Long road trip ahead...

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My son, wife, adult daughter and I are headed from (near) Houston to Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, and W. Virginia to tour historical battle sites (like Gettysburg) for my sons senior trip. He just graduated high school with honors and will be a History major this fall.

We were going to tour the Greenbriar resort Bunker in W-VA, but its already booked for a private event. Instead, we will stop there for part of a day to see the Houston Texans training camp scrimmage vs. the Patriots. On the way home, we will pass through Tennessee, and stop near Athens to view the once in a lifetime eclipse.

My vehicle is my almost mint 2006 Honda Odyssey. The trip is 3700 miles total. Whew!
 
Sounds like a treat. I'm a History Graduate student, working on my master's. He won't regret studying history. Texas has some of the best History professors (not-so-political) out there! University of Texas here.


History is a calling! He'll see why.
 
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I loved history in HS, just graduated HS. My History teacher unfortunately passed away during Christmas break of my Jr. year. He was my favorite teacher and he will be missed. He made a lot of students enjoy history. Which is very rare in a teacher.

HAVE A GREAT TRIP!
 
My son is a history whiz. He will attend Stephen F. Austin State U. in deep east TX. He got a real nice bundle of scholarships (nearly $30K total over 4 years). Bright young man.
 
Have a great trip.
As a kid I never got to go anywhere but Gettysburg once.
I hate the place. Today I would go at night. Enjoy!!! For adults it will be interesting.
You should go through Skyline drive though!!!
Be safe!!!!
 
You should come up through Kentucky before you head east and cross the Ohio River in a historically significant way-- on the ferry at Cave-in-Rock. http://transportation.ky.gov/Ferries/Pages/default.aspx Still in the same location as the frontier ferry!! Could always catch I-64 and go east from there. Here's why.

There be some little known frontier history to that area, oh yes. Back in the early 1800's a river pirate gang operated in unison with another gang of thugs administered by.... the local Sheriff James Ford who just happened to own the ferry, which was called Ford's Ferry at the time. Only crossing point on the Ohio for hundreds of miles for pioneers heading West with all their belongings and money. Sized them up for robbery down the trail, that is when they were not luring flat boaters in to the Inn and supply area at Cave-in-Rock and doing the same to them. The good among the locals and that was the majority eventually became fed up with Sheriff Ford and his gang and took matters into their hands and lynched them, but not before ... as Legend has it ... Sheriff Ford hid all the stolen gold, silver, and gems he took as his cut over the yrs from the murderous activities of the thugs he managed. Some say Sheriff Ford's treasure is still hidden in the region somewhere on either the Kentucky or Illinois side...

There was a book written about the lore in 1968 by an area college professor. https://www.amazon.com/Satans-Ferryman-True-Tale-Frontier/dp/B0007DTN4O
 
I think a lot of students find history very interesting. But at the end of the day you can teach history or possibly write books with a history degree.

Students who are considering becoming a history major should just know the range of jobs available to them with a history degree.

I have been involved in corporate culture since 1976 and while not for everyone, there are a lot of good paying jobs.
 
If you can, go to the Gettysburg battlefields as early as you can get up in the morning. Do the driving tour first before 1000 of your fellow visitors are crawling everywhere. I had just read Killer Angels, it was a powerful experience. Have a safe trip.
 
Originally Posted By: AZjeff
If you can, go to the Gettysburg battlefields as early as you can get up in the morning. Do the driving tour first before 1000 of your fellow visitors are crawling everywhere. I had just read Killer Angels, it was a powerful experience. Have a safe trip.


This. And if there's a fog in the morning it makes it that much more interesting.
 
Holy Cow those are the river pirates in the 1st part of
Quote:
How the West was Won
Walter Brennan played the pirate chief. I love history.
grin2.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Donald
I think a lot of students find history very interesting. But at the end of the day you can teach history or possibly write books with a history degree.

Students who are considering becoming a history major should just know the range of jobs available to them with a history degree.

I have been involved in corporate culture since 1976 and while not for everyone, there are a lot of good paying jobs.


I majored in History, but have worked in IT for 20+ years. In addition to being a network analyst, I also do a lot of the tech writing around here.

My history degree didn't hurt me in pursuing this end, along with vendor certifications like Microsoft and Cisco.

You can go to law school or MBA school with a history degree also. Yes you need to be aware of the limitations, but neither is it a dead end.

YMMV.
 
Originally Posted By: Donald
I think a lot of students find history very interesting. But at the end of the day you can teach history or possibly write books with a history degree.

Students who are considering becoming a history major should just know the range of jobs available to them with a history degree.

I have been involved in corporate culture since 1976 and while not for everyone, there are a lot of good paying jobs.


He also has a $30k scholarship, so I wouldn't say he is going down the wrong path.

I work in the IT industry with a Sociology degree. I got my job mainly from my work experience, but having any 4 year degree helps, especially with a scholarship so you graduate ahead of the game. Yeah, I don't have a Computer Science degree, but I was also able to graduate with 0 debt, so I start out ahead. I have many friends who might have "better" degrees than me, but some graduated with $100k in student loans and don't make much more than I do.
 
We did a similar trip in May, starting from Houston as well. I highly suggest seeing the Vicksburg battlefield. Equally informative as Gettysburg. It has an iron clad ship as well. We also stopped in Cumberland Gap and saw the nearby Appalachian museum.
 
Originally Posted By: Burt
I highly suggest seeing the Vicksburg battlefield. Equally informative as Gettysburg.


Vicksburg is stop #1. We will see six other sites, and see the Texans v. Patriots scrimmage, Lookout mountain, and finally on the way home the eclipse. 10 days chocked full!
 
Gettysburg is fascinating. Study up as much as you can beforehand to familiarize yourself with 3 days worth of battles. You can drive the park-there is a one way path that takes you to all the major battle sites. The gift shop sells a CD that provides narration as you drive around the park-highly recommended. You can stop and go for as long as you like to explore and just take in the magnificence of the battlefields. Seeing the topography, it is inconceivable the mistakes R.E. Lee made there.
 
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Originally Posted By: Vikas
Will you pull over and do an oil change when you travel 3000 miles on the road? :)


If that's a VCM engine, he better pack a jug of oil and check the oil level every day.
 
One of the best (vehicle) decisions I ever made was purposely NOT buying a Odyssey with VCM, or PAX tires. My van is the EX model in near perfect condition. Its garage kept its entire life and only driven while traveling 50 miles or more.

I have lots of conventional on hand, so I change every 5000 miles and the oil filter every 10,000. The MM is usually around 50% when the 5000 mile change comes due. I have never, ever had to add any oil between changes. I will make this trip and not even check the oil level once.
 
I'm sort of odd here as I normally put no more than 150k on a vehicle (after retirement we'll see) - buy Ford/GM (Mopar at one time).. and many vehicles/decades later had one vehicle consuming a small amount of oil - 17 year old Dodge PowerWagon ... so I'm puzzled how many vehicles consume oil early on ..:?
 
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