Mark Knows It All

Everytime I drive east, as I did last weekend, I complain to whomever is in the car with me how much I dislike driving on the Pennslvania Turnpike and the mountains. Even worse is the West Virginia Turnpike, which positively gives you motion sickness even if you watch your speed…curvy, twisty, hilly, and get me the paper bag in the back seat….quick!! Midst the twists and the turns, however, my inner history buff gets the best of me. Could somebody please tell me how our forefathers found their way through those dang mountains? How did John Young get to Youngstown? These guys had to have major league cojones to load up their families in mule drawn wagons and trek through the wilderness, through God knows what, to set up settlements in the west. How did they do it? Where did they get the guts? At the Breezewood exit on the PA Turnpike, there is a sign to Gettysburg. Why would Robert E. Lee decide to fight the union army…there? I can imagine the confederate and the union troops marching t...