March 18th – 23rd

My focus after Baltimore and Pennsylvania was to go north to New Hampshire to visit Milan McNall. I met her and Carl, her husband, when I moved to the San Francisco area in 1976 and worked with Carl at a small software service provider in downtown SF. I became very close friends with them and their 3 kids: Kristen, Karlyn and Cam. In fact Chuck (my ex, they introduced us) and I would take the kids on outings to the beach, boating, etc. They were 10, 8, and 6 when we met them. Milan was (and still is) a ceramic artist and I learned to do pottery, by hand and on the wheel, from her. Chuck and I moved to Lopez in 1984 and Carl and Milan moved to New Hampshire after the kids were grown. I visited them several times. The first time was shortly after they moved in and they were doing lots of renovations to make it their own. They were both so creative, that much of their house is designed and made by them. The house is perched on top of a hill in the town of Center Sandwich NH, only a few neighbors nearby. A few years later Kelley and I went to Karlyn’s wedding in Boston, and I visited them several other times. Sadly, Carl passed away right before COVID hit and that made it ever so much harder for Milan.

Milan and I had 3 days of fun just visiting, and reminiscing about our lives. Karlyn and Cam invited me to come down to Boston to visit them both. I was honored that they wanted to see me! So Milan and I drove down in my truck (remember, the trailer was still out of commission) and we stayed at Cam’s house. Cam’s wife Nancy, his daughter, and Karlyn joined us for dinner. It was so much fun to see them all together! Their other sister Kristen lives in Oregon and she and I are very good friends, in fact I visited her in January on my way south.

When I left Boston, I was focused on getting back to North Carolina to be ready to pickup my trailer when its repairs were finished. My first night I stayed in Harrisburg PA. The next day I was partly focused on following Kelley who was doing a 55K race (that’s 34 miles!). Every time I stopped, I checked her status. She did really well: finishing in 08:49:26, and #47 out of a field of 105!! Impressive! She and her husband Casey have made running their favorite activity!

I didn’t make many sightseeing stops, but as I drove past Gettysburg, PA, I realized I had never been there–even though I had lived there until I was 8 years old. It was fascinating: film and museum, and especially the Cyclorama (see notes below), there was even smoke and sound effects! Make sure you read the Gettysburg Address (3rd to last photo). I was inspired by it, and hope that it will prevail as we enter this most difficult time as a country. After that, I drove through Virginia, stopping at Harrisburg, VA. Next stop, North Carolina!

Gettysburg Cyclorama Painting

French artist Paul Philippoteaux took brush to canvas and created the Battle of Gettysburg Cyclorama painting. He spent months on the battlefield researching the battle with veterans, a battlefield guide and a photographer. It took Philippoteaux and a team of assistants more than a year to complete the painting. The result is a breathtaking canvas that measures 377 feet in circumference and 42 feet high. Longer than a football field and as tall as a four-story structure, the Gettysburg Cyclorama oil painting, along with light and sound effects, immerses visitors in the fury of Pickett’s Charge during the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg. [from NPS website]

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