October 9 - “Six Stops”

Well, Pennsylvania isn’t any less cold than Maine this week. We woke to a 39 degree day. Glad I had another long-sleeved t-shirt in my arsenal. Maybe it’ll warm up a bit as we move ever south and west.

 

We had breakfast with the Non-Violent Medicaid Army at the hotel. Well, sort of. They were having some sort of convention there. All were wearing matching red t-shirts and they were the only ones in the entire hotel wearing masks. Chris looked them up. Their thing is that medical care is a basic human right.

 

First stop of the day was the Johnstown Flood Memorial National Park. Pretty severe flood back in the 1800’s.

 

Next up: Allegheny Portage Railroad National Park. That one was all about a railroad they built that was able to portage boats that were traveling the Erie Canal system.

 

Next: Flight 93 National Memorial.  That’s the one in memory of the passengers and crew who crashed the 8-11 plane rather than let hijackers turn it into another bomb. This one was really somber, even though it was unexpectedly crowded. The visitor center has the news feeds from the day playing on a loop. There were more than a few tears. There is a long white wall with the names of the 40 people who were killed. The most impressive thing for me was the Tower of Voices. It is a 93 foot tall massive set of 40 wind chimes. The sounds it makes are eerie. All in all, it is simple and respectful.

 

We made a brief stop in a tiny town called Meyersdale so Chris could get a stamp there. Something about the railroad, I think.

 

Our final stop for the day was Fort Necessity, where, during the French and Indian War of the 1750’s, 22-year-old George Washington led a group of British soldiers against a vastly superior French and Indian force … and well, lost … miserably. After one day of fighting, Washington surrendered. He and the remainder of his army were allowed to return home, where he resigned his commission. Not a very auspicious start for the guy who would become, well, George Washington! 

 

When we left there to head to the hotel for the night, we stumbled across a sign declaring the site of General Braddock’s grave (another big name among the British in the 1750’s). I whipped in to check it out. Except where I whipped into was not the grave site at all. It was a big barbecue going on, and we were crashing their reserved parking. Oops. We made a Siri-worthy mid-course correction and found the actual site. Chris got plenty of pictures, of course.

 

2 John 1:6 says, “And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.”

 

Father, thank you for the depth of emotion we saw at that Flight 93 memorial today. Help us to remember and learn from events like that. Amen.