Beyond the fall line

Today we started our epic road trip – 3700+ miles to San Antonio and back over the next three weeks. Let’s see how it goes. The first stop is Lawrenceville, GA to visit old friends tonight. For the first 800 miles we’ll be beyond the East Coast fall line (if you want to know what the fall line is, see here), up in the Piedmont highland. We’re taking the scenic route down the Shenandoah Valley to Roanoke, then south to Charlotte and southwest towards Atlanta. The valley is summer lush and emerald from the recent rains, and reminders of the Civil War are everywhere. We just passed Brandy Station, site of the largest cavalry battle ever in North America. An early battle in Lee’s Gettysburg campaign, it was fought 150 years ago last week. June and July 1863 were busy times in the Civil War. The road trip will coincide with the 150th anniversaries of at least four key Civil War campaigns - Vicksburg, Gettysburg, Port Hudson (LA) and Tullahoma (TN). Our route will take us through all of the campaign territories. Blog posts on each to follow. And if you want to learn about the effect of the fall line on the outcome of the Civil War, start with this blog.