 |
|
Chris Keller July 18, 1999 On the very first day we drove for a long time. We were on a charter/tour bus so we knew it wouldn't be too bad. The bus had a table in the back which is where my posse and I hung out. We sometimes talked, played cards, and well, I guess liked to look at the scenery. My favorite time was the long long long long long long sleep(s). The place we stopped for lunch had an arcade. It had my favorite game. The down side of this is the game cost a dollar for1 game. This thoroughly ticked me off, but being the die-hard fan of this stuff, I played the game about 3 times. Since I have mad skillzz, I got the third highest score. After lunch I was unconscious for a long long long time. As I regained consciousness, feeling very groggy, I found my self looking at some very beautiful country-side. Being the loving child I am, thinking of my Mommy, I took a nice, or hopefully nice, picture. Being in the state of groggyness, I fell back to sleep. Finding myself ungroggy, I looked out the window and saw buildings, and shops, and human beings. I knew that we were in D.C.
July 19,1999 Yesterday we went to Gettysburg, and I realized that we whine over nothing.There were people there called re-enactors. Some re-enactors would act, then go to a hotel. But this one man explored a character and truly lived that character for a couple of days.This meant so much to me. I felt truly aware that people cared so much about a country with the promise of freedom and died for that promise. I also realized that I would love to go to more places that are historical sites to give me even more understanding of the country I was born in.
July 19, 1999 Gettysburg is a beautiful and vastly empty place. There are a few trees scatttered on the edge of the field, and a walkway. Other than that, it's a huge expanse of grass, big enough to set a city on. And there are monuments. One was lifted up to every unit that fought. They stretch off into the distance, huge and silent, until they are sillouhetted against the sky in perfect miniature. And the thing about Gettysburg is that every monument looks as though it is in a wide and lonely field of its own. Each one is beautiful. Most are simply stone obelesks with a bit of carving in them - the date, the dead, the wounded, the name of the unit, and the occasional quote. The usual battlefield statistics, reducing men and lives into a few inadequet words. Some are statues raised up on stone bases, so that the toes of the soldiers and horses are three feet above your head. Not one brass soldier is smiling. They all look grimly into the sunlight, watching the other statues guardedly. I was almost suprised that there was grass growing on the fields. I half-expected the site of so much death to be a dusty wasteland, populated by statues and caretakers. That's not the way the world works, of course. The blood shed on the battlefield washed down the hillside into the rains that eventually came, and into whatever rivers were available. From there - who knows? Some of it must have trickled down south, past the homes of the Confederates who died miles away from home. Some of it must have clung to the soil, and could still be nourishing the ankle-high razor sharp grass that grows there. There was one monument that left a particular impression on me. It was roughly the size of a city block, and almost cube shaped. It is made out of some sort of whitish stone, and, on the very top of it is the Angel of Death, made out of some kind of black metal, incalcubly huge. I could see the angel clearly sillouhetted against the sky from nearly a mile away. She, or he, is raising a black sword over the battlefield, and the names of all the men killed there.
July 19 ,1999 The first day
July 19, 1999 In Gettysburg we ran into a group of Civil War enthusiasts doing a "slice-of-life" re-enactment of the Civil War period. We had the chance to look around the re-enactors' camp at all of their realistic equipment and uniforms. We even talked to two of the enactors who told us a bit about the everyday life of soldiers during the Civil War. I was interested to find out that violent re-enactments are not allowed to be put on in national parks, only on private grounds. These reenactors are unpaid volunteers, and spend much of their money on the gear and uniforms they use. As far as the historical period they were depicting, I learned a great deal. The soldiers made $13 a month, which was a sizable salary at the time. The washerwoman, paid by the soldiers to do their laundry, made about $11 per month. The washerwoman in the camp was Irish, a nationality widely represented in both Civil war armies. Being the most recent immigrants, the Irish were at the bottom rung of the social ladder, only above blacks. Many of them joined the army to try to gain acceptance in their new country.
July 20, 1999 I got pranked last night while I was sleeping. I was so tired I didn't even wake up. We went to a camp and worked for a long time to set up. We were so sweaty and dirty we had to clean under a water pump. It was fun, but I was very hot and I got a lot of bug bites. I wish it was cooler outside than it was. Everybody was getting moody. I had wished Heather could bike with me, but she twisted her ankle. The hotel was much cooler than outside.
