" We Are Here", Day 36, Sunday, July 4,1976, at VALLEY FORGE

"He Is Here,But We Are Not"

********************************

        **********************************************
"He Is Here, But We Are Not"
Journal Entry: Day 36,  Sunday, July 4^th , 1976 at VALLEY FORGE

      
 We got up late (7 am) after getting scrunched and rolling all night on the muddy hill.  Around 8 am the President came but none of us were asked to go over and no transportation was provided for us. There are no facilities for us to clean up. 

Thunder and Breezy tied to our truck at Valley Forge

 

. 

                                                           Photo: Carol Tacy

     

 We (the New England group) will have our own party.  I went with Sandy Munroe and some others to the market for food and we then went to find some beer which turned out to be quite a project on Sunday in Pennsylvania on Sunday,  but we did succeed in getting  5 cases.

                                                           Photo: Carol Tacy

  Around 5:30pm we had our own cookout and it rained of course but we moved everything into Robin Munroe's horse van and kept it dry.  We had one of the best cookouts of the trip. 

                                                                                                        Photo: Carol Tacy

                                                                                            Photo: Carol Tacy

Duke,Doug and Bev always looking great             Photo: Carol Tacy

     Later everyone went to Valley Forge to see the show because our troupe was performing for the last time. 

 After Lee puts a shirt on !       Photo:Carol Tacy

 They put on the best show ever and everyone of us was in the show because they are part of us and the audience was watching us as well as the show on stage.

The New England Show Troupe at Valley Forge

         After the show, Roger tried to acknowledge our troupe and some man tried to shut him up  because he wanted to introduce all the other show troupes but Roger won out and after that "Doc" Lyle got on stage and presented Roger with a bottle of remedy,  and told him we were having a plaque made for him.  And then we all went on stage and cried with the show troupe because this was the end of the trail with their last song.  Then we all went back to camp and had another party.

                                                                                                  Photo:Carol Tacy

                                                                                                 Photo: Carol Tacy

  I was told later that during the show Dawn came with the kids and said that Pat Reynolds had been taken to the hospital because one of the Vt. horses stepped on him when he tried to untangle it.

Dawn, Ranny and their kids will leave in the morning ,without Ann & Al because they have to wait for Pat to get out of the hospital.  There are no broken bones but he will be sore for a while Pat LeClerc will also leave in the morn.  He is taking Candy and Heidi with him and trucking Heidi’s horse. Candy gave her horse to Roger and he had it trucked home with Claire from Maine.

Our Wagon Train Baby and his mom Dawn Tuchon

Leah Tuchon       Photos: Carol Tacy

         While we were having our party, Richard Papiernik from the Philadelphia Inquirer was with us.  I think he has adopted our train.  He is fairly young—very personable and feels very bad about the way we have been treated and is going to try his best to write an article for the paper showing our side.

      Later in the afternoon a lot of the independent wagons decided they would come back to Valley Forge because they did not want to be 2 miles away at Valley Forge Farm and so they packed up and left for the park.  The "Johnsonville Gang" joined them and they asked us to go with them but we no longer have a wagon so we stayed put.  Tom went with them however and he stayed over there all night--  we will pick him up on our way out in the morning because we want to say goodby to our wagon and buy some souvenirs  and see how they made out.    

Addendum:
"The reward was the journey, not the destination"
     We had been the better part of two years planning this trip with the RI Federation of Riding Clubs . Spent many hours on the road and at events and functions greeting people, telling them about re-dedication  to the ideas and ideals of this USA of ours. Many scrolls were signed and they were to be delivered to Valley Forge, said to be microfilmed and entered in a time capsule. We were also told that the "Official " people were going to be allowed to camp at Valley Forge for a week. After traveling 36 days and many miles ( close to 600mi) through 5 states , meeting and greeting the local people of these states on a daily basis we arrived in Valley Forge.
 Not only were we not able to visit with the President, we do not know where the scrolls are , we were camped over 1/2 mile away from the wagons on a side hill with no facilities. We were encouraged to leave as soon as possible. Not what any of us had expected. But as for me ... I would do it all again in a heartbeat ! It was an "Incredible Journey"with "Incredible People" !