From one battlefield to another...

It's a long drive from Gordonsville to the Piedmont Battlefield and I got separated from the group. I wasn't worried because I have been to the Mt. Meridian/ Piedmont area a number of times. I had agreed to let Lachwan follow me (he was concerned about getting lost in the countryside) so I drove a little slowly in order to keep his car in my rearview window.

But when we reached the battle area, our group was nowhere in sight. I checked out all the tour stops that were on the handout, but saw no one until the last stop, where Arch pulled up. He had left the group at Gordonsville and taken a different route to avoid waiting for that train to leave, having gotten directions from the lady who took off her dress in the parking lot.

There was a time when I would have felt a bit lost, but that was in the first 12 years or so of taken these trips, before we (and especially our leader) carried cell phones. (Come to think of it, for the first few years we didn't even have handouts listing the tour stops. But I only got lost once, and that was late in the day in Newport News.)

I called Dr. Poland's car phone and Betty answered. She said they had stopped at a gas station and were now behind us at Mt. Meridian. We backtracked and rejoined the group.

As you can see, the scenery was beautiful. Piedmont Battlefield is not a park; it is spread out over farmland, country roads, and a few small towns. I recall that the first time I saw it, I was impressed by the lovely rural scenery. At that time I lived in the city. Now I live in the country surrounded by places of similar beauty. Come to the Shenandoah Valley and see what I mean!