Chillin' near Washington DC......literally

 

      Debbie and I had a wonderful time visiting Norfolk and Historic Williamsburg area.  The weather didn't fully cooperate, but now that I'm sitting in DC and looking at outside temperatures hovering around 26, Norfolk looks pretty nice.  Sunday was going to be a rainy day, so Saturday night I packed up our bikes and chairs and put everything away.  There's no point in packing away wet belongings.  After church, Debbie put on  a wonderful pancake breakfast with authentic Adirondack maple syrup. That's always a great way to start the day.
     After a late breakfast, Debbie and I headed over to a nearby outlet mall to do a little Christmas shopping.  Couldn't be that bad could it?  After all, football is on TV!  The place was packed.  After a few trips around the parking lot, we managed to find an open parking space, and I soon found myself carrying bags around the mall.  Really not that bad though....found a nice jacket which may come in handy with this cooler weather, and a few other things.  Debbie found a few items for the Princess, but it's looking tough for Ben and Joanne right now. Hopefully their luck picks up soon.  Afterwards we drove a short distance into Williamsburg and attended a jazz concert by the Jazz Ensemble of William and Mary College.  They really put on a very nice show, and we both enjoyed ourselves.

     Monday morning we headed northbound from Williamsburg along what Debbie refers to as the "blue-line."  We traveled along some beautiful country roads through the hills of Virginia which made Debbie a little nervous.  I have to agree the road does look a little narrow from the passenger side.  We move a little further east and found  a nice 4 lane highway, and even though the skies opened up on us, we made it into our RV park, Cherry Hill Park, located just outside of Washington in College Park, MD.  This 400 unit park is situated alongside the Washington Beltway, just outside of DC.  The roads are all paved, and the sites seem to be close to level.  They have a on-site cafe that also includes a hot tub and sauna area.  There is a large outdoor pool, but with the polar vortex pushing temperatures down into the 20's, it's all closed up.  There's also a few subscribers to RVillage, Facebook for RV'rs, here at the park, which we will probably get together with.
      Temperatures last night were down in the 20's, but Big Red appears to have survived just fine.  We've burned a few gallons of propane keeping it warm, but our water tanks and hoses don't show any sign of freezing up.  Today we made arrangements to have our propane tanks filled on-site, and headed over to Sharpsburg, MD to tour the Antietam National Battlefield.  On September 17, 1862, nearly 100,000 soldiers of the Union and Confederate Armies met near Antietam Creek in Maryland.

 A 12-hour battle began at dawn, and between 6 AM-10 AM, Americans were dying at the rate of 1 each second.  By the time darkness fell on the battlefield, over 23,000 were killed, wounded or missing.
     At the southern edge of the battlefield, 500 Confederate soldiers were able to hold back multiple waves of Union soldiers totally nearly !2,000 for over 3 hours, as they attempted to cross the Lower Bridge. Inside the museum at the Visitor Center, a portrait of the battle at Burnside Bridge shows a Eucalyptus tree adjacent to the bridge.  In the photo taken today, that tree is still visible.

 After taking the bridge, Union General Ambrose  Burnside, after whom the bridge is now named, moved across the fields pushing the Confederates back.  In a scene similar to a Hollywood movie, Confederate General Hill arrived from Harper's Ferry after moving his Light Division 17 miles to the battlefield.  He was successful is forcing Burnside back to Antietam Creek and providing time for Gen. Lee to retreat from the battlefield across the Potomac back into Virginia. These Armies would meet next at Gettysburg, where casualties would reach over 51,000 dead, wounded or missing.
     During the battle, the dead were buried where they fell.  Years later, Union soldiers were reinterred in the Antietam National Cemetery.  Confederate soldiers were not buried in the National Cemetery, but were buried in Hagerstown and Frederick, MD, and Shepherdstown, VA now West Virginia.
     After arriving back at Big Red, Debbie and I enjoyed a wonderful pot roast dinner which Debbie had prepared in a crock pot and left to cook all day in the MH.  We had a nice cocktail, and settled in for a cool-ish night at the Cherry Hill RV Park.

This is what we call "Roughing it Smoothly"