PHOTOS
Great Britain
1996
Great
Britain
and Finland
1998
TRAVELOGUE HOME PAGE
RREINI.ORG HOME
PAGE
|
|
Travelogue:
Virginia and DC
June and July 2008
By
Roger W. Reini
By
date:
June 28 | 29
| 30
July 1 | 2
| 3
| 4 | 5
| 6 | 7
| 8 | 9
| 10
Prologue
This was originally supposed to have been a travelogue about a trip to
Mount Rushmore and to Colorado, mainly Colorado Springs, the home of
Pikes Peak. These were areas that I had not visited before,
and I was really looking forward to seeing them. I had
already made hotel reservations, and I’d even booked passage on the
Lake Michigan ferry from Ludington to Manitowoc, wanting to experience
the ride across the lake, something else I’d never done
before. But I cancelled all of those plans after learning
that my sister and her family would be coming back to this country for
a few weeks, weeks that coincided with my vacation weeks.
Would they be coming to Michigan? No, not this time. They
would go back to Virginia, which is their home state when they’re not
overseas.
When I was deciding what to do and where to go for vacation in early
July, I had considered going to DC and environs, mainly for the
opportunity to bike some of the trails in the area. I’d
walked a section of the Washington & Old Dominion trail on a
visit last year. But I eventually decided to take the trip
out West. Now, with my learning about my sister’s plans, I
started re-examining those notions of biking in and near our nation’s
capital. Pikes Peak wasn’t going anywhere; I could defer that
trip to another time, possibly late September or early
October. But my nieces and nephew were growing up, and I
wouldn’t get as many chances to see them all together in the
future. So the decision for me was quite easy.
Top
Saturday June 28
My original plans for a trip out West had me taking the Lake Michigan
car ferry across to Wisconsin this morning. Instead, I was
helping set up the Field Day station for the joint operation of the
Ford Amateur Radio League and the Livonia Amateur Radio Club.
I got there after 9:30 and help erect tents, move tables, put up an
antenna, etc. Because rain was in the forecast, I had brought
my laptop and cell phone along so that I could check weather
radar. When skies looked threatening, I checked the radar and
found a line of heavy rain was due to arrive within the next 15 minutes.
The rain arrived in 10 minutes and came down real hard for
15. We couldn’t set up while it rained, but when it stopped,
we resumed. I set up my Buddipole antenna and used it to
monitor the 6-meter band in case there were an opening.
Finally, operations began at 2. As the main voice station
started making calls, I could hear two stations across town calling for
contacts. Then I heard a strong station with the callsign
CY0X. I wasn’t sure what that was, so I looked it
up. It turned out to be a DXpedition to Sable Island off of
the Nova Scotia coast. I tried calling using my FT-817 radio
but could not be heard. When I moved to my car, though, and
tried to contact them with higher power, I succeeded. It was
my first contact with a DXpedition, which is an expedition by amateur
radio operators to a location that doesn’t normally have a ham radio
presence.
I logged for around an hour but didn’t operate because I was going to
have to leave early to pack. I left between 6:30 and 7,
having made sure I had had supper first (it was excellent, by the
way). I went to the Garden City branch of my credit union to
get cash for the trip, then stopped at McDonald’s for a strawberry
shake. Had to go to two McDonald’s to get it; the first one
had a broken shake machine. And then I made it home in order
to start packing the car for the trip tomorrow.
Top
Sunday June 29
I was up fairly early this morning checking my e-mail and doing my
customary web surfing. I finished packing, then loaded my
bike onto the bike rack. It was shortly after 7:30, and I was
ready to roll. I drove out from my driveway, drove over to
I-275, then took the freeway south. I would eat breakfast
somewhere en route.
As I neared the Wayne County line, though, the thought occurred to me
that I had left my camera at home -- specifically, on the kitchen
floor. That was unforgivable, to leave on vacation and forget
the camera. I had only gone 20 miles, so it was still
feasible to turn around and head home to get it. If it hadn’t
been feasible, then I would have done some camera shopping someplace en
route. I exited the freeway, stopped the car, opened the
trunk -- no camera. So it was back home for me. The
camera was right where I had left it on the kitchen floor, the last
remnant of the pile of stuff to be loaded into the car. I
picked it up and took it with me.
By this time, I was getting hungry, and the car’s gas tank was starting
to get thirsty. So I filled up at the BP station at Ford and
Hix before crossing the street to eat breakfast at McDonald’s (their 2
sausage burrito meal). It was 8:46 when I got underway again,
this time for real. As I drove southward, I listened to XM
radio but also listened to the Field Day activities on my amateur
radio. The 40 meter band was very crowded, as one might
expect for such an event. I hoped to hear our FARL/LARC
station, but I didn’t hear it.
Now would I drive across Ohio on the Ohio Turnpike or on Highway 2
(good for making time), or would I take the more historic path and
drive the old Lincoln Highway? Today, I felt like driving the
Lincoln Highway, so I went through Toledo and past the
turnpike. North of Findlay, I got off the freeway and onto
the old Dixie Highway, taking that to its intersection with the
Lincoln. I’d been here several times before, but in all of
the previous occasions, I had taken a right turn, heading
west. Today, though, I turned left, heading east.
It was a nice drive, reasonably well marked. As I neared
Upper Sandusky, though, there were signs for a detour. A
bridge was out, so I needed to get onto the US 30 freeway, which I
stayed on until the other side of Upper Sandusky, then it was back onto
the Lincoln Highway. It was a good drive through Bucyrus, but
I started to get concerned about my progress or lack thereof, so I got
back on the freeway.
The combination of getting a late start, the slower speed limits of the
old roadway and having a hotel reservation in Breezewood, PA led me to
decide that I needed to abandon the Lincoln Highway drive. As
I had lunch at Skyline Chili in Mansfield, OH, I decided to look for
the fastest way to get to the Ohio or Pennsylvania Turnpikes.
