Tuesday September 30

Bonnie:  Today we spent the day in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.  It's truly a national treasure!  We watched a short movie that was very emotional (for me, anyway) and then looked at a "colorama"  of the battle at Gettysburg.  It is a huge circular painting that fills a large room.  Then we took a bus tour of the battleground sites.  This took over two hours.and was so interesting. After that, we listened to a park ranger talk about Abraham Lincoln and the Gettysburg Address while looking at the National Cemetery area.  We had just enough time to see some of the many artifacts in the museum before it closed. I'd like to see it again because there wasn't enough time for me to see all I wanted.  The battle at Gettysburg was a decisive one but it cost so many lives!  Freedom really isn't free!
Yesterday was also fun.  Of course, chocolate is always fun.  The part I enjoyed the most was tasting chocolate from 7 different places in the world. Amazingly, there is quite a difference between each one.

Bob: Gettysburg is always an awesome experience. The tour bus driver said that over 50% of the visitors to Gettysburg come back 5 times!! It is an inspiring experience. This battle changed the history of the United States. If the Union soldiers had fallen here who knows what type of government we might be living under today.

Hershey Candy Kiss Street Light

Monday - September 29

Bob: Got up this morning and went for a 3 mile walk with Bonnie. We saw 2 deer cross the road in front of us. After we had breakfast we headed to Hershey, Pa. to visit the chocolate factory. Toured the factory and went to the museum. Had lunch and headed home. After dinner we went to King's Gap State Park. We toured the grounds. Pictures of the Inn and a view from it are below. It was built in the late 1800's by the man who was Secretary of State for the Union during the Civil War. Then we went to Leo's in Carlisle. It is on the list of the top 10 or 20 ice cream shops in the USA. Needless to say, it was good.

Sunday - September 28

Bob: Went to church this morning. The Ward is in Chambersburg. They meet in the Stake Center. It is about 20-25 minutes away. Daphne, Bonnie and I went for a walk this afternoon around the Shippensburg University campus. We looked at several buildings and watched half an inning of a girl's softball game. (Thought the umpires looked a little sloppy in their dress. Also, the base umpire was resting on his knees in the set position.) We finished off the night with a short game of Mexican Train. All in all it has been a very pleasant day. The weather is really beautiful right now.

Bonnie: I don't have much to add. Daphne was a terrific guide around the Shippensburg campus!  We found a huge red wooden chair, bigger than Daphne, and several sculptures that were interesting. The best part was finding chestnuts with their spiky, green outsides.  We had to bring one home, of course.  We also saw where Chris teaches which is part of the same building where Daphne and Jonathan go to school.  It's been a lovely day.
Tomorrow I will be listening to Chris teach Seminary about 6:15 in the morning.  Six students come to Chris' house for their Seminary class.  I miss teaching it sometimes--the teaching, not the preparation of the lessons.

Saturday - September 27

Bob: We left NM today and drove to West Friendship, MD for Sarah's belated birthday celebration. Chris and Suzy brought there kids from Shippensburg. We made it in just under 5 hours without getting lost!! It was good to see everyone and the weather cooperated. Temperature was in the low 80s. After the party we then headed for Shippensburg. We'll be staying with Chris and Suzy for a few days and then going back to Dan and Misty's home. All the girls went to the General Women's Meeting broadcast from Salt Lake to the Stake Centers. The men went up in the mountains to have a camp fire and roast hot dogs, etc. However, every fire pit they knew of was taken. Thus we ended up coming back to town and going to Mike's home. He has a fire pit in his back yard. We were able to start the fire without too much trouble and roasted our dogs.
Time for bed now, but sleep might be a while coming as there is a race track near town that produces a lot of noise. Chris said they will be racing pretty late tonight. Maybe our tiredness will drown out the noise.

Bonnie: Good night and love to all. I love being with my family.

