Palin's Secretive Bus Tour Stops in Gettysburg

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin visited the Gettysburg battlefield Tuesday as part of a secretive bus trip to historic sites that has observers questioning whether it’s really a bid to drum up publicity for a 2012 presidential run.

Palin visited a cemetery at Gettysburg National Military Park in the morning, then hopped back aboard her bus and left town to continue the tour she began Sunday in Washington with stops in Mount Vernon, Va., and Fort McHenry in Baltimore.

Palin told reporters Monday she was not on the trip as part of any proto-campaign but seeking to illuminate Americans’ knowledge of the country.

Margaret Elbertson, 66, a retired phone operator from Mt. Laurel, N.J., was at the battlefield Tuesday with her three sisters - all triplets - and a friend, when they saw Palin arrive in a car and not her bus.

She said they took photos of the former governor and the throng of people that gathered around her.

“We just thought one day if she does run for president and makes it, we can say we knew her when,” Elbertson said.