That route had me going north on I-71 to reach I-76 near
Akron. As I drove northeastward, I was listening to the Field
Day activities on 40 meters again. As 2 PM arrived, the
activity dropped off to nearly nothing, for that was the end of the
competition for most stations. I listened to baseball on XM,
first the Tiger game and then the Astro game (both of them won, by the
way), and then started bouncing around Sirius and XM. World
Radio Network on Sirius had an interesting broadcast from Korea, and
the BBC World Service had an interesting discussion on various
philosophical issues, including the possible impact of the discovery of
life on Mars, should any be discovered.
By this time, it was 6 PM, and I was hungry for supper, so I stopped at
the service plaza on the Pennsylvania Turnpike east of
Somerset. A few minutes and a Roy Rogers hamburger meal
later, I was back on the road heading towards Breezewood. My
GPS receiver kept close tabs on where I was. A recent upgrade
seemed to have added speed limit information, for it was programmed to
beep if you exceeded the speed limit (one could turn off the beep,
though). It did beep a few times for me, I must admit, but I
won’t say where. Finally, I arrived in Breezewood around
7:30. There was still time for me to do something I really
wanted to do.
I knew I could drive from Detroit to the DC area in a day -- 10 hours
if I did it straight through. I didn’t need to spend the
night in Breezewood unless I wanted to, and I now had a reason to do
so. Back in 1968, the Pennsylvania Turnpike was rerouted to
eliminate dangerous bottlenecks at two tunnels east of
Breezewood. The abandoned turnpike still exists, albeit in
rough shape, and it’s being turned into a bike and hike path.
It’s not officially open yet, but users can use it at their own
risk. There was time for me on Sunday evening to take a short
ride on the path. I drove to the parking area east of town,
removed my bike, applied plenty of bug repellent, then pushed my bike
up a steep embankment to the old roadway. Nature was busy
reclaiming what was once hers; the pavement was crumbling, plants were
growing everywhere, and animals crossed the roadway without any fear of
being run over by speeding traffic. While I was there, I saw
a big cat, several rabbits, a raccoon family, and some deer.
It was eerie at times as I pedaled the old westbound lanes, thinking
how 41 years earlier, they would have been filled with
traffic. When I reached the entrance to the Ray’s Hill
Tunnel, the sun was already hidden. I thought it best to turn
around and head back to the hotel for the evening. That short
ride was a little over 3 miles long.
Back at the hotel, I checked my e-mail and called my sister to let her
know where I was and when I might arrive in town tomorrow.
Then I listened to some podcasts I’d recently downloaded, including the
previous Friday’s Left,
Right and Center, featuring the real Arianna Huffington,
as opposed to Tracey Ullman’s excellent impersonation of her.
Hm, now there’s an interesting idea for a podcast or other program, or
even a song: Dueling Ariannas (remember Dueling Brandos from early
SNL?). But I digress. I started playing a second
podcast, XM’s Baseball Confidential featuring Ernie Harwell, but I got
tired and turned it off after 5 minutes (I’d listen to the rest later;
I was just sleepy). It was time for bed.
Top
Monday June 30
Once again, I found myself waking fairly early, more in line with a
workday than with a vacation. Then again, an early start
would be useful today, for I wanted to continue with my ride on the old
abandoned turnpike. It had rained overnight; in fact, there
had been thunderstorms, but it was sunny now. I expected few
difficulties with my ride. I had breakfast down in the lobby,
then set off for the trail.
I parked in the same place as yesterday, applied sunscreen and bug
repellent, then pushed my bike up the hill again. The ride
was not much different from yesterday evening, though I did see a lot
of mist rising up from the ground. As I approached the first
tunnel, I turned on my headlight to help see where I was
going. It helped, but not very much, for the tunnel was quite
dark. I could see a light at the end, though, so I knew it
would eventually end. As I pedaled through, I hoped that I
wouldn’t encounter any critters in the tunnel -- or maniacs, for that
matter. Now this tunnel was two lanes, meaning that the full
traffic of the turnpike narrowed down into this tunnel with two-way
traffic. No, it wasn’t a very safe configuration, and that no
doubt contributed to the decision to bypass it and the other tunnel.
I made it through the tunnel and started pedaling onward, wondering how
far I would go. Before riding, I’d checked out some elevation
maps of the route and was somewhat concerned by indications of some
uphill climbs. I got rolling on a nice downhill, then started
on the upside. The pavement was mostly OK for a mountain or
hybrid bike, though road bikes would have had problems. There
were times I could hear traffic from the current turnpike high above
me; at one point, I could even see a billboard for Bob Evans in
Breezewood (I could see that restaurant from my hotel room
window). Next came the Sideling Hill Tunnel, which was longer
than the first tunnel. I could barely see an indication of
light from the other side. At one point, I started running
over rocks, which were probably small chunks of concrete flaking from
the roof. I wished my headlights had been aimed better to let
me see those. But I made it through without incident and made
it to the barricades at the eastern end of the trail. Then it
was time to turn around and go back. I passed by the site of
a turnpike service plaza, though there was no sign of the structures
that used to be there. I thought about taking a picture of
the eastern side of the Sideling Hill Tunnel, but there was some racist
graffiti there. The sun got higher, and so did the road; I
was huffing and puffing a bit more on the way back. But the
tunnels were nice and cool, and I appreciated the chance to cool off in
there.
By 9:30 I was back at the start; by 10, I was gassing up and hitting
the road. I didn’t want to go to Herndon right away, for I’d
arrive too early to check in. Instead, I decided to go to
Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia, where three states come
together. Perhaps I could do some bike riding
there. Down I-70 I went, toward and across the Maryland state
line, the true Mason-Dixon Line. I noticed a sign for a
C&O Visitor’s Center in Hancock; as I wanted to ride that trail
into DC, I stopped at that center and picked up a map and a guidebook
that covered not only the C&O Trail but a continuation trail
that led almost to Pittsburgh (and would eventually lead
there). Now there were some ideas for long-distance rides....
