Journal Entry,Day 33, Thursday, July 1, 1976 , to Roxborough High School, Philadelphia,Pennsylvania.....18mi

"We hit Pennsylvania with a bang !!"

 The "Train" has a runaway,there is an accident on the Ben Franklin, and then another runaway !!

********************************
 

Ready to leave New Jersey

Journal Entry : Day 33, Thursday,  July 1,1976,to Roxborough High School,  Philadelphia, Pa ..18mi

  

Left at 8:30 We are heading for the Ben Franklin Bridge.  Dawn, Curt, Leah Tuchon,my sister Cathy Grady& Pat Howard are in the wagon--  We are at the end of the line. 
  As we started out, there was a run away--  the same team that ran away at Lyndhurst.  They just ran around in a circle at a slow lope through a field and then they came right back into line. 
 

The "Runaway Wagon" is in the field up to the left

 About 9:15 we crossed along a wide steel bridge .  Many horses skittered across ! The whole bridge was like a grate... noise and visuals caused many horses to have a difficult crossing, but we all made it across.

Barefoot Melissa being carried over the very hot metal bridge by a really good friend

Scott Adelman always rode in his buckskins

 At 9:30 we start across the Ben Franklin.  We didn’t have to pay any tolls.

 There was an accident on the bridge right across from us ! This man was watching the "Train"  while driving ! ("WTD"!) He ran right into the side of the bridge,just as we were going by !

 About 10:30 we were over the bridge and had a small ceremony at the Ben Franklin Bridge Monument. 

   Heading into downtown one of the roads was painted with Bicentennial decorations  our guys hesitated at this...all the bridges,expansion grate  were fine but they don't like a painted road !

Then we had to wait from 10:25 to 12 o’clock for some dignitaries, the Prince & Princess of Norway.  We all bought hot dogs, soda & pretzels from a corner hot dog stand and went to the rest rooms in the Federal building.  A blind man at the stand gave me a paper and some cards.  Now we are going to Independence Hall which is just around the corner--  now we are waiting again, not knowing what is happening or how long we are going to have to wait. 

Pat Howard, Leah and Dawn Tuchon looking out at the crowd from our wagon

 Everyone is having to sit out here in the “very hot” noon sun. 

 Carol Tacy is back from RI, she will travel to Valley Forge with us.

 12:15 we move again through downtown Philadelphia.There is another ceremony at Independence Hall , people are hanging out windows of a lot of the buildings and waving sheets & things.  There is a breeze blowing which helps and the sky is beautiful blue with some clouds.

Clint Lind from New Mexico, with our outrider Ranny Tuchon  and his  baby Curt

12:30-2pm Lunch.  We were held up a little longer at lunch because one of the outrider’s horses spooked and caused a disaster:

  As we were entering this little park like area the "Train" was separated into two lines. Half the wagons were directed to the right of the area. As we approached we were asked to go on the left side. We would now be the front wagon  opposite the Penn Wagon . Most settled down to lunch except myself and the Penn Wagon "keeper". A short while later there was a big commotion so the Penn "keeper"  and myself grabbed our teams and held on !! A run-away horse had stormed down through the whole train tied to a plank, which became a battering ram, wiping out a few people on the way ! Because we were holding on steadfast we were able to hold the whole train from a major disaster ! I came off the ground about three feet but I was able to yank on the bridle and come back to the ground, stopping the horses from running away.  As I looked down the line after things calmed down ,  the wagons behind us looked like a herring bone, there was no room for them to go any further. It Turned out that one of the outriders had tied his horse to a  temporary police line sawhorse, which fell apart when the horse lifted his head he spooked and took off with the plank , hitting some woman sitting in a golf cart and a few others as well. I think at least three people got hurt. *

Alan Butler helped to catch the culprit

  After lunch Frank Howard picked up Dawn & kids & Pat Howard.   
Now Tom is riding with us & Al Bourget has just arrived and is riding on the seat with me.  He quit the cross country ride he was on in Lisbon, Ohio and has just joined us. After we got going again Breezy threw a shoe coming into the East River Drive, Lee will have to shoe her tonight. 

2:58-3 o’clock 10 minute break  at 3:20-3:45 we had a break for water & a ceremony near the end of the drive. 

 4:45 we stop on a dirt road in a park for a break and we are told that everyone should get out of the wagons except for the drivers because there is a very bad hill ahead—straight up.  We start again at 5:05 to go up one at a time.  5:55 all the wagons were at the top.  It was about 1 mile from bottom to top and as we came upon the second part of the hill we were greeted by thousands of people on the “South Side” of Roxborough.  Now we have to wait another short time.  6 o’clock we start again.  We get into camp around 6:30 and were greeted again by thousands !

