Road block

Oye, what a day.

We were in our car, along with all the other people in their cars headed into D.C. to work, bright and early. The cheapest parking I could find was in a garage near Union Station. I parked and then we went into a stairwell that said it would open on the street. Uh. No. It didn't open ANYWHERE. All the doors closed and locked behind us. We were stuck like lab rats in a stairwell. It was a bit freaky, and then a guy came out of one of the doors and I pounced on him. He was SO UNSURE of what to do (seriously, no one has ever been trapped in the freaky stair well before this?) and he kept looking over his shoulder like I was going to jump him.

What the hell. He finally found a door he felt comfortable letting us in -- and I happened to glance at the ID around his neck. Siemens. Ahh yes, super duper confidential government work. Where suburban moms and their teenage sons come to spy.

The door we were let out of was creepy scary. A bunch of people hanging by it smoking, all a bit leering and wondering what the hell we were doing. Getting the hell out of dodge!

So we were sitting on Capitol Hill by 8:30, and I was humming "I'm just a bill, yes I'm only a bill, and I am sitting here on Capital Hill." But back in the School House Rock days, there weren't secret service agents with AK rifles (that is what Charlie said they were, all I know is they were scary guns) and all of these chains and fences keeping you from getting near anything. I didn't like it.

Not one bit.

In fact, the entire time we were there, despite pristine blue skies and the sun shining down, I felt uneasy. There was a rally forming in one of the parks, and Charlie and I skirted it to check it out. It was about the health care bill and it was very anti-Obama. A young man and woman in their early 20's were approaching people and handing out a piece of paper that would buy them a free meal in return for their lesson on how to become an effective activist. The young man approached me and asked me if I would like to join their conservative effort ... and I stopped him and said that he lost me at conservative. The cop on a bike nearby chuckled but then gave me a good once-over look.

Seriously.

There is no joy in Washington, D.C. It's not a place I felt I needed to be.

After we went to the Air and Space museum, which Charlie loved, I was happy to get the heck out of dodge.

My intent was to hit the highway and get a few hours in so that the ride tomorrow wouldn't be so long. We left around 2:00 and proceeded to drive for four hours. Not because that was my intent, but because the next thing I knew I was headed into NYC at rush hour and did not want to pay a fortune to stay in a city I didn't want to be in! So we kept going. And going and going, because suddenly I was not in a get-off-the-highway-easily friendly area. Geesh.

I was getting weary and the traffic was getting worse. Then it was getting really bad, and so I pulled off the next exit and into the parking lot of the first hotel. It seemed like a huge party was going on, there were tons of people in the parking lot and so crowded. I went in and they said they had no rooms.

Seriously?

So then I went to a ginormous Marriott further down the road, and THEY had no rooms. What was going on, I asked the clerk behind the desk, and he explained that no one in the area had any power. All rooms had been taken since Saturday.

Seriously?

I mean, there was a slight clue. On the highway we had passed close to 50 power trucks from Georgia. But I was so tired!

We got the last room at a Holiday Inn (in Stamford, Ct.) and the long day came crashing down around me. I poured myself a glass of wine (a staple when traveling) and decided that room service was in order because I didn't think I could walk downstairs! We had walked all over the city -- once we considered getting a cab, but it was such a nice day! Couple that with sitting in a car NONSTOP for five hours, and, well, it can catch up.

I was caught.

So tomorrow my month-long oddessy will be done. I will miss it.