I arrived in Washington with spirits high at the prospect of some opportunities I wanted to make the most of: WASHINGTON DC, A chance to meet up with a friend from back home also doing some traveling of her own promising a guided tour of Appalachia, and a car to stash my gear in for a couple of states! How could I pass that up? I met up with my hosts on a hot and sticky night in DC after my marathon run from Boston. I'm told the Satan's-butthole level of humidity is to be expected this time of year in a city built on a swamp. Who knew? Anyway, the Monster and I both needed some maintenance, his in the form of a wash and a copious grease job on the chain, mine in the form of wine, air conditioned rest, Game of Thrones and getting my ass handed to me at Monopoly Deal.
Humidity and roaches, that's it for the negatives. Other than that, the residential parts of town I saw were gorgeous; Brownstones dripping with wrought iron, all with little "yards" out front. You can tell the people that didn't give a shit about maintaining them. I saw one that was a ten by ten square of meticulously groomed lilies and Japanese maples with a meandering slate walkway winding through the mulch. The yard right next to that? Not a word of a lie, a square of astroturf.
The people are youngish. A slightly older, more professional demographic than the iconic urban collegetown in Cambridge I had just left. Dressed for business and a bit brusque, but not in a razzing New England "Good to see you, ya sonovabitch" way, but still no detectable malice. I didn't mind it one bit, but being immersed in that for too long doesn't sound like my kind of thing.
The touristy stuff is awesome. The Air and Space Museum is basically Mecca for me. I started to geek out before I even got through security, and when I walked out into the lobby, I turned it up to eleven. I buzzed from one exhibit to the next. 30 minutes in the lobby alone, for godsake. The Apollo 11 capsule and lunar lander, Gemini and Mercury capsules, a one-to-one scale copy of The Twins in the Mars exploration exhibit, the fucking Saturn V engine!? ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? Just awesome. It always bothered me that I had never seen a shuttle launch, but my time at the museum made me resolute in my goal to see the Space X launch this fall from Cape Canaveral. Somewhere between John Glen's flight suit and rounding the corner past Skylab to the shuttles main engine, I had one of the moments I've been seeking. I was starting to feel like the planet I've been living in for 31 years, the one I've heard so much about, is a real place. All the most heroic people and exotic places you've ever heard of, all the most beautiful poems and songs ever written, all the good deeds ever done, they all happened on this planet. And you live there! Do you not feel lucky for that?
Next up was the Natural History Museum, which was better than I expected. Quite a bit bigger too. I could have spent the whole day there. The Early Origins and Human Genome exhibits were great, but no T-Rex! WTF! I could have looked at more paleontology, but I to get back to meet my hosts for dinner and hanging out. And laundry! Thanks again guys.
The next morning I faced the next leg of my journey with my new traveling partner/Appalachian tour guide ("guides" actually if you count her four legged bodyguard). It was great to see them again and they are much more well-traveled than I, so I was happy to join up.
More to come, including the most jaw dropping beautiful views of my life, two epic rides; dubbed The Ride Through Heaven and The Ride Through Hell, AND a genuine recurring character like nobody I have ever met! I couldn't make this guy up!! Meet him next time. See you then.
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