After spending the morning in the glorious Delaware I packed up and headed west.  Over the next 17 hours I’d drive through eight states and over 1000 miles.  The first stop on my road trip back home was Gettysburg, PA. Gettysburg is a heavy place.  I dare you to stand on top of little round top and not feel moved a little.  By the time the battle of Gettysburg was finished (after just three days) during the Civil War, nearly 50,000 troops were dead, wounded, or captured.  Little round top is a hill that the Union held and the Confederates wanted.  It ended with one of the most famous accounts of the war.  Union soldiers fixed bayonets and charged down the hill towards the oncoming Confederate troops.  It was a victory for the Union that helped to win the war for the north.

Standing on little round top and looking across the battlefield is a heavy experience, until it’s ruined by one of the 50 other people that will be standing there with you.  You’ll hear comments from wanna be historians like “I dont get why everyone is so caught up about Gettysburg, there were more important battles.” Even if that’s true, shut up. You’re ruining the few moments I have to stand here and look out over a landscape where 160,000 soldiers fought.  There are a lot of tours groups that come through as well. These are led by the National Park Service. You can tell they are official, because they have the funny hats and grey uniforms. I think the most awkward people on the hill have to be the “reenactors.” These are people dressed similar to how Civil War soldiers were dressed back in the day.  They stand under the shade and talk in the first person about how they defeated “waves of troops while defending this hill.”  To be honest it makes you feel like they are doing a disservice to the people who gave their lives here and while they sound like they know what they’re talking about, I’m not a historian. So who knows.  After visiting the hill, I grabbed lunch in town and jumped back into the car for the long drive home.

If you’ve ever driven through the eastern part of the US, you’ll know it’s actually a fun drive. West Virginia – which gets a bad rap for being a terrible place to live – is actually a good looking state at times. (Fun West Virginia fact: Here are the categories that West Virginia ranks last or second to last in: cancer, child immunization, diabetes, disabilities, drug deaths, teeth loss, low birth weight, missed work days due to health, prescription drug overdose, preventable hospitalizations, and senior clinical care.)  Maryland’s handle is hilly and your drive is constantly going up and down with wide turns.  This is a high contract from the drive across Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri. The elevation only changes a hundred feet from Columbus, Ohio to St. Louis, Missouri.  In western Maryland/West Virginia, the elevation can change 2000 feet in a few miles.

By the time I reached home it was 2am.  Looking back, that was dumb, but I missed my bed.  In total I had driven 2400 miles (200 miles more than the AT) across 13 states. I stuck my feet in the Atlantic Ocean and hiked the Smoky Mountains. I visited sites from the Civil War in both the north and the south. It was a truly great trip where I visited or drove through 11 different National Parks/Forests. The whole trip took me about a week.  It would take six months to hike the same distance.