My route had me staying on I-70 to Frederick, then taking US 340 to
Harper’s Ferry. As I drove westward on 340, though, I could
see rain in the distance. Before long, it wasn’t in the
distance any more; it was right on top of me, and it was coming down
rather hard. But I kept going, and then I crossed two rivers,
the Potomac and the Shenandoah, and found myself in Harper’s
Ferry. When I looked for a parking space, though, I couldn’t
find one. Most of the parking was for visitors to the
national park, which I didn’t want to visit. All I wanted to
do was ride the bike, possibly through three states in short
order. But that didn’t seem possible, so back out I went,
back over to Maryland. I didn’t see any access to the
C&O trail there, so I went to the next place I knew there would
be access, Brunswick.
There was a small parking lot under the bridge leading to
Virginia. There was also a porta-potty at the corner of the
lot for trail riders and other visitors; it was a welcome sight, as I
needed to go. With that out of the way, I got down my bike
from the rack and prepared to ride the trail. But I saw a
large group of riders come from the west; they were covered in
mud. So I went the other way but only went three-tenths of a
mile before I decided that this direction would also result in my being
covered in mud. Ride aborted. Back went the bike
onto the rack, and back on the road I went. Now it was
lunchtime (past it, actually), and I was hungry. I decided to
go spend some time at Dulles Town Center in Sterling, where I knew
there would be some good food. The drive there was
unremarkable, and I found myself at the Uno Chicago Grill at around 2
PM. I ordered sirloin steak tips, and while I waited for my
food, I called my sister Sharon. It turned out that they were
at the same mall and had eaten at that same restaurant an hour or so
before. What a coincidence! They had pizza,
though. But I was happy with my sirloin tips. Then
I went over to the mall to walk off my lunch and to waste a bit of time
before checking into the hotel. It wasn’t a total waste,
though, for I picked up a bottle of flat tire sealant from Dick’s
Sporting Goods. I briefly visited the T-Mobile store; I’d
bought my current cell phone there last year after I lost my previous
one. No need to get a new phone today, though.
Then it was time to head for the hotel, the Crowne Plaza in Herndon, at
the corner of Centreville Road and the Dulles Toll Road. I’d
stayed here last year and had been reasonably impressed with
it. It was a good value, in my opinion, and so here I was
again. I would be in room 475 in the main tower. I
could park in the parking garage and take the rear elevators to my
floor. After an hour or so of unloading and unpacking, I was
sufficiently settled in to call Sharon. I got directions to
their apartment, and so I drove over. It was on the south
side of the toll road, less than a mile from the hotel. When
I arrived, there was a lot of packing and boxing going on.
They lived overseas in Africa, and so they were shipping over a lot of
products that were hard to find on store shelves over there.
They used my address as a return address for the packages, just in case
some were rejected for one reason or another.
I brought over my gifts and other things they’d asked me to pick up,
things I would have mailed but didn’t have to now, such as DVD’s of TV
shows, various magazines, and Red Wings Stanley Cup
merchandise. I got to see pictures of Candice and Heather
before the school prom, and I got to see some pictures from their
safari in March. Later, I had to decide if I would accompany
them on their trips to one or more of the colleges and universities the
girls were interested in. One of the trips would be to
William and Mary in Williamsburg, but there might be others, and in
different parts of the state. I didn’t want to pay for two
hotel rooms simultaneously, one up here and one wherever, so I decided
not to accompany them.
Top
Tuesday July 1
I woke up before 6, a bit later than normal for a
workday. I did my normal routine, and I took a shower, for I
needed it. Then it was downstairs to Houlihan’s for
breakfast. I recalled from last year that the restaurant had
a breakfast buffet, and that’s what I had this morning.
Since I wasn’t going college-touring, I was free to do whatever I
wanted. And since I knew that the family would be slow
getting up and getting ready in the morning, I had some time for an
early bike ride. I drove into downtown Herndon and parked at
the municipal lot, then got on my bike and rode the Washington
& Old Dominion trail to the northwest. I’d walked on
some of this last year and hoped to ride on it this year. My
first ride was some 4 miles one-way, from just before milepost 20 to
near milepost 24. This took me into the town of Sterling,
past a golf course, and to the crossing of Highway 28. Then I
turned around and pedaled back to my starting point. Back at
the hotel, I called Sharon and informed them of my decision not to join
them. So while they set off on their trip, I drove up and
over to Maryland -- specifically, the Carderock recreation area on the
C&O Canal Towpath. Here, I would ride my bike on the
towpath some 10 miles into the District, ending up at Georgetown.
The road markings for Carderock weren’t the best, so I missed the
turnoff the first time around and had to loop back to get
there. Once there, I had a hard time figuring out the
direction to go in order to reach the towpath. I saw a rough
trail which seemed to lead in the right direction; I took it, and my
hunch was correct. There was the canal, and there was the
towpath. It may have been a bit damp in places, but there
were not big puddles on it, unlike yesterday up at Brunswick.
I set off downstream towards Georgetown. In between locks,
the towpath was quite flat, but at each lock, there was a short stretch
where the path and canal lowered several feet. Easy going
downstream, but it would be a bit harder coming back upstream.
