Saturday, July 7, 2007

Best Laid Plans

Sometimes (many times this week, it seems), the best laid plans go awry. I'd planned a fantastic Civil War weekend this weekend that was to start yesterday with a visit to Harper's Ferry to look at the cavalry breakout during the Antietam campaign. It was to be followed with a visit to Gettysburg today, the opportunity to finally meet JD in person, and my first visit to the battlefield of Fairfield. Tomorrow was to be my first visit to the Antietam battlefield on the way home, for which Brian Downey had been good enough to provide tips on the best way to see it. I'd taken everything into account, even managing to find a hotel near Gettysburg on this busiest of weekends there.

What I didn't consider was my mount. On Thursday afternoon, my car died. Completely. Off it was towed to the dealership, who said they probably wouldn't be able to get to it until Monday. So ended the trip. I could have rented a car and drove up, but really hadn't budgeted for that this trip.

But there is an upside to this. The time that I would have spent on the road I can now spend on research. A friend loaned me a car and I will be able to get back to the Virginia Historical Society today for some manuscripts that I really wanted to take back to Colorado from this trip. And Gettysburg and Antietam will still be there when I come back at the end of the month.

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