly can't add any insights here, but I can offer advise. We had read the novel Killer Angels prior to the trip and visited and read about other battlegrounds. We often refer to a wonderful history book given to us by the Scoggins'. Then we watched a couple of movies on the topic. We got so much more out of the experience by immersing as opposed to just dropping in and visiting the site. Talking to local experts was icing on the cake!