Friday September 26

Bonnie:  To those reading our blog, (if there are any left reading our blog!) we apologize for not updating it.  We are staying with friends who do not have a computer, let alone wifi.  It's taken some planning to get to the library and set things up.  We have had a very enjoyable time visiting with old friends the last several days.  We were going to post more on the blog yesterday, but the library was closed, so here we are.
We got into New Martinsville area Monday about 5 or so and then headed out to Reader to put the boat into Bob's brother's garage.  It took some time to unload it and the other things we wanted to leave.  We've decided that we have brought way too much stuff!  Bob's nephew, Jerry, helped us.  Flo and Ken Loy welcomed us to their home later that evening.  We visited with Bob and Sally Briggs on Tuesday after seeing Ron Wilson at the New Martinsville Nursing Home.  Wednesday we headed up to Pittsburgh to meet Bob's sister-in-law and go to Mike's grave sight.  We had a delicious lunch at Olive Garden and then headed to East Liverpool (actually Calcutta, Ohio) to see Vicky Bohrer.  That was a very fun visit.  Yesterday Bob went bike riding with Mike Barnes.  I'll let  him write about that.  I went to visit Leann Reniger and her daughter Mariah.  What a sweet young lady Mariah is becoming!  Then we went to visit with an old friend of Bob's, Gary Church, in Moundsville.  After dinner we headed south to Mary and Barbara Rose's house.  That was a very fun, delightful visit, too.  Today we will see the Voorhis' and go to a Magnolia football game.  What a great way to end our stay!  Each morning Bob and I have gone on a walk with Flo and talked about lots of people here.  That has been a wonderful way to start our day.  I'm so thankful for Ken and Flo's hospitality.  They have done everything to make our stay pleasant.  May the Lord bless them!


Bob:  Concerning the bike ride, we decided to ride up route 7 in Ohio as the roads in WV all have a lot of traffic due to the gas well drilling and fracking that is going on. Route 7 is a flat road for several miles. But once we started I decided to ride up route 536 which begins with over a 2 mile incline. I made it to the top, but my legs and knees are still feeling it. When I stand up I have to wait a second before my knees can start moving forward. Seems as though the hill wasn't a good idea. Should have gotten back on the bike this morning, but I didn't want to drag it out of the truck. Hopefully everything will be back to normal in a couple days.

Sunday - September 21

Bob: Well the day I wasn't looking for has arrived. Finally got everything packed and left camp about 8:45. Had to get to church early so we could get the potato soup cooking and print my talk. Everything turned out real well during services and the pot luck was great. Several came to the lunch that we hoped would be there, but didn't know for sure if they would come. It was hard to say good-bye for it felt like we were leaving home. Time will only tell when we can go back. Looking forward to it already. And if we are lucky we can spend 18 months in Ontario beginning next June.
Left church at 2:00 and arrived in North York at 7:45. I believe we are about 10 miles or so due north of Toronto. I might have made an unwise decision staying on this side of Toronto. We will see in the morning. And we got more rain today!! Once we got to the motel it poured it down. Bonnie and I put the cover on the boat once we got here and I bailed about 20 - 30 gallons of water off the cover once the rain quit.

Bonnie:  It was so hard to say good-bye today. I didn't know I could get this close to people in 3 short months.  Sister Craig came to the dinner, her first visit in a while.  Sister Kernan came to church (!) and the biggest surprise was that Trudy came to sacrament meeting.  She came back later with Jack for the pot luck.  I doubt he has been inside any church for a very long time!  Then, Patsy gave me a treat--a little box of candy and some homemade soap.  I was overwhelmed with all the attention! I will miss everyone very much.
So now, we are on the next leg of our trip.  Tomorrow we will be in West Virginia!

Saturday - September 20

Bob: Spent most of the day packing up. Took 5 bags of food, etc. to Patsy and Karl. It is in the low 60s today, but it has rained off and on most of the day. Loaded boat and truck in between rain drops. Finished up the blueberry pie and tarts. Made a pot of potato soup for tomorrow's pot luck.
Not sure how we will do with the blog the next few days. Where we are staying in New Martinsville doesn't have wifi. I guess we'll go park in the Branch parking lot and write up the blog.