Another 3 states in a day...and only travelled 100 miles

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Had a bit of a sleep in today as we werent planning on travelling to far so enough time to indulge in Kelly and Regis for a while again.
Headed out of Winchester on VA-11 and soon crossed the state line and into West Virginia.
Funny how you notice certain changes as you cruise along.All of a sudden there Gentlemens clubs everywhere some even next door to each other and some in strange places on the side of the road when there were no houses or township around.Obviously at this time of the morning they were closed so couldnt inspect the inside to see what went on n these places.People do say they do say they do things a bit different in West Virginia.The standard of housing seemed to drop as well.
We moved onto WV-51 and headed for the hills around Harpers Ferry.We had been to the battleground there before so instead took a very picturesque road after crossing the Potomac into Maryland to the battlefield at Antietam where the bloodiest battle of the Civil War took place one day in 1862.
The battle occured as the South were marching on the north to take ground but were met by a determined Union army ready to repel the Confederates.
The visitor centre sits on the highest land around and has expansiv views over the battlefield and almost 80% of where the battle took place could be seen.We watched a movie that was an hour long which was a bit too long to explain how the battle went.However it readied us for the drive of 8 miles around the various important sites.At the place where the battle commenced was a corn field and today they still have a cornfielf planted.It is a bit erie as you stand there expecting the Rebs to come charging out hollering and a hooping.
A simple church that was a major part of the battle is also there although it has been recreated as a fire destroyed it in the 1920's although much of the original materials were saved and used in the new building.
Another chilling stop was the sunken road where the two sides shot at each other at point blank range with 2200 in 20 minutes of fierce battle.
Then it was the bridge that saw the battle turn in favour of the Union and this scene too was the graveyard for many soldiers.At the bridge site there is a sycamore tree that was just a sapling at the time of the battle.An artist who painted pictures of the battle scene depicts the tree in exactly the place it is today.
Apparently artists and photographers who came out to record what had happened in the battle took their pictures etc back to newspapers of the day and the scenes told the real story for the first time of how brutal the war was.
From the battleground it was onto Hagerstown and our motel for the night at Microtel.We would choose this brand all the time if only there were more of their motels were we have been going as they have a higher standard than the Supers 8's etc and are the same price.
Found this town had a mall so we went for a walk and ended up buying more summer clothes.Also discovered another Outlet Mll and more shopping ensued.Finally decided it was too late to cook for ourselves so dined out at the Longhorn Steakhouse on you guessed it stek..although Gretchen had her faourite of spare ribs.

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