Gettysburg (again...)

    It’s been a wild ride on the East coast this last week! First there was a 5.9 earthquake epicentered near Richmond, VA. We were able to feel it in the RV Park in New Jersey! Then, if that wasn’t enough, the “Hurricane of the Century” (according to newscasters and the Weather Channel guys) put Atlantic City in its sights. Now what’s the point of having a home on wheels if you stay put?!? So the fantastic management at Shady Pines let us evacuate the area before the hurricane went through. We did a quick pack up then joined tens of thousands of our closest friends on the Atlantic City Expressway headed towards Philadelphia and points inland. We looked at all of the forecast maps and figured that Gettysburg would be far enough inland to escape the brunt of the storm’s effects, yet still allow us to easily return to Shady Pines after things settled down (and Brad wasn’t opposed to spending more time at Gettysburg). As it turns out, the damages to the Galloway Township area were not as severe as anticipated. We had planned on returning on Monday, but the mayor of Philly closed all of the major bridges to truck, bus, and RV traffic on the weekend (“...until further notice” read the proclamation), and we didn’t know if or when  they would be open. We tacked on another day to our stay to cover for any other unforeseen problems. In the meantime, we took the time to catch up on some household chores that had been neglected and to tour the battlefield again. This time we focused on things that we had missed the last visit and also to take the time to see the battlefield at dusk. Twice we sat on the rocks of Little Round Top and watched the sunset over the mountains to the west. 

    Misty even went with us and enjoyed herself immensely!

    Small bit of trivia for you folks from Wichita... Sedgwick county was named for General John Sedgwick who led a Corps of Union soldiers at Gettysburg. There is a statue memorial to him on the battlefield not far from Little Round Top. 

    Near the battlefield is the Sachs covered bridge (pictured above and as the lead in photo at the top of this blog). This bridge was built in 1852 and was used by both sides during the course of the battle. Flood damaged the bridge in 1996. In fact, the bridge was lifted off of its abutments and floated about 100 yards downstream. It was rebuilt using approx. 90% of the original materials. 

    We will return to New Jersey tomorrow and finish our commitment with Shady Pines. Then on Sept. 14th, we will pull up stakes and we plan on attending the big RV Show in Hershey, PA. From there it will be a bit of a drive on to Kansas to visit with friends and family until the end of November. We then will head down to the Gulf Shores Emerald Coast area and take up our new workamper positions with Bella Terra RV Resort for the winter. 

Dolphins Everywhere

    Today we took advantage of a Groupon deal and went out on a Whale/Dolphin watching cruise around the point at Cape May. Now, this time of year is just a month or so too early for the Whale migration but sometimes they can be spotted. It is, however, prime dolphin spotting season. We have seen them just off shore at Cape May State Park all of the times that we have been there. So we boarded our boat and headed out to see what we could see. 

    Heading out from the harbor we entered into the Delaware Bay via the Cape May canal. There was a long stretch of sandy beach on either side of the entrance to the Bay. 

    Just down a ways was another WW II relic. Here lay a sunken cargo carrier experiment by the Navy. It was a boat made of concrete! Yes, you read it right. It was an attempt to make cargo carriers out of the material, but for many obvious reasons, it didn’t work out so well. Folks say that with the current rate of decay, it won’t be visible for too many more years. 

    Our course took us by the Cape May lighthouse (where the State Park and beach are). You can see other views of this area by reading previous blogs. 

    Frequently we would spot small groups of dolphins. Singles, pairs, or triplets on several spottings. 

    Then we ventured out to deeper water and ran into something I had never seen before. Our guides referred to it as a “herd” of dolphins. A pod is usually associated with a group of dolphins, but that usually denotes 3-5 family members swimming together. A herd is a large group of youngsters and young adolescents along with several males. The herd we found had to number close to 100!! Everywhere you looked there were dolphins swimming. Groups of two, three, even five or more all breaking the surface at the same time. Some were spy-hopping. This is where they come up, head first and check out the humans watching them!

    While not advertised as a part of the trip, we did see several Ospreys who have made quite a few nests in and around Cape May. 

    And lastly we saw what it would be like if we ever had the desire to buy a boat and sail the open waters. Bearing in mind that I don’t have nearly enough cash laying around for the really fancy cruisers, ours would be the one in the middle...

Thunder Over the Boardwalk

    Today we went to the annual Atlantic City Air Show, know as the “Thunder Over the Boardwalk”. A crowd of 650,000 was expected but instead they estimate there was 800,000 (a new attendance record)!! Luckily, the beach and Boardwalk extend for several miles, so while crowded, you could still find a place on the beach to watch the show. 

    Below is what it looked like when we got there mid-morning.

    Later it looked like this...

    Be that as it may, the show started out with the Army’s Golden Knights Parachute Team arriving with the US Flag (while the National Anthem played). The flag carrier hit the Boardwalk just as the last note of the Anthem was played. 

    Not to be outdone, the Canadian Skyhawks came in with three jumpers in tandem, with another carrying the Canadian Flag. 

    A string of military aircraft took turns doing fly-bys. Here the KC-135 tanker flew by with two F-16’s in tandem. 

    Below is a Czech built L-39C fighter.  He flew some impressive aerobatics for the crowd. 

    Several WW II era aircraft were represented. Here are some F4U Corsairs in a show formation.

    Here they sent their “Love” to the folks below...

    Then the Navy guys had to show off. The FA-18 did a wide variety of fast and slow passes for the crowd.  Below you can see the vapor coming off of the side of the aircraft as he pulls into a high speed climb.

    One of the surprises was almost breaking the sound barrier right in front of the crowd. He came in screamin’ low and just in front of the reviewing stand you could see the pressure wave expand around the fuselage. I’ve seen pictures of this before but never seen it in person. We just barely caught it in this photo but there is a good video of it on You Tube. Watch the video and you can see the pressure wave around the 10-11 second mark.  ( Facebook Video Link )

    An aircraft near and dear to my heart (spent quite a bit of time on this line when I worked for Boeing) was one of the fly overs. Here, the Navy version, the CH-46, buzzed the crowd and showed some good maneuverability for a big helicopter. 

    The V-22 Osprey flew over in both of its configurations. It is a unique aircraft in that its engines can rotate upwards so the aircraft can take off or land like a helicopter. Then they can rotate forwards and it flies like a plane.

    Another show crowd pleaser was the “Heavy Metal Jet Team”. Here a group of L-39’s and one lone MiG (you can see him flying in the “slot” below) wow’d the crowd with their precision acrobatics. 

    The highlight of the show was the USAF Thunderbirds. These guys always put on a great show and today was no exception. I really like the “thunderbird” paint scheme on the belly of the jets. 

    How do they do this at this speed? One wrong sneeze and it’s a disaster!!

    This picture is misleading. Since there is no video motion it just looks like it is beginning to climb, but in reality it is moving forwards at a snails pace. The jet is just barely staying in the sky! It is amazing the amount of power it takes to go that slow. 

    As you can tell, the skies were perfect and the white planes and contrails set against the deep blue sky was a photo too good to pass up. It was a great day to have an air show!