Topic: Surf Nemo and the Battle of Gettysburg (Read 2925 times)

J-Carr · « **on:** August 27, 2010, 08:21:14 AM »

We went on vacation to Gettysburg for a couple of days and then to Wildwood NJ. Going to the Jersey Shore (not the PA town!) is an annual pilgrimage for many eastern PAers and of course those unfortunate enough to call NJ home (I can say that... I grew up in Jersey). When you're 18-30 you go with nothing but a swimsuit, condoms, toothbrush and beer. I'm no longer in that age range. When you're 40-50 with kid(s) you have to take the "fun" beach stuff for them. My son is an excellent swimmer and loves to boogie board. As someone who can actually ride one of those stupid things he needs the larger 3.5 foot model. As someone who thinks a vacation is no fun if my Harley ain't by my side I decided I was taking Nemo come hell or high water and my wife agreed that she wanted her bike.

So attached is a pic of Nemo as he was set for the 170 mile jaunt from PeeAye to Southern NJ. At least I ride my bike. Saw a guy down there unloading his dresser from a trailer. I hate that. So I made it to the beach with 3 bag chairs, two chair sunshields, a six pack cooler, a 3.5 foot boogie board, sun screen, beach matt and three beach towels. Along with clothes for 4 days. The bike handled fine and I never felt the wind grab anything back there. Even on I-95 at 75mph. I highly recommend the Cmdr Barry bridge to 322, Rt. 55, Rt. 47 path over the AC expressway. Less tolls and lots of two lane. We did hit one jam for 45 minutes but that's pretty normal for a Saturday heading to the beach in NJ.

I will add some more respectable pics of Nemo at Devil's Den, in the Gettysburg Battlefield next week. I haven't downloaded the pics from that camera yet. I highly recommend that if you have any interest in touring the battlefield that you do it from a bike. We burned the self guided tour discs down to MP3s and I transferred them to Malinda's Zumo as well as burning them to single MP3 disc to shove in the HK unit on my bike. I made a route for the GPS that follows the tour plan so that we didn't need to worry about any papers. If anyone is interested I will save that as a GPX and post it next week as well. Of course that will only work with external units... Not the built in POS in the HK unit. The self guided tour discs and book cost 20 bucks. A real bargain since the bus tour which is only 2 hours with very little time to stop and actually see the battle field is $27. And that's the cheaper one with the recording. The tours with an actual guide are much more. I understand that someone is doing motorcycle tours now, but that may have only been during Gettysburg bike week.

The route is a bit crowded during the summer months and I'll be honest, you will roast if you do it on a hot summer day. We did it over two mornings and the temps where fine, even on the ez bake garbage barge that is a 110 inch Screamin' Eagle. Seeing the battlefield from the open like that and the ease of parking with a bike at the various stops makes it so much nicer. The roads are all paved and good shape. If you like to walk around and look at things allow about 4-5 hours. If you just want to ride through listening to the audio tour it will take a little under two. Make sure you stop at Little Roundtop and take a walk up the path. You can't see the view up there from a vehicle.

I'll add the Gettysburg pics next week.

Ride Safe,
JC

Screamin · « **Reply #1 on:** August 27, 2010, 08:24:31 AM »

Bring em on JC. Gettysburg on the bike is on my bucket list.

shortdog · « **Reply #2 on:** August 27, 2010, 10:37:40 PM »

J-CARR,
We were at Gettysburg in late June. Took the bus tour first, then rode the whole Battlefield on the bike. Great time. Bus tour gave a decidedly Yankee perspective of the events..When I rode myself I went along Seminary Ridge all the way south and came to Little Round Top and Devil's Den from the Big Round Top side. Totally different viewpoint of the battle. It sounds like you enjoyed the experience as much as we did. Did you go into the museum and Diorama?
Any one even thinking about Gettysburg my advice is DO IT, you won't be sorry! While you're in the area Antietam (Sharpsburg) is only a couple hours south.
Another great battlefield to tour on the bike.
I'm sure you got some peculiar looks ith that boogie board strapped on there.
Shortdog

P.S. My pics of Gettysburg are posted in Ride Report: Eastern Adventure

J-Carr · « **Reply #3 on:** September 02, 2010, 01:03:29 PM »

Sorry for the delay all, my job keeps me away from the PC for days at a time now. Which is funny since I'm in the IT department!

So here's the pics from Gettysburg. As shortdog said, it's definetely worth doing on the bikes. I'd reccomend going to both museum and a small place that has a diorama model of the battlefield on Steinwehr avenue before you do the tour.

Pic 1: My favorite! Nemo in the Devil's Den. Just the title make's it sound cool.

J-Carr · « **Reply #4 on:** September 02, 2010, 01:04:21 PM »

Pic 2: Dori (the wife's Road Queen, formally a Street Bob!) in the Devil's Den.

J-Carr · « **Reply #5 on:** September 02, 2010, 01:05:40 PM »

Pic 3: Pic of our bikes from up on the rocks at the Devil's Den. BTW, this is the middle of the tour, but A - these are my favorite pics and B- Im Dyslexic so I can start in the middle. It makes sense to me.

J-Carr · « **Reply #6 on:** September 02, 2010, 01:08:51 PM »

Pic 4: The Maine monument. It's the coolest of the thousands of monuments. It's on top of Little Round top and you can walk up inside it for an even better view of the Peach Orchard, Devil's Den, The Slaughter Pen, and The Wheatfield. Come to think of it... They should of put the sharpshooters up there. They could of had a better field of fire! (anyone who thinks I was serious... )

J-Carr · « **Reply #7 on:** September 02, 2010, 01:11:31 PM »

Pic 5: If you do the museum first, there is an interactive display to help you find specific monuments. It's right at the end of the walk through part of the museum. I used it to find the local regiment from my hometown (You can contact your local historical society for assistance in determining if you have a local regiment).

J-Carr · « **Reply #8 on:** September 02, 2010, 01:13:08 PM »

Pic 6: Same monument - Other side

J-Carr · « **Reply #9 on:** September 02, 2010, 01:14:43 PM »

Pic 7: Lee's Virginia monument. From this point he order Gerneral Picket to charge the copse of trees where the union was set up behind a small angle in a stone wall. It became the high water mark of the confederacy.

J-Carr · « **Reply #10 on:** September 02, 2010, 01:15:21 PM »

Pic 8: The aforementioned Angle in the wall.

J-Carr · « **Reply #11 on:** September 02, 2010, 01:17:18 PM »

Pic 9: You look at the field that Picket's men charged accross... This sums up what it takes to fight what you had to realize was a likely death sentence. God bless our troops. Now and then.

J-Carr · « **Reply #12 on:** September 02, 2010, 01:19:26 PM »

Pic 10 - Left to right: My niece who rode with my wife, my wife Malinda, my wife's sister who drove a four wheeler, and my son Sean. You notice he keeps getting bigger in the pics I post that he's in, since I joined CVOHARLEY? Getting old sucks.

J-Carr · « **Reply #13 on:** September 02, 2010, 01:21:58 PM »

Pic 11: During the battle some guy from a PA regiment stopped shooting at the rebels to put a bird's nest back into a tree. They made the monument to that regiment a recreation of the tree, nest, and birds. The girls where touched by the this heart warming humanity. My son and I in our best Bill and Ted's excellent adventure voice chorused a dergatory term questioning is masculinity.

J-Carr · « **Reply #14 on:** September 02, 2010, 01:23:51 PM »

Pic 12: Apparantly, my bad spelling/typing is caused by the fact that I was killed during the battle and have been too stupid all this time to realize it. This is my name on a plaque of PA milatary from the PA monument.