At Fletcher’s Landing, I saw a sign for the Capital Crescent
Trail. This trail led from Georgetown to Bethesda, and it was
paved, unlike the C&O towpath. Since they were
parallel from this point forward, I decided to change to the paved
trail. It was also slighty lower in elevation, and as I
headed closer to Georgetown, the elevation difference became more
pronounced. Eventually, I reached the end of the trail and
found myself on a street underneath a freeway deck. I had
thoughts of pedaling along the shore to the National Mall area, but I
didn’t know I had to turn onto the Rock Creek Parkway for
that. I pedaled up a ramp and onto K Street and busy District
streets. At one point, I was pedaling along Virginia Avenue
and could clearly see the Washington Monument straight ahead.
I rode past the Watergate Hotel, scene of the burglary that led to the
downfall of President Nixon and (eventually) to a radio show for G.
Gordon Liddy.
I turned into the Kennedy Center and rode around there for a bit until
I saw a Bike Route sign. I thought it would put me on the
riverfront. Instead, it took me onto the Roosevelt Bridge out
of town. It was narrow in places, so it wasn’t the easiest
riding. It was a little unnerving to know that right
alongside this trail was I-66, with high-speed freeway
traffic. The trail eventually connected to the Mount Vernon
Trail along the Potomac in Virginia, where a short pedal got me to the
parking area for Roosevelt Island. There was a bike rack, as
the island was for walkers and hikers only. I took a brief
walk on the island, stopping to admire the memorial to Theodore
Roosevelt. The island was worthy of additional time, but I
didn’t feel like walking all over it today. Then it was back
onto the trail, which ended up on a steep bridge and additional grade
to reach the Rosslyn area. I had to get off and push my bike
up that additional grade, for I couldn’t pedal up it. Several
years ago, I’d stayed in this area for a few days. I recalled
walking across the Key Bridge into Georgetown. This time, I
pedaled across the bridge into Georgetown, then found the C&O
Canal trail again. In this area, it seemed to be on both
sides of the canal at once. I stayed on the south side and
rode east until I couldn’t, then rode westward. This was the
start of my return trip to Carderock.
At Fletcher’s Landing, I got a drink and a bag of Oreo Bits, which
served as a lunch of sorts. Not the best lunch, but it did
satisfy my thirst. Then it was back on the bike for the ride
to Carderock. Several locks bunched together near the end of
the ride, meaning a fairly rapid grade change. At one point,
I had to push the bike up one lock hill. It was after 3 by
the time I reached Carderock; I’d been on the bike for around 4
hours. It was time to head on, and so I drove back to
Virginia. I didn’t go directly to the hotel, though; I
stopped at Tysons Corner for a few items. I had “lupper”
(lunch-supper) at La Sandia, a new Mexican restaurant that opened up in
part of the space that used to be Woodward & Lothrop.
At the LL Bean store, I got a new pair of bike gloves. Now I
wouldn’t have to put on gloves that were sweaty from a previous ride,
like I had had to do when I set out on the C&O Canal
ride. Then I got onto the Dulles Access Road -- no toll to
the airport. I ended up looping around the airport and
getting onto Highway 28, which eventually led me back to the hotel for
some reading, resting and watching baseball.
Top
Wednesday
July 2
At some point, I’d fallen asleep with the light on. I must
have been tired. I was up before 6, monitoring the Weather
Channel and News Channel 8 (DC’s local news channel) and reading from
the book on bike tours of DC I’d picked up yesterday at the Barnes
& Noble at Tysons (also new since my last visit; it too was in
the old Woodie’s space). I went downstairs for another visit
to Houlihan’s breakfast buffet.
The forecast today seemed good for more bike riding: lower humidity,
temperatures only in the 80’s, etc. But I was a bit sore from
yesterday’s riding, so I decided to take a break and not
ride. But what would I do today instead? After
reviewing my shorts, I saw one thing I needed to do almost immediately:
get a new pair. The button that held them up was in imminent
danger of falling off, as the attaching threads had become ridiculously
stretched. I also wanted to visit the Ham Radio Online store
south of town, and so my plans for the day were set. I would
drive to Woodbridge and the Potomac Mills area.
There was no need for me to get on the Beltway to reach I-95.
A combination of US 50, the Fairfax County Parkway and Highway 123 let
me get there with a minimum of fuss. I got gas in Occoquan;
as I was about to do so, my phone rang. The family would be
returning today from Williamsburg, said Sharon; Candice was impressed
enough with William and Mary.
I had thought the Ham Radio Online store was near Potomac Mills,
meaning in the outer ring of buildings surrounding it. It
wasn’t; it was actually in a strip center along US 1 in “downtown”
Woodbridge. It was a small store, compared to the California
stores I’d visited before, but it was well-stocked. I wasn’t
specifically looking for anything, but I did get an updated training
manual for the Extra Class license. Then it was over to
Potomac Mills for the new pair of shorts. It took me a while
to find a good pair, but I did find one at T.J. Maxx. I had
lunch at Silver Diner; the fried clam special was OK, though not
outstanding.
Back in Fairfax, I looked for the Washington Bike Center, where I’d
bought a bag for my trike last year. I knew vaguely where it
was, but I had to do a bit more driving around in the Fair Lakes area
before I found it. I also found the official guide for the
W&OD Trail, which was my main purpose in going there.
I popped into the nearby Best Buy, and here I received a surprise:
there was a small yet full-fledged music store in the back, with amps,
guitars, keyboards, drums, etc. I couldn’t resist checking
this out. I spent a few minutes playing an Epiphone -- I
don’t remember the model, but it was an ES-335/Casino-type -- before
heading back to the hotel.
After resting for a bit, I decided to download my recent pictures to my
Mac. It was time to free up some space on my memory card,
plus I wanted to review my pictures on a larger screen than the one on
the camera. Dinner this evening was next door to the hotel at
Bertucci’s, an Italian restaurant. The service was rather
poor this evening; I waited for a very long time to be served, and then
when I was, it was with a brand-new waiter. When the food
finally arrived (a variant of chicken parmesan), though, it was very
good. Almost made the difficulties worthwhile.