There were thousands of people milling around all night.  Finally about 11 o’clock the Police cleared the football field and we got a good night’s sleep in the wagon.

*The Police came to interview Paul about the accident in downtown Philadelphia.  He told us that six people were hurt.  It was a very ritzy place & the people had already contacted their lawyers.  A boy has a broken arm and one woman was hurt quite badly (broken pelvis & head injuries).

     

Stan Bashura's Connecticut Journal:
 

CT Wagon Journal entry for Thursday, July 1st, 1976.

We woke up this morning to a clear and cooler day, we finally got a break in the weather.  We are all excited today as we will be crossing the Benjamin Franklin Bridge into Philadelphia, PA today!  We broke camp at 8:30 am today, a little later than usual because of a strict time schedule that we have to stick to today.  We have to be at the bridge at 9:30 AM.  The late start to get going time came in handy to give us some extra time to double check everything with the horses and the CT Wagon to make sure all is good.  Shortly after starting out, we had another runaway team on one of the Wagons. Don't know what spooked them, but there were no problems we could see.  The driver just looped the horses in a circle and brought them back in to line.   We got to the Ben Franklin Bridge exactly at 9:30 am!  I guess local officials had planned for a major traffic jam and make real good preparations ahead of time to escort the Wagon Train over the bridge.  The road leading up to the bridge was paved, and for a moment, I thought we had caught a break. Not so! The road became one huge long metal grate!  Worse than the Tappan Zee Bridge in New York.  While none of the riders or other Wagons seemed to be having any major trouble, our horses, Jack and Colonel, were kind of "tip toeing" on the grates, so I handed the reins to Duke and I got down off the Wagon to walk the bridge with our team and Geri, our outrider.  The noises coming off the grates probably bothered them a little.  We all made it over the bridge okay.  Once we all got to the other side and off the bridge, we stopped for a brief ceremony at the Benjamin Franklin Bridge Monument, which was about 10:30 am.  We then headed into downtown Philadelphia where local road workers had painted the roads with brightly colored Bicentennial decorations.  Geri's horse (Ct Outrider) shied around the decorations and that prompted Jack and Colonel to try to do the same.  I got hold of Jack's bridle and guided them over the decorations.  I decided to "stay down" with the Team for a while.  We then stopped at Independence Hall around 11:30 am for another ceremony.  There was a Prince and Princess from Norway as well as local, State and Government dignitaries coming in to greet the Wagon Train. The downtown Philadelphia spectator crowd was very large, probably the biggest crowd we had attracted so far.  Since we were going to be waiting for a while, we grabbed a quick lunch from some of the street vendors.  Soda, hamburgs, hot dogs, etc.  It was after 12 noon before we finally got moving again but only for a short distance just outside the downtown area in a small park for our "official" lunch break.  The Wagons were separated into two groups to be able to fit them all in.  There were still a lot of spectators around since we hadn't gone far from Independence Hall.  Then there was another runaway.  This time a rider less horse had gotten spooked by something and was dragging some kind of barrier the reins were tied to.  I was really glad at this point that I had decided to stay down with the team, because this loose horse was spooking every horse and Wagon on the train. I grabbed Jack and Colonel's bridles and held their heads down towards the road so they couldn't lift and take off, even though they did manage to move and turn sideways. Somebody finally caught the runaway and things settled down, but not before some damage was done and some spectators got hurt. It took quite a while to get all the Wagons straightened out and back in line.  Finally, around 2 pm we started moving again, this time headed towards our camp at Roxborough High School.  Once again, this took some time because the Wagons, horses and riders were slowed by a very steep hill. We had to unload everyone off the Wagons except for the drivers. I let Duke stay in the CT Wagon and I stayed with our horses and walked the hill, and yes! It was steep and difficult even for me to walk!  As we slowly came down the other side of the hill, we came upon one of the largest crowd of spectators I've ever seen!  This slowed us even more because we had to keep stopping.  Finally, around 6pm, we headed for camp.  We arrived at Roxborough High School at 7:00 pm and got the Wagons circled and the horses settled.  It wasn't a hard day, but it sure was a long day on the road being we only traveled about 16 miles.  At night, we probably had thousands of spectators visiting the Bicentennial Wagon Train.  Without a doubt, the largest crowd to visit since our journey began!  It wasn't until sometime after midnight before they cleared and we and the horses could finally get some rest.  Overall, a really great and exciting day!

Not our segment of the "Train"