Local man and friends tour nation's treasures in historical Pennsylvania trip

The troupe left Hanford on Sept. 8 after having planned this trip for the past three years. The Gundackers, during their lives, have spent a considerable amount of time on the road, visiting historical sites in the United States. “I don’t normally like to fly; we’ve been all over the country driving, but I enjoy history and I wanted to see Philadelphia so I got on a plane,” said Gundacker.

They did all the sites, visiting Independence Hall, where the founders created and signed the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. “You’re sitting in Independence Hall and you hear about all these statesmen from the various colonies and they’re all debating the founding of the United States,” Gundacker said. “It was amazing.”

The quartet saw the Liberty Bell, visited the Poconos, toured the National Gallery, stopped by the Philadelphia Farmers Market - one of the biggest in the country - posed with the famous “Rocky” statue on the steps of Philadelphia City Hall, and toured Gettysburg National Cemetery, the site of one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War.

Gettysburg was emotional and meaningful for Gundacker. “If you can visualize a large football stadium with high stands on the outside and blow it out three miles wide and five miles long, you’ll see an open field with 400 cannons on one side and 600 cannons on the other, and the cannon balls are just killing people and the soldiers keep coming. That happened in Gettysburg,” he said.

“When you walk around and see the various monuments, you can still see bullet holes in some of the brick buildings.”

The historical tourists also visited Amish country and spent some time there. “It was a totally different world, but they were so prosperous looking,” said Gundacker.

Surprisingly, while the Lemoore native has visited most of the historical sites in the United States, he claims he hasn’t visited the eastern side of the Sierra-Nevada, which he’s itching to do now.

Gundacker said visiting our national treasures is an important part of being an American. “I think it tells us our roots, where we came from and how we got here. You feel like you’re part of a bigger family.”