Top
Thursday
July 3
I’d settled into a routine at the hotel: get up either side
of 6, take my time getting up for good, then go down for the breakfast
buffet before 8. Once again, I thought about riding on the
W&OD trail but decided against it. Later in the morning, I
went over to the apartments where my sister and family were staying and
more or less hung out there for the day. I helped bring some of
their packages to the post office. Some of them were big and
heavy, especially the one with the kitty litter.
Later in the
evening, we were at a loss for what to do about supper. Someone
(Heather?) suggested Mexican, and that ended up being our choice.
Randy drove us all over to the On The Border restaurant in
Reston. I thought it a bit chilly in the restaurant (I happened
to be sitting underneath the vent). The food was good,
nonetheless. Afterwards, we went to the nearby Barnes &
Noble. Their purpose in going was to stock up on reading material
back in Uganda. I looked around for a bit, but then I went to the
Best Buy next door. It turned out that I was in the market for a
new portable hard drive, as the one I’d brought with me still showed
symptoms of locking up during file transfers (not a good thing).
I hadn’t noticed any errors as a result of this, but I couldn’t count
on that remaining true. So I spent some money for a new hard
drive and went back to the bookstore. Their alarms beeped as I
came in. When I left, I made sure I was witnessed by an employee
so that problems or misunderstandings would not arise.
As Randy,
Brandon and I went back to the car, I noticed a La Madeleine restaurant
across the parking lot. I said I hadn’t been to one since the
last time I was at Baybrook, meaning Baybrook Mall in Texas.
Brandon thought I’d said “Babe Ruth” and started asking about
him. This got us into talking about the Curse of the Bambino and
the Billy Goat curse.
Top
Friday July 4
What would I do on our nation’s birthday? Not very much. I
did go for a short ride on the W&OD trail, 7 miles round
trip. I was become annoyed and then concerned by a ticking sound
that seemed to be tied to the pedals or crank. Perhaps something
needed to be lubricated. That was quite possible, as the bike had
been more exposed to the environment than normal recently, being always
on the back of the car except when I wasn’t using it. I vowed to
look for bike stores nearby and get some lubricant. Of course,
I’d have to do that starting tomorrow, for the store would be closed
today.
Back at the hotel, I decided to have lunch at the hotel
restaurant. That was a change, for the only meals I’d had there
had been breakfasts. Now the item that looked most appealing to
me on the menu today was a salad, a Buffalo Bleu Salad. As one
might expect from the name, it was topped with Buffalo-style (spicy)
chicken and sprinkles of bleu cheese. Along with a cup of soup,
that was my lunch. And as I enjoyed my lunch, I got to watch
people eating something completely different: hot dogs. I’m
referring to the annual hot dog eating contest at Coney Island, which
was being carried on one of the ESPN channels. At the end of the
contest, there was a tie between last year’s champion and the champion
from two years ago, so naturally they broke the tie with an
eat-off. At the end of that round, the tie was broken; last
year’s champion had prevailed again.
After lunch, I went over to
the apartments to see Sharon and family, and that’s where I spent the
rest of the day. There was some talk about going into town to see
the fireworks from the National Mall. However, rain was in the
forecast and was in the area, which washed out that idea. There
were fireworks closer by, in Herndon, and we considered going to
those. Ultimately, though, we didn’t do that either. I may
have heard the Herndon fireworks when I was back at the hotel, although
I couldn’t see them very well from my room. I had to stick my
head as close to the glass as I could and look right, and then I could
see the fireworks. The view of the fireworks on the Mall on
public TV was better. After the national broadcast ended, the
local station stayed with the fireworks, which continued for a
half-hour longer.
Top
Saturday
July 5
I didn’t feel like breakfast at the hotel today. Going to IHOP
was an option, but there weren’t any that were really close by, and
they might have been rather busy on a Saturday morning. I ended
up having breakfast at McDonald’s instead. It was also convenient
for my going to the bike store to pick up the lubricant. I ended
up getting two cans, each of a different type. So there I was in
the parking lot, spraying the lube onto the bike in the places I felt
needed it. Having the bike on the rack really helped with that.
Now
I wanted to ride around a bit and work some of that lube in. I
ended up going into town and riding around the W&OD Trail and the
parking lot of the post office. Why the post office? Well,
I happened to see Sharon and the kids there taking more packages to be
mailed overseas. I did not have a lock with me; it was back at
the car, for I didn’t expect to go anywhere and stop. This meant
I couldn’t get off and help with the packages. But I was able to
determine that the ticking had been reduced, which was the main purpose
of the ride.
Lunch for me today was with Sharon, Randy and
Brandon at the nearby Chuck E. Cheese’s. The girls stayed at
home; they’re no longer the Chuck E. Cheese type. That might
change if/when they have children of their own, but that won’t be for a
while. But Brandon didn’t mind. We got two pizzas and scads
of tokens, divided up among the three men. The games I played the
most were a football game, a baseball game and a ball game where you
roll your balls up a ramp and try to land in the targets.
Sometimes those balls went astray or got stuck, so you couldn’t always
complete a full game. Still, it was enjoyable. All of the
tickets we won went to Brandon, of course, and he was able to cash out
some toys at the end -- many rubber bugs, as I recall.
Top
Sunday
July 6
Today looked to be pretty good, weatherwise, and so I decided that I
would ride into town. I wouldn’t take the W&OD trail from
Herndon, though; there wasn’t time for that, not with our plans to go
to Medieval Times. Instead, I drove into town via the Dulles Toll
Road and I-66. I wanted to get to the parking area for Roosevelt
Island, but I had a hard time doing so. I drove past National
Airport before I figured out how to get on the George Washington
Parkway heading north, which would take me to the parking area for
Roosevelt Island. It was also a prime parking area for the Mount
Vernon Trail, and there were several cars here already.