July 21, 1999 We've finally gotten to the Harper's Ferry Youth Hostel, and I'm glad we're here. Thinking about all that's happened in the past two days makes me happy to have a soft bed to sleep in, and clean showers and bathrooms. On our first day, we got out of the Washington D.C. Hostel early and got a ride to the beginning of the trail. I was pretty nervous at first about what the bicycle ride would be like, and a bit scared that I would fall or get tired and not be able to make it all the way. Thirty miles seems like an impossible distance to go when you've only gone two or three miles on a bicycle before. It turned out that I really had nothing to worry about. The ride was fairly easy and quick, and we stopped plenty of times for water and to take pictures. After about fifteen miles travelling on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Towpath, we stopped for lunch. The vans were there right on time and Anna (our wonderful chef) had made us some good sandwiches. Before we ate, however, we got to go on a boat ride through a lock and along a part of the canal. This tour was fairly interesting, and I learned some things I hadn't known before, but I was so tired from the riding that it was hard to keep paying attention and the lecture seemed to go on forever. After lunch I was feeling a bit better, and it was easy to complete the next fifteen miles to the campsite where we were to stay the night. It was a little disappointing when we got to the campsite: a water pump, an outhouse, a picnic table and a lot of empty ground space. There was a 500 meter walk to the parking lot from the campsite, so we spent a lot of time towing our supplies and equipments down the path. I was so tired and sick of being on my feet that I was getting a little short tempered, and the bickering escalated since everyone was feeling about how I did. Things calmed down a bit when we finally got everything set up and dinner was cooking, and I spent the rest of the night fairly calmly, eating dinner and chatting until the sun went down (and a little while afterwards). Bedtime went about how bedtime always goes: some people (like me) near to collapse and others still high-strung and full of energy. Eventually everything settled down and after a while I crawled into my sleeping bag and fell asleep. This morning I woke up sweaty, dirty, bug-bitten and still tired. Unfortunately, there were still no showers and only time for a change of t-shirt and underwear and a short breakfast before we had to pack up the vans and get going. We finally got everything packed, but I couldn't find either of the water bottles I had been using. Apparently many things got mixed up in all the chaos of the previous night. But if I thought camping was tough, today was even worse. I was already tired when we set out, and miles of biking, although less than the first day's riding, did not help. We missed our lunch connection with the van, and since I didn't have my water bottle, I completely ran out of water. By the time we got here to the Youth Hostel, I thought I was going to keel over. The vans had still not met up with us, and I had no idea what was happening. We ate in a restaurant, and the vans finally came, passing us as we walked back to the hostel. It turned out that they had had trouble with their route, and waited for us at the lunch spot for over three hours, worrying about where we were. I think things are going better now, although everyone is still a little high-strung and there are a lot of short tempers. Hopefully in the morning, after some rest and a shower, everyone will be feeling much better.
July 21, 1999 Wednesday I woke up mumbling and grumbling. I was sore from Tuesday and I really, really, didn't feel like rinding another 30 miles. Tuesday was a deceptive day because I had such an adredaline rush. When I phsyically felt that I had only pedaled a mile, I had actually gone 15. Anneliese and I had sang songs, we talked, laughed and socialized with other bikers.Our pyhsical and mental training came in handy when we were isolated alone on the trail. Tuesday night we camped out and I had acomplished one of the greatest feats of my life. Anyone who knows me well understands that I absolutely hate bugs, and that's not a great thing to fear when you're camping. So anyhow, by morning, my fear of insects had diminished, and I had mastered the art of camping. Wednesday morning I was extremely sore and groans of "My butt hurts!" Could be heard all around the campground. Our entire team knew that we faced another 30 miles that day. The weather was fairly decent in the early hours, but as the day grew long, the temperature had noticably risen. We had stopped for a "Power Bar power-up" as I like to call it, and questioned Charlie on how many more miles til lunch. He convinced us it would be soon enough, but to our disappointment, the lunch van was not there. It ended up being a miscommunication and the counselors paid us back by taking out to dinner. Wednesday night we arrived at our hostel, and met a group of girl scouts of whom we bunked with. Right now, I'm reciveving a rumor that we're allowed to stay up til 11, so I've decided to finish up this entry and PARTY!!!
July 21, 1999 This day was rather interesting. We got up early, packed up our tents and belongings, and ate breakfast. We had cereal with a fork, out of a cup, eggs, fruit, and pancakes. Then we had to find a decent place to go to the bathroom-you either went in the porta-potty that was almost full, no lights and stunk from everyone using it, or went to the woods. Then we filled up our bottles and camel-packs with water from the well at the camp site. Then we walked all of our gear about 1/4 a mile to the truck and vans. We left about an hour later thinking that we only had to go 15 miles to get to our stop for lunch. We were all sore from the ride the day before, so it took us a little time to get used to it and speed up a bit. On our way there, since my wrists were sore from how I was riding, I had to shake them out and kept pushing myself forward---5 more miles---4 more--3-2-1---stop. But when we got there, the vans weren't there. We waited for a little while and still no one. So we started to think that they thought we were supposed to meet at the next stop on the map, which was 5 miles away, and by then I was sore and very tired. So we pushed on, 5 more, no big deal. It would only take us less than a 1/2 an hour more. "Push---push--push, almost there, we can take a break soon, rest, relax, and take a break," I kept telling myself. But by the time we got there, no one was there. Everybody was already getting stressed out and about to fall over. So, Charlie road down to a store nearby and got some chips and a case of pop. When he came back, we all munched down on it and relaxed for a while. We had already gone 20 miles and they were still not here. Since we were going 30 miles a day, it was another 10 miles to the hostel that we would be staying at. So they told us to get on our bikes and go the rest of the way. So, we did. By the time that we got there, I was very close to passing out and had to almost drag myself up the stairs. And guess what? The vans still weren't here. So we asked around and found a diner up the hill and to the left, so we started walking and ate---thank god. Now everybody is really stressed out and at this point it doesn't seem to be getting all that much better... I hope it does.
July 21, 1999 Tuesdays
July 23,1999 Day six was the best day so far. We got to stay in a HOTEL, not a hostel, but a HOTEL with real beds, bathrooms, phones, televisons, cable and air-conditioners, all that good stuff you would have at home. I was loving it. After we got settled in, we got into a POOL, not a river, but a POOL. I had to wear a tee-shirt over my swimsuit because it was a two-piece. The shirt didn't do any good because when Igot in the pool, you could still see my swimsuit. I think they were jeaulous because they weren't young again. Ha ha ha! After we went swimming, we went to this diner where we were all laughing and having a good time. Azwira was falling alseep eating chips. He was so sleepy he didn't relize he was eating beef. I told him, and he just said, "Oh no man! Don't play with me man! That's not beef man!" So I had to whip off the sauce to prove it was beef. He was like, "Owww man!" and just kept eating the chips. I went outside and Erica was singing and dancing to "No Scrubs." I started laughing. She turned around and asked me if I was laughing at her. I couldn't answer her because I was laughing so hard. She laughed and started dancing again. I just kept laughing.
|
