DAY 2: In the words of Robert Earl Keen, "The road goes on forever, but the party never ends"

The sun rises over Cape May through a haze of sea spray; the Beach Patrol ride their skateboards to the sun huts in preparation for another busy summer day at the Cape, coffee and adventuresome plan-making are brewing at the Hotel Alcott.

JJDH and NJO began the busy day, after finding the missing keys, by eating hotel breakfast and updating this very blog. JJDH made away with 3 bananas, 2 granola bars, and an orange from the breakfast buffet. Her month of hostel-hopping has created some strange squirreling instincts that have proven hard to break (editor's note: and useful).

The drive from Cape May to Gettysburg (pronounced "Geddess-burg) was lovely, cruising away from the ocean through to the beautiful mountains and forests of Pennsylvania. Along the way, we experienced mixed reviews (and gestures) from our fellow drivers on the Garden State, who apparently were not thrilled that we were going 55 mph in the passing lane. But since NJO can't see out of the right side mirrors, we prefer cruising leisurely down the road in the "fast" lane.

One particular interesting road mate was a middle aged man in a red Mazda Miata convertible. Top down, our friend was leisurely eating Ben and Jerry's out of a pint container (with both hands, mind you). Not one thought for the open road, he would often pause, attempt to read the caloric contents, and look somewhat disturbed. Nevertheless, our friend managed to eat the entire pint and nobody died. JJDH suspected low-fat Cherry Garcia, however NJO's money is on Chocolate Half-Baked, full fat! Truly, this man could not have been less aware of the road, and we both feel grateful to be alive.

To pass the time, we have been playing road trip word games, including brainstorming creative spellings of funny words. (e.g.: foughtsy, photsea, fotsey, fotsi). We have also noticed that Garden Expressway toll booth operators are not in love with their jobs! We encountered multiple degrees of surliness, even NJO's sunshine perspective could not bring them out of the "blue funks." We were delighted to meet 2 helpful operators, each provided us with directions to a regional WalMart. We took the second gentleman's advice, and rolled in around noon to rural PA's SUPER WM, where most of the local town-folk were also taking their lunch break. This truly was the Mama V of Wal-Marts, where we brilliantly purchased a knock-off iTrip. (For those of you not in the know, this allows us to broadcast NJO's iPod playlists onto the radio of Gypsy.)

The ability to broadcast our playlists has changed the face of Road Trip '07 forever...no longer are we held hostage by lite, at-work networks, and NJO had quite a bit of guilt over breaking down to listen to the Dixie Chicks (NJO's note: It has been 4 years and we're NOT in Texas! It's okay just this once!)

Our celeb sighting of the day just so happened to be at this Wal-Mart; we saw an Amish family, in traditional garb, piling into a 16 passenger wagon. We were REALLY hoping for a covered wagon, but alas sometimes you can't have your Shoofly pie and eat it too!

One of the more astonishing discoveries of the day was the amazing traffic jam we encountered in Gettysburg. Apparently this town of 8,000 Civil War buffs really fills up at rush hour! We toured the Gettysburg battle field and were especially drawn to the site of Day 2 Battle, where we drove past a number of the over 1,300 battlefield monuments. Elfie particularly liked to ride the cannons on site, though they didn't hold a candle to the TX State Capital's cannons! This was truly some of the most beautiful scenery of the trip so far!

After touring the fields, we made our way to Frederick which is the world's cutest town. Shops, bars, restaurants, beautiful people, gorgeous homes, and cobblestone streets. Our B&B was a lovely surprise too. It has a porch that overlooks the town and is just blocks from all the action. What a spectacular find.

Even better was our choice of evening plans. Since planning for Road Trip '07 began, we've been talking about visiting Byron Field to watch the Frederick Keys take on the Winston-Salem Warthogs. And like all events on this trip, there was much to be learned from our time there. We present you with the top 10 bits o' wisdom gathered at this minor league game:
10. Dietz & Watson hot dogs are a little bit o' heaven here on earth.
9. Tinsley, Ainsley, Gavin, Gabby, Caleb, Tyler & Tiff all want a soda and have to go to the bathroom.
8. Drinking beer is a part of any baseball game, however, drinking 15 beers is to be avoided at all costs, especially when fellow fans have a blog!
7. Minor League Baseball = Major League theatrics... 7A wisdom is: Temper tantrums do exist, even south of the Mason-Dixon! 7B wisdom is: Act like a jerk and everybody cheers for you!
6. The Frederick Keys may not win every game, but they ain't never lost a party (they did win this showdown, however, in a rousing 5-4 defeat in the last inning with a Chris Amador homerun.)
5. When Chris Amador is up to bat, everyone wins...free whoppers!
4. There's a place for all God's creatures; next to the potatoes and gravy (wisdom gleaned from a Tshirt seen on fellow Key fan)
3. Minor League baseball equals Major League prices: 2 hotdogs $14; 2 Frederick Brewery India Pale Ales $16; 2 field seats $22; Memories made: Priceless.
2. Irritation of Keyote the Coyote when holding Elfie does not come through in photographs like it does in person (see pictorial diary below)
1. Children need discipline.

The evening ends with JJDH and NJO thinking of ways to irritate Damian, America's only bed and breakfast owner who hates people. Here is what we have so far: discuss the baseball game ad nauseaum, bring our own free from the ballgame Sara Lee white bread to the breakfast table, requesting that it be toasted and cut into triangles, go into detail about how cute the fireworks were, talk about the rest of our road trip using "precious" and "darling" every other word, take our sheets and towels downstairs in an attempt to be "helpful," fill up the entire guest book with comments about cuteness, ads for our blog and campfire song lyrics, blogging at the breakfast table, ask Damian to "return thanks" for breakfast, be friendly and tell her how much we enjoyed our stay.

CLIFF NOTES VERSION: waking, dining, cruising, iTunesing, history buffing, cheering, All-American-ing, blogging, plotting, sleeping, dreaming about plotting.

PICTORIAL DIARY:

Elfie overlooking the battlefield for day 2, Little Round Top. This battle was considered by some to be the most significant small unit action of the entire Civil War. The Battle of Gettysburg was a turning point in the Civil War, the union victory in the summer of 1863 that ended Lee's second and most ambitious invasion of the North. Often referred to "the high watermark of the Confederacy," it was the war's bloodiest battle with 51,000 casualties. It also provided Pres. Abraham Lincoln with the setting for his most famous address.

Elfie poses with Col. Patrick Henry O' Rorke, who was fatally wounded strategically defending the Little Round Top.

Elfie rides the cannon of the 119th Pennsylvania Regiment

And he visits a memorial to their fallen soldiers

Elfie does baseball...and proof that klassy doesn't end north of the Mason Dixon!

POSTLUDE: Some loyal readers have written us to note that the lovely NJO and JJDH are not featured in many of our pictures. This is a conscientious decision, because our road trip is not about us. This trip is about America. And because Elfie represents all that makes America great (gender neutral, ethnically diverse (french/italian/canadian/catholic), entrepreneurial, loves and appreciates the nuances of middle America, always has a smile on his face and willing to give a shoutout to his friends, colorful, always up for a good time), he is the star of this picture show.

Also, some readers have pointed out a bit of confusion regarding our website. Road Trip 2007 is a faithful blog of NJO and JJDH's adventures through the heartland. See our blog at:http://www.travelingcousins.blogspot.com/ (obviously you know this)...HOWEVER, we ask that you please avoid, at all costs, the communist diatribes of two Aussie ladies found at the British spelling (travelling cousins - 2 Ls). These brazen young ladies have tried to steal our identities time and time again. We are on to them.