Gettysburg

After leaving New Jersey, we headed to camp out with a father and son, whom we had hiked with for a week on the Appalachian Trail two years ago.  Their trail names were Shadow and Spider.  They live near Phildelphia. We had hoped to see them on this trip, but they were heading out to camp at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.  They invited us to come along!  How could we resist?  It wasn't too far out of our way.

As we left Lorie's, we were not on the New Jersey Turnpike very long before Keith noticed the engine was running hotter than it should be.   Luckily, I was not driving, because I don't think I would have noticed.  The Turnpike is no place to pull over, so he took the next exit, which was only two miles down the road, luckily.  The tollboth guy told us there was a gas station at the next light.  We pulled in there, and when he looked under the hood, he discovered a belt that was just shredding itself.  Not good.  He went and asked the gas station attendant about an auto parts place, and it turns out there was one literally just underneath the Turnpike underpass.  How lucky is that?  He walked over, and they had the part he needed.  Luckily, Keith came prepared, and had brought tools "just in case."  He had the new belt on in no time, added water, and we were on our way. 

The views just got prettier and prettier as we headed west through Pennsylvania.  

We soon arrived at the Artillery Ridge Campground, and found Shadow and Spider, and Shadow's daughter, who is attending college.  Spider is now 15 years old.  Hard to believe how much he had grown!  It was so great getting to catch up with them, and relive some old trail memories. 

There was also a cross-country team camped here, and I liked their bumper sticker: