7/8/96 - T+7 - Hawg Heaven

This morning started with adversity. Someone broke into a lot of the cars in the parking lot last night. Rozinante was wounded in the attack. I was awaken at 6:00 by the hotel staff with the bad new. My chance to sleep in was destroyed with police reports and the like. Fortunately Rizies wounds are not fatal and can be repair, the bad new is that it will be about $500 for the damages. I think out surveillance system kept the attackers from stealing anything once they had breached the perimeter. All the contents seem to be there.

Well on to cheerier things. The first stop for the day was the center of the universe for bike fans. Yes I mean the Harley Davidson factory. Their final assembly plant is near by in York PA. That's about 15 miles from here. All Harley Davidsons come from this factory. They have a great factory tour and museum.

The factory is shut down right now to switch over to the 1997 models so there wasn't much to see there. Just a bunch of empty production lines. The real treat was the museum. The factory keeps a sample of every bike that they have made since they opened in 1906.
Seeing the old motorcycles was cool. It was interesting to see how the technology progressed. They had everything from the very beginning to the very latest.
Hey Daijin, they even had a bike for you. The attached picture is of a micro bike that they used to make. It would be just perfect. I think you can even add training wheels, hehehehe.

As I walked out of the factory, Rizonante was nervous. I think he was worried that I had replaced him with a Harley because of his injuries. I reassured him that he is still my trusty steed and I will stand my him like he has stood by me.

From the factory it was onto today's chores. Issue 2 of The Crossing needed to be produced. I wasn't happy with the printing quality but we got it in the mail. I'll try a different production house on the next issue.

With the day's chores done it was time for lunch. Today's luncheon was held at Chi Chi's. It actually wasn't back, considering that it's Mexican food from east of the Mississippi. On the way back to Gettysburg, I ran across this cool model train store. It's made out of two real train cars. I don't have a train, but I think that little boy in all of us is always happy to stop and look.

I spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the Eastern Cavalry Fields. On my previous visit I didn't have the chance to see this portion of the battlefield, but I know inside that I've been here before. It was like returning to a scene from your past. The picture that you see is of the killing fields where the brutal frontal cavalry assaults of the third day of fighting were contested. Here Jeb Stuart lined up 12 regiments of cavalry solders and charged directly into the Union lines. A young Union officer named George Custer lead a small band of Union cavalry, out numbered 3 to 1, in a valiant counter charge to meet and ultimately repulse Stuart's charging force. This was the beginning of George Armstrong Custer's colorful career as a cavalry officer.

The evening entertainment was an campfire talk given by one of the forest rangers on General Longstreet and his career in the Confederate army.