From One Extreme to the Other

It’s been six months since we took a road trip. We have been very cautious since the pandemic due to our age and the general trends. The last time was at Thanksgiving to visit our family in central Virginia. So we were looking forward to spending time with them for the weekend. Our grandson just finished his first year at college and wouldn’t be around this summer so it was good timing. It’s about a three hour drive if all goes well. The time to travel is shorter now since we live in northern Virginia instead of Capitol Hill. Just getting out of the city is at least a half an hour more. What we like to see most is the total difference in surroundings - from construction zones and heavy traffic leaving and upon our return compared to the tranquility of the more rural landscape. And no where is it more obvious the further south we go - from I495 to I66 to 29S through Charlottesville and one hour more after that. The flat land, congestion and freeways turn in to rolling meadows, farmland, mountains, and tranquility. The time went by very quickly and the ride back was just there hours flat on a Monday morning. We missed rush hour and it makes a big difference. Hopefully we won’t have to wait another six months to visit. It’s like night and day in more ways than one. 

Capitol Hill Graffiti Wall

I’m not a big fan of graffiti. In fact, I really don’t like it. But sometimes the weekly 52frames photo challenge takes me to places that I normally wouldn’t go to get pictures for a particular subject matter. Two weeks ago the idea was to find some interesting walls. Old Town Alexandria hit the mark on that one. In fact the image that was submitted was picked top 52 out of 2000! But I was contemplating another photo - an interesting graffiti wall that is actually an “art gallery” of sorts. One of the support walls under the freeway in our old Capitol Hill neighborhood is very well done - because it’s not created on the stealth. The wall sits within a skateboard park. The freeway actually divides the old Capitol Hill with the new yards park neighborhood. We used to walk under it when we took walks over to the Anacostia River. The area will be one of the most, if not the most, dense populations in DC once all the high rises are done. Nationals Park was one of the first things built there. Since I didn’t use the graffiti wall image for the walls challenge, I thought I would take another photo for the “shot with a phone” challenge last week. I ended up using a Tidal Basin photo instead. Maybe one of these days there will be another call for something like this. I actually liked the photo - I just don’t care for the graffiti. 

Running Out of Gas - Literally

I never, ever drive with the tank less than half full. I have never been in a position to run out of gas - I am too practical to allow that to happen. People have made fun of me for being so paranoid about it. Our Subaru Forester also has a few readings in the dashboard that show the fuel status, as well as how many more miles one can drive until the tank empties. Driving back home on the day of my mom’s funeral in Florida, we were already in a weird state of mind. Our destination was Savannah, Georgia and we had at least thirty miles worth of gas to go - or so we thought - to reach the exit which was only a couple more miles off I-95. Without any warning or red light or anything, all of a sudden our car stopped in the middle lane right before dusk on an overpass/bridge. I’m not sure how we managed to reach the side of the road - in all the traffic - without getting hit. I had just asked my husband if we should stop for gas - at this exit - just to be on the safe side. When we looked to our right, and down the hill there was a gas station. So we put the flashers on, got out, locked the car, and slid down the muddy incline. Of course, no gas can was available to buy, and none of the customers coming in had one either. So the attendant called the gas station across the very busy street - during rush hour - and found out they had one gallon containers. So we ran for our lives across the street as the sun continued to set. We purchased the gas can and one gallon of gas, ran again across the highway, and back up the muddy hill to our car. Neither one of us could figure out how to use the darn thing - just sticking the nozzle in the slot didn’t do anything - it was splashing on us. Finally I figured out to turn the gas can and nozzle a different way, and pump the nozzle until the can emptied. We lost the cap to the can but kept the nozzle on. We started the car and got off the next exit to fill the tank. Looking back we were so fortunate that this event happened while it was still light outside, the weather was fine (no rain or snow), we didn’t get hit while miraculously pulling to the side, the gas station was within walking distance and not in the middle of no where, and we had AAA if we really needed it. I’ll be writing Subaru a letter about our experience. It just should not have happened - especially on the day of my mom’s funeral. 

Drive at Your Own Risk, Odd Signs, and No Service

Ever since a trailer got loose from it's vehicle and almost smashed in to our car on a freeway in Milwaukee, we avoid possible repeats at all cost. In front of us the other day was truck filled with junk riding alongