10 An Amazing Coincidence

Chapter 10 AN AMAZING COINCIDENCE Coke and Pep came running through the Luray Caverns gift shop like they were in the Olympics, almost knocking over a rotating rack of miniature license plates with people's first names on them. (Does anybody ever buy those things? Oh, never mind.) "Don't you want to get souvenirs?" their mother asked as they dashed through. "That way you'll have something to remember this place." "Oh, we'll remember it," Pep said. "Can we please get out of here now?"

Go to Google Maps (http://maps.google.com/). Click Get Directions. In the A box, type Luray VA. In the B box, type Mount Solon VA. Click Get Directions. Dr. McDonald pulled out of the parking lot and found his way to Route 211 heading west. Mrs. McDonald got out of her seat and busied herself in the little RV kitchen, making sandwiches for everyone's lunch. It was pretty country outside, but Coke and Pep didn't pay much attention to the scenery rushing by the window. Both of the twins had been freaked out by the encounter with Mrs. Higgins in the underground cave. Maybe she was harmless now, they thought. After all, she didn't threaten them or make any

move to hurt them. But still, it was hard to trust someone with her track record. Coke turned on his iPod and bobbed his head to the music. Pep settled her mind down by pulling out her notebook and working on the message she had seen in the sky at the Fourth of July fireworks. LEVEL VIS I She wrote each letter on a smaller scrap of paper and juggled the scraps around, as if they were on a Scrabble rack.... I SELL VIVE LISLE VIVE ILL VIS EVE VEILS VEIL LIVE LIVES No luck. Pep was getting frustrated. It didn't usually take her this long to crack a cipher. After about twelve miles on Route 211, Dr. McDonald merged onto a big interstate

highway, I-81 heading south. Mrs. McDonald passed around her sandwiches. "Hey kids!" she said, "guess what we're going to see this afternoon?" "Another giant ball of twine?" guessed Coke. "No. The National Jousting Hall of Fame!" "Jousting?" asked Pep. "You mean, like, with horses?" "Yup." "That's stupid," Pep said. "Who wants to watch two idiots charge at each other on horseback with long pointy poles?" Coke and Dr. McDonald raised their hands. Again, it's a guy thing. They pulled off the highway at exit 240 and drove by some rolling hills and lovely Virginia farmland until they reached the little town of Mount Solon, where the National Jousting Hall of Fame is located. Well, to be honest, the Hall of Fame is really just one dusty room in the Natural Chimneys Regional Park visitor center. But it is for real. Go

ahead and look it up if you don't believe me. "What could they possibly have in a jousting hall of fame?" Pep asked as she opened the door. Not much, really. Inside, there was a suit of armor, a mannequin dressed like a medieval page, and some lances. Though disappointed, Mrs. McDonald dutifully took notes and photos for Amazing but True. A little sign said that jousting demonstrations

were given in the park behind the visitors' center. The McDonalds went out back and were fortunate that the demonstration was just about to begin. Two men were on horseback, covered head to toe in armor. You couldn't even see their faces. A small group of families had gathered around them. "Jousting is one of the world's oldest sports," one of the jousters said. "Do any of you kids know anything about jousting?" "Medieval knights would charge toward each other and try to knock the other guy off his horse," Coke said. "They were usually trying to win a fair maiden's hand." "That's right," the second jouster said. "But today, jousting is a regular sport." He explained that they use a series of small rings, which are suspended vertically from a metal rod. A jouster on horseback will charge eighty feet down a straight track and try to "catch" the rings at the end of his wooden lance. As jousters get better at it, the rings become