Riding the Rails

Yesterday I took a test spin on the Metro trains and buses. I took a bus to the Metro station, paid my fare, boarded the train and got off at the Archives building. I walked two blocks and got on the DC Circulator, a bus that traces a figure 8 route through the heart of DC and includes stops at most of the monuments. I got off at the Lincoln memorial and spent a few minutes there before walking over to see the Vietnam Memorial. Seeing the wall this time wasn’t near as upsetting as it was the first time, back in 1978. Still, it was impossible to keep tears out of my eyes. After paying respects to my fallen brothers I walked over to the Korean War Memorial, life-size sculptures of men on patrol in Korea. It looked very realistic.

The rains came and I made it back to the bus stop, boarded the next bus that came alone, and rode it back to my starting point. While walking back to the Metro station I spotted a food truck and stopped for a quick lunch. A chili-cheese dog and a Coke. It was really very good. Once back at the Metro station I waited for the next train to College Park, boarded, and rode two stops before realizing that I was traveling in the opposite direction of College Park. I simply got off, stepped across to the other side of the platform and caught the next train (in the correct direction). After arriving at the College Park station I waited for the bus back to the RV park. We are lucky to have a bus stop that is located just inside the park.

In about an hour Carol Ann and I will take the truck and drive to the College Park Metro station. A 10-minute drive as opposed to a 25-minute bus ride and parking is free. We will take the Green line into the city, transfer to the Yellow line, and travel to Reagan National Airport to meet two friends of Carol Ann’s who will be staying with us for five days (in one of the parks nice cabins, not in our RV!). We will be packing in as much as we can while they are here and then having a couple of days of rest before beginning the trek back to Texas. I really do dread having to get back on those freeways!