Tempting as it was to stay put, after two nights we packed up at Waynesboro, Virginia and continued our journey north with our plan to continue our trek of the Great Smoky Mountains and this time to follow the Virginian Scenic Drive through Shenandoah National Park. The Scenic Drive is approximately 105 miles long and dare I say, is very similar to the Blue Ridge Parkway that we had driven further south in North Carolina and Tennessee. We drove just a short distance and decided to stay in the Big Meadows Campground which is a National Park facility. It is a large camp with 221 sites, toilets, showers, laundry, camp store and each site has a table and fire pit - excellent value at $US20 a night. Our attempts at lighting a fire were not good - we put it down to wet wood as it poured with heavy rain all night - after all how could we be at fault? The camps are similarly run to Australian national parks with volunteer camp hosts who stay for 4-8 weeks. We chatted to one of the hosts - he and his wife certainly live in reasonable luxury when they are camping. His fifth wheeler is towed by a F350. The vast majority of caravans, fifth wheelers and motor homes make our caravan at 18 feet look decidedly tiny. This is bear country however we didn't see any. We had to sign off that we knew how to store food, rubbish, worn clothing etc. The tent sites have food storage enclosures to secure items. There is bear awareness signs in the toilets etc. Bears and us didn't mix this time! ((Peter) - I was quite pleased as I didn't want another Cassowary episode like when Gill was busy trying to photograph a Cassowary in Australia with a bear getting upset as she tried to photograph it!!!) This park was established between 1933-1942 when in an effort to provide work during the depression years 10,000 young men lived in camps under the supervision of the Army and built hundreds of miles of trails, stone guard walls at the overlooks, fire roads, picnic grounds etc. Shenandoah was the first national park in the East and as it is less than 100 miles from Washington DC the position of the first Eastern National Park was strategically placed for credits for the President. Our next planned stop was Leesburg in Virginia but we certainly had to stop before then. Travelling along the freeway at about 60 miles an hour (the speed limit is 70 mph and there is no reduction if towing) there was suddenly this flapping sound - we had lost a tread off the tyre that had only been on the caravan for three days (it was a brand new spare prior to that). Our frustration lifted to another level when we found that the steel retread had also broken the inside of the mudguard and created a hole big enough to put my foot through in the caravan floor. Stopping on the side of the freeway is not ideal at the best of times, especially when Peter found that the wheel wrench we had didn't fit the wheel nuts. So we crept off the freeway, parked at a servo and a kind policeman came to our rescue even calling another policeman to assist. Can you imagine our shock when we later realised the first guy was the Chief of Police for the area? So the rest of the day was spent first getting the water pipes repaired and then to the tyre shop where we replaced both tyres. Hopefully that is the end of our dramas with tyres. The hole in the floor is taped up with Gorilla Tape and will need to be fixed on our return to North Carolina. We don't need another day like that. ( Looks like they will have to take out the floor which will include the shower from the wheel arch back!) Next day in Leesburg we visited the Ball's Bluff Battlefield. We are in the midst of the Civil War Battlefields now with our next stop at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. It was an interesting walk to see the cemetery of unknown soldiers and see the canons on display at the site of the battle at Ball's Bluff. This battle was on 21 October 1861. We nearly walked on a turtle on the path, it was so well camouflaged. Continuing on towards Gettysburg we decided to stop at the National Shrine Grotto of our Lady of Lourdes. We haven't visited a church for a while and most tourists will know that churches and cemeteries seem to dominate on places to visit. It is a mountain Catholic shrine and is one of the oldest American replica shrines of the Lourdes shrine in France. The gardens are absolutely beautiful including many small lakes, statues and places for worship. The private Mount St Mary's University and Seminary, which has about 2300 students, are also in the gardens. It was a beautiful and tranquil place to visit just off a busy freeway. So we continued north towards Gettysburg - more Civil War memorabilia to see.