I got my
bike ready for the ride, got myself ready for the ride, and then set
out on the trail. Not long after I set out, there was an
intersection. To the right, the path to the Roosevelt Bridge and
ultimately the Kennedy Center. I’d done that the other day, so I
stayed to the left and on the trail. This trail went along the
river bank, leading to some great picture-taking opportunities. I
saw some rowing crews in the river getting in some practice. I
saw and heard planes landing at National Airport. A little
farther down the trail, I saw National Airport, for the trail went
directly past it. And of course, I saw the monuments on the other
side of the river.
The trail went down to Alexandria and
to Mount Vernon, but I turned around at the airport and headed back
north. I left the trail to take the 14th Street Bridge into
town. This took me very near the Jefferson Memorial, which still
had the barricades and now-unmanned checkpoints from the ceremonies on
the 4th. There was a large group of Asian travelers there at the
time. I didn’t go up to the monument proper, for I’d done so
several years ago, but I did take a picture of my bike in front of the
memorial. I then took the paths around the Tidal Basin and made
my way to the World War II Memorial. Here, I locked the bike to a
fence (didn’t see a proper bike rack) and made a proper visit.
The
memorial opened in 2004 over the Memorial Day weekend. I was in
town during that event but didn’t go (though I saw the jets getting set
up for their fly-by during the dedication), so I wanted to see it on
this trip. The memorial occupied a prime location on the National
Mall -- to the east, the Washington Monument; to the west, the Lincoln
Memorial, seen over a wall of stars, each star representing 100
American lives lost in the conflict. The south side honored the
Pacific Theater, and the north side honored the Atlantic Theater.
Quotes from Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower and Marshall lined the
walls. It was a popular attraction, drawing a steady stream of
visitors. I believed I stayed for 15 to 20 minutes, then went to
visit the restroom before setting on my way again.
I then
pedaled eastward along the Mall towards the Capitol, past the
Washington Monument and through the exhibition taking place in front of
the Smithsonian museums. This exhibition had three subjects:
NASA, Texas, and Bhutan. I couldn’t think of a way in which all
three were related, nor did relations between NASA and Bhutan or Texas
and Bhutan come to mind. When I came to the Capitol, crews were
busy removing the stage and barricades from the festivities on the
Fourth. Not seeing an easy way to loop around the Capitol, I
crossed over to the north side of the Mall and started riding
back. At one point, Sharon called. I promised to be back in
plenty of time for our trip to Medieval Times. Back to the ride:
I rode around the Ellipse and over to the first open street to the west
of the White House (17th Street NW, I later learned). I rode up
this street until I reached Pennsylvania Avenue, and then I turned onto
the closed section (closed to motor vehicles, that is). There are
always people in front of the White House -- tourists, protesters, etc.
-- and today was no exception. I was able to take a picture of my
bike in front of the White House; too bad the bike could not take a
picture of me in front of the White House. I noticed a group of
Segway riders to the west of the White House; were they being trained
how to ride it, I wondered.
The ticking sound I’d complained
about came back, but not all of the time. Sometimes it would be
quiet, other times it would tick. At one point, I shoved my bike
bag underneath the seat somewhat to hold it in place; it would flop
around on the rack a lot. Oddly enough, it didn’t tick after
that. I could feel the seat contact the bag on occasion as I
pedaled, and that led me to conclude that the ticking was coming from
the seat, not from the crank. That put me at ease; I wouldn’t
need to take the bike in for repairs. In the back of my mind was
the concern that the crank would crack on me, throwing me to the
ground. That happened to me in college, giving me a badly scraped
face. Somebody said at the time that I looked like I’d been
beaten up.
I looked at the time, and it was time for me to head
back. I pedaled down to the Mall and wound my way to the Lincoln
Memorial, crossed the Arlington bridge and got back onto the Mount
Vernon Trail for the trip back to my car. Once I got the bike
back on the rack, I set off for the hotel, enjoying the cooling from my
air conditioning. Back onto I-66, back onto the Dulles Toll Road,
and back to my hotel for a shower. As soon as I got out of the
shower, my phone rang again. It was Sharon, asking if I’d
returned to the hotel. I had indeed, I said, and I would be over
by noon. I got there before noon, just as promised.
Our
destination was Medieval Times in Hanover, Maryland, up near
Baltimore. They’d printed out directions, but I offered to bring
along my TomTom GPS unit and let them use it. So there it sat on
their instrument panel, guiding them to our destination. It
wasn’t terribly difficult to get to, though traffic on I-95 was heavy
at times, probably from returning holiday traffic. It was part of
the Arundel Mills outlet mall, and it was easy to find once we got
close enough: the building looked like a castle. When we entered,
we learned we would be seated in the section cheering for the Black and
White Knight, one of six knights who would participate in the
action. We all received cardboard crowns colored black and white
and had a group picture taken with the “King” and “Princess”.
While we waited to be seated, we could roam around the lobby and gift
shop. Some had brought cameras, but we didn’t. I’d thought
about it but did not think they were permitted. Our phones all
had cameras, but with the low lighting, they didn’t work very
well. I fought a temptation to yell out “Bring out your dead!”
Our
dinner packages got us front row seating, so we had a closeup view of
the action. Now since this was to be a medieval themed meal, we
would be eating without utensils. No problem, though, not when
the main course was roasted chicken, a spare rib and a half of a baked
potato. It was a little more difficult with the tomato soup and
the pewter bowl and handle; very hot soup led to a very hot handle, one
that was nearly too hot to handle. For some in our party, it was
too hot to handle. Now for the action on the arena floor: the
story involved the wedding of a prince to the king’s daughter, but the
prince had been captured and held prisoner by a rival king. That
king’s representative, the Green Knight, was one of the six knights
participating in the tournament. He was our knight’s sworn enemy,
and we booed him as loudly as we could. We saw several examples
of fine horsemanship, falconry, jousting, and hand-to-hand
combat. At three or four points in the competition, the princess
presented flowers to the knights, who would then distribute them to
members of the audience. Heather received a flower, to the
displeasure of Candice. Our knight was the first eliminated in
the competition, but the story had a happy ending: prince and princess
were reunited, and they lived happily ever after.
