2014 Summer Guiding Season

Now that July is wrapping up, I have most of the 2014 guiding season behind me to look back on.  All in all it's been a good year so far.  My tours have been for folks from all across the U.S., the U.K., New Zealand and Canada.  In the last few weeks it's been mostly families on their summer vacation, with a few retired couples or individuals here and there.

Among some of my more notable tours was a family from Oregon consisting of a father who took over a month off to travel to all 50 states with his two kids and a their husky.  By the time they reached me Pennsylvania they were a little past the halfway point, maybe about state number 30 or so.  They were gracious folks who had stopped at a few other Civil War sites along the way and we had a great time on the field.

Me on the battlefield in 2013.  Taken facing south from Oak Hill near the Eternal Light Peace Memorial.

Just last week I had a family of four from Illinois consisting of a father, mother, and their two kids.  The kids made it quite clear to me that they weren't really interested and the tour was pretty much all for their dad.  Keeping this in mind I kept the Civil War buff in the group happy by going a bit more in depth about certain things than normal, but always making sure to include lots of context along the way should the others in the group be paying attention.  I'd like to think that everyone walked away with more of an interest in the battle than they arrived with, even if they didn't show it.

That tour for the family from Illinois had a feel good moment on Little Round Top.  The father had clearly done a lot of reading on Gettysburg, however not having been here before some things didn't really make sense to him.  He knew that there were massive confederate assaults on the union left flank on July 2, but their chronology hadn't been well laid out for him.  Standing on Little Round Top I always take advantage of the view to go over July 2 at a high level, clearly outlining James Longstreet's echelon assault that afternoon.  As I was explaining this, I saw this guy's mind click, and suddenly all of the detailed tellings of the battle he had read now made sense as he looked over the actual ground.  He was then able to weave them all together in a larger narrative.

Knowing that big picture, or just wrapping your head around the overall flow of these events makes all the smaller stuff so much more dramatic and interesting.

Probably my biggest feel good moment this year however just happened this week.  I was contacted by a family who toured with me back in May.  They have relatives coming in from their home country of New Zealand (they now live in Virginia), and wanted to know if I was available.  I always give top priority to my return tours, so we'll be on the battlefield again next week.  Adding to that, they also sent me a link to their own personal blog, where they had some great things to say about their time in Gettysburg.

Once we get into August there is usually a lull in visitor traffic as families get into back to school mode, so I'm looking forward to the fall to get in many more tours, and some cooler weather, too.