I forgot to mention two things about yesterday. At the Nature Reserve, the woods are planted (long ago, I assume) in rows. They're still dark and gloomy. We did find some wild woods, too. Also, we saw the falls at Ohiopyle. It's not quite as spectacular as Spokane Falls, but still pretty impressive.

Also, at the Johnstown Flood Memorial on Monday, we saw a wooly bear. There's no telling what winter will be like, though.

Whilst I'm retelling the past, I found some more websites about the Flight 93 memorial, here, here, here, and here. The Hero Flag would cost $45 plus shipping, so I have to think about it.

It was time to go across to the Harrisburg area to see Yet Another Brother. We checked out of the motel early in the morning and took off across the state on the Pennsylvania turnpike. The interchanges at Cranberry and at Somerset (and later at Connellsville, though we never actually took that one) are all messed up and dump you into the towns before you get on the other highway. Politics, I'm sure. They're constructing them.

We passed a "fish cultural center," according to the AAA guidebook. Rich said "Maybe their schools are better." Ahem. We stopped at the first rest stop on the turnpike, at Midway. The Turnpike has been there since 1940. I also found that Bingo, banana splits, and Salk vaccine came from Pittsburgh. We stretched a penny for our neighbor kid there, and saw some Mennonites. (I guess they can travel in cars, else how would they be there?)

Disappointed Daschle says "I commend the administration." He hasn't changed one whit in the last two weeks. Senator Byrd is furious, since they aren't naming the War on Terrorism after him. I recall him saying that Clinton's offenses were impeachable and then voting party line. He also voted for any war Clinton wanted to start, including Iraq. Senator Strom is furious at Lying Leahy the traitor, with good reason. Leahy promised to consider the judge Strom wanted, and then rejected him out of hand, just as he has done all of Bush's nominees. I sure hope the Reeps pick up two seats (to balance Senator Chafee, R-Jeffords) and can start to get some of these things moving.

The first order of business was Annville, where the Pennsylvania Merci Boxcar is supposed to be. We drove through Hershey (deep breath. Yummmmmmmm! We toured Oakville in California back when they allowed tours, and I thought perhaps I had died and gone to heaven. Deeeeeep breath.) and on into Annville. We didn't spot a Memorial Park or anything so we went to the Annville Free Library. I went to the desk and said "I'm looking for a boxcar." I got the reaction I have learned to expect, "Huh?" They heard the story and still were puzzled, so one said "let's ask Blanche. She'll know." They phoned Blanche and said "we have someone here who is looking for the Merci boxcar." Blanche, of course, knew exactly where it was.

It's still officially Annville, but it's at an Air National Guard base in Fort Indiantown Gap about 7 miles north of town. We drove onto the base and saw a missile, and a plane, and Rich said "Well, I guess we should go back and check again"... when he U-turned, there it was right in front of us! This is one of only three in the entire Merci Train that has a brakeman’s cabin. I've discovered that there is a Geocaching site about these. Here is Pennsylvania's car and the guy got a picture I didn't, of the date the car was made. Here is a picture of a 40&8 medal. Rich discovered at the library that the State Museum has an album from their car, so we'll see that tomorrow.

Then it was time to go to Hershey! The town has streetlights that look like kisses, both wrapped and unwrapped. In front of the plant, there's "Hershey's Cocoa" in brown shrubbery. There was an antique car show going there, but if you just wanted to do Chocolate World, you could get in the parking lot for 2 hours free.

Inside, there's a free "tour" telling how chocolate is made. Unlike the now-defunct tours in Oakdale, you don't actually see the real thing, but it's a nice little ride anyway. You get a little chocolate bar at the end. We bought gifts for the granddaughters (though I didn't see the t-shirts that say "don't just stand there, give me a Kiss" till we were leaving) and Casey, and Sam, too, if I ever find the kid again. We got thank-you gifts for the neighbors and something for Roni and Monica, too. We got a case of Hershey bars for Tom Holt, who loves them. Unfortunately, they won't mail overseas so we'll have to do it ourselves. Oh, well. What we didn't do was buy ourselves anything!

Then we missed a turn en route to brother-in-law's house, and drove around for awhile. We were about to give up when we suddenly found it. Either the one brother told me wrong or I wrote it down whong. No problem.

This brother is the one who's most interested in geneology. It's tough to do when the family only came over 100 years ago, and very secretive about their pasts. I gave him information on our kids and their wedding dates, etc. He has the original bill of sale for the Pittsburgh House. I'd thought Rich's father was born there but he was actually 10 when they moved there. We also learned where the first generation were buried. Julia died May 30, 1951.

We took these guys out to dinner (he manages four McDonald's, so we said not there!) and it turned out to be disappointing. Too much food, not very good. Oh, well.

The kids, the two youngest niece and nephew, are really nice. So we've seen everyone in Rich's generation apart from one sister and one brother, which isn't too bad for a family this size.