After the
show, we went out in the mall for a bit. The girls wanted to
visit a shoe store, while the men went to Best Buy. Randy and
Brandon looked for a video game, and then we looked for computer
cables. Randy was also investigating new laptops, but he didn’t
get one today. While we were there, there was heavy rain outside,
for we could hear it on the roof. It had ended by the time we
left for home, though. At one point on the drive home, Sharon
asked me what that unusual building was straight ahead. I had to
slouch down a bit to see (I was in the second row), and then I
recognized the Mormon Temple and told her what it was.
Back at
the hotel, I picked up an order from Taco Bell (this was later in the
evening) and finished watching what I had been watching earlier.
Top
Monday
July 7
My cell phone rang at 1:30 in the morning. That was very unusual,
for I normally don’t have it turned on all of the time. I was
doing so only for my vacation so that Sharon and family could easily
reach me. What was more unusual was the phone number:
Hidden. What the heck was going on, I wondered as I answered
it. It was “The UPS Store”, asking for confirmation details about
a package pickup. I eventually told them they must have called
the wrong number. I was expecting a package delivery at home, but
that was to be by mail, not UPS. They hung up on me. In
retrospect, it may have been a phishing expedition, trying to pry a
credit-card number out of me. It wasn’t easy getting back to
sleep after that, but eventually I did.
When I was up for good,
I went to the breakfast buffet again. Now the family was going to
take a trip to Culpeper for, among other things, doctor appointments,
so I would be on my own today. First on the agenda was a longer
ride on the W&OD Trail. I didn’t think I was up to taking it
all of the way into Arlington or the District, but I thought I could
make the Beltway. Once again, I got onto the trail at mile marker
20 in Herndon and rode southeast. I rode much farther than I’d
gone before on the trail -- underneath the Dulles Toll Road and into
Vienna. At the intersection with Park Road in Vienna, there was a
park bench that looked very welcoming, and I rested there for several
minutes. I’d made it to mile marker 11 1/2, and I didn’t feel
like continuing onward, so I turned around and went back to
Herndon. It was a good ride, and at the end of it was an even
better Blizzard of the Dairy Queen variety. This would prove to
be my last ride of the trail this trip, but I hoped I would get the
chance to return.
I drove back to the hotel to cool off and to
change my shirt; I didn’t feel like wearing my bike jersey the rest of
the day. So what would I do now? First, I drove to the
Micro Center in Vienna but didn’t get anything there. By the time
I left, I was getting hungry, so I had lunch at the McDonald’s across
the parking lot. Next came a short drive to Bikes@Vienna, a store
that specialized in selling recumbent bikes and trikes. There
were some nice ‘bents there, including a well-equipped trike that was
much like mine (same manufacturer but with regular handlebars instead
of under-the-seat handlebars like mine). No, I wasn’t getting
anything here either.
As I drove down Highway 123, my phone
rang. It was Sharon; they were still in Culpeper and would have
dinner in Manassas on the way back. I wouldn’t be seeing them
today, I figured. I got onto I-66 but then exited at the next
intersection, which was US 50. Fair Oaks Mall was there, so I
went there and walked around for a bit. I was not specifically
looking for anything, and I didn’t get anything. I did see a
Texas de Brazil restaurant there, the local outpost of a churrascaria
chain which I’d been to before near Chicago. Excellent, but
expensive! They weren’t open yet for dinner, and I wasn’t in the
mood for it anyway. What I was ultimately in the mood for was
Mexican at Baja Fresh. I’d seen one close to where Sharon and
family were staying, but I was unable to locate it again. I found
another one in Reston and ended up going there. The food was
still good, but I was nonetheless irked that I couldn’t find the one I
was looking for.
Top
Tuesday
July 8
Today ended up being a lazy day. After the breakfast buffet at
the hotel -- not immediately after, just after -- I drove over to the
Barnes & Noble and the Best Buy in Reston, the ones we’d visited
last Thursday. I didn’t get anything at Best Buy, and all I got
at the Best Buy were the day’s papers. I’d been there long enough
that it was almost lunchtime. Having spotted the La Madeleine
restaurant the last time I was here, I had it in my mind to go there
today. It was a good choice, for I had a good grilled chicken
Caesar salad, a potato cake, a breadstick and some Coke Zero.
Then
I went over to see the family. Not much was going on there.
The main thing I did was to help Candice set up her new MacBook.
Her iBook no longer had working USB ports. It was also 3 1/2
years old, which meant it made more sense to replace it than to get it
repaired. And so she got what would have been a graduation gift a
year early. Fortunately for her, the Firewire port still worked
on the iBook, so I was able to put it into Target Disk Mode, which
would allow the new MacBook to copy over all of her old files, programs
and account settings. It took a while to do so, but after the end
of a few hours, everything had copied over properly. And now
there were two, sometimes three, MacBooks in the apartment. How
to tell them apart? Once they were opened, it would be pretty
easy to tell them apart, just by the wallpaper and the files on
there. Mine wouldn’t look like Heather’s, and neither of ours
would look like Candice’s.
Top
Wednesday
July 9
Today would be my last chance to get some riding in on this trip.
Would the weather permit it, though? Radar screens looked
unfavorable, and ultimately, there was some rain. It wasn’t a
gully-washer, but it was enough for me to say my riding was done.
Instead, I decided to travel to Great Falls, Virginia and the National
Park there (there’s a companion park on the Maryland side). This
was a place I’d never visited before on either side of the river.
If rain hadn’t wiped out bike riding, I might have travelled to the
Maryland park via the C&O Canal trail. But driving to the
Virginia park was fine with me.
The Virginia park contained
three scenic overlooks with slightly differing views of the falls, and
I visited each in turn, closest to farthest. The closest one was
also the most treacherous, for there were several rocks to climb over
to reach the rail. My footwear tended to slip on those rocks, and
I had not brought my walking stick. It was easily obtainable from
the car, though, and I would have gone back to get it had I needed
to. Now this vantage point was very close to the falls, and it
seemed that the whole of the railing was taken up with painters and
their easels. At the next overlook, there was a deck, so I didn’t
need to get my walking stick. This overlook was filled with
tripods and cameras with long telephoto lenses; the first overlook
wasn’t very tripod-amenable, plus the painters had beaten them to
it. The third overlook may have had the best view of all, a
square-on view of the falls with an easy glance over to the overlook on
the Maryland side. The falls were nowhere near as high as those
at Niagara, but trust me, you still wouldn’t want to go through them in
a boat. That’s why two canals were built here, one on the
Virginia side in the 1700’s (George Washington was involved in its
construction, I believe) that was eventually abandoned and the one on
the Maryland side, the C&O Canal.
I saw a tall pole with
signs with years on them; those represented the high-water marks for
floods in those years. Elsewhere in the park, there were ruins of
the old canal, its locks, and a town that had sprung up here but was
eventually abandoned. I saw some of these ruins up close on the
various trails that wound through the park. I eventually ended up
on what was known as the River Trail, a trail that got very close to
the banks of the Potomac -- which were a long way down at this
point! Many of the trees were marked with green rectangles,
pointing the way of the trail. Without those markings, I would
have been lost for sure! Even then, I went down a couple of blind
alleys, but I soon found my way back to the trail.
When I had
seen all of the park I felt like seeing, I went to the Visitor Center
and bought a guidebook on the C&O Canal, in case I came back to
visit. I had a feeling I would. Then it was back to my car,
back to the highway and eventually on to the Beltway. Now it was
nearly lunchtime, so I stopped at Tysons Corner and the food court for
a meal. After a period of indecision, I chose to get slices of
pizza from the local equivalent of Sbarro’s. It was OK -- not
great, just OK. Next came a visit to the Barnes &
Noble. I was looking for an audiobook to listen to on the drive
home tomorrow. Yes, I had the satellite radio, but I really
wanted an audiobook. Unfortunately, I didn’t find one here.
Now there was a nearby Borders, but the closest one appeared to be too
difficult to get to from where I was, so I went out to the one in
Fairfax (I’d been there before, a few years ago). There, the
selection was better -- or maybe it was better organized.
Whichever it was, I eventually found the unabridged version of Don’t Know Much About History
(19 CD’s, enough to get me home and beyond). That sounded
interesting enough to me to pick up. Then I went back to the
hotel for a while. I would have gone to the apartment, but Sharon
and family were still out.
When they got back, I went
over. Dinner that evening was at Outback Steakhouse in
Herndon. It was a bit busy, so we had to wait outside for a
bit. Brandon amused himself by running down the sidewalk of the
strip mall where the steakhouse was located. We finally were
seated, and we got down to the business of enjoying a good meal.
I got an Outback Special with some additional grilled shrimp. Not
a bad combination. Sharon and Candice split a burger; I can’t
remember what Heather or Brandon got. We all enjoyed whatever we
ate. Then it was back to the apartment. Criminal Minds was
on the TV. Candice complained about these crime shows’ tendencies
to feature young college coeds being attacked. It’s hitting too
close to home, she said, especially since she will be a young college
coed a year from now. I’d never really thought of it like that
before, probably because I never was a young college coed. The
girls got a hold of my camera and started going koo-koo with it, like
teenagers tend to do. Eventually, it got late, and it was time
for me to say my goodbyes and head back to the hotel, for I would be
leaving in the morning.
Top
Thursday
July 10
I woke up early, took a shower, finished packing and hit the road by
6:40. No breakfast buffet at Houlihan’s for me today; I was tired
of it, frankly. I got on the Dulles Greenway, which took me to
Leesburg and US 15, which took me to Frederick and then I-70. I
started off listening to an old Fred Allen Show (they’re all old these
days, frankly) on XM’s old-time-radio channel, later changing over to
the audiobook I got yesterday. I’d have that audiobook on for
most of the drive home, in fact. I stopped for breakfast at a
McDonald’s west of Frederick, then continued onward.
There was
very little dilly-dallying for me today. When I reached
Breezewood, I did not stop for another crack at the Pike2Bike
trail. No, I continued onto the Pennsylvania Turnpike and stayed
on it until it became the Ohio Turnpike. There were several
construction zones in Pennsylvania, so my progress was slowed somewhat,
but things got better in Ohio. I stopped for lunch at the first
rest area in Ohio, which turned out to be another McDonald’s.
When I left the Ohio Turnpike near Toledo, I stopped for gas at a
nearby station. I suspected (correctly, it turned out) that the
gas price here would be lower than that in my part of Detroit. I
had no problems getting through Toledo or Monroe, although traffic
began to slow on I-75 as I reached the interchange with I-275.
There was no construction on I-275 to hinder my progress as I hurried
home, and I arrived home at 5:20 PM. Time to unload the car and
unpack the suitcases; time to start the piles of laundry that needed to
be done; time to tell my relatives that I was home; time to make sure I
was ready for my cousin’s wedding on Saturday; and above all, time to
relax.
Top
Back
to Travels page
©2008 R. W. Reini.
All
rights reserved.
Written
by Roger Reini
RevisedAugust 01, 2008
|