Flight 93 Memorial: A common field one day, a field of honor forever

This is the replaced sewer cover that Carol ran over as he was pulling into the site.  It was virtually invisible to him from the seat of the motorhome because he was watching the lady guiding him.  Fortunately it was replaced very quickly.

We got on the road by 8:30.  Again, it was a nice day to travel.  The scenery was beautiful as  we headed east on I-70.  The highway threaded its way through the valleys of the mountain range, twisting and turning around the mountains.  It was a very scenic drive.   We pulled off I-70 and headed south to our KOA.  It is called KOA at River's Edge.  This is different from other KOAs we have stayed in.  There will be no interstate traffic noise because it is so remote.  The road to the camp was narrow, up and down, round and round.  Most of the campers are locals who come here every weekend to get out of the city.  There is a big dance party at the pavilion right across the street from our site.  A pretty river flows within sight of our site and a train comes by every few hours on tracks on the opposite side of the river.  The train noise is a nice change from car traffic.

We were set up by 3:30 and unloaded the car so we could visit the Flight 93 Memorial.  By the time we got to the memorial it was nearly 5:00 and the Visitor's Center closes at 5:00 so we only spent a few minutes looking at the info provided at the  Visitor's Center.  We were able to drive closer to the crash site and memorial.  

The wall in the distance is the Memorial Wall with the names of the 40 passengers/crew of the flight.   Beyond the wall is the crash site.

This is the "photo bomb" of the day.

The Visitor's Center from the Memorial Wall.

Each marble slab contains the name of a passenger or crew member.  The name of Todd Beamer can be seen on one stone.  He will always be remembered as the man who helped organize the resistance which began with his words "Let's Roll."

 

 The gate at the end of the Wall of Names is opened each September 11 for family and friends of the heroes to walk through to the final resting place of their loved ones.  Family and friends are also permitted onto the crash sites during other visits.

This boulder was set at the spot the plane hit the earth at a speed of over 550 MPH.  

The memorial to Flight 93 is very well done.   I am glad we were able to visit again.  The first time we were here, only a wire fence and small portable trailer was here.  This is so much better and is a wonderful way to memorialize the heroes of that day.  Their plane had been hijacked and had turned around to fly toward Washington D.C.  It is only an 18 minute flight from that spot to Washington.  Had the passengers not given their lives here on this field, many more could have died when the plane crashed in Washington.

We got back to the campground around 8:00 p.m.  It has been a long day but a good one.  Tomorrow we have nothing planned except to drive across Pennsylvania to  Allentown where we will camp for two nights.  Between nights, we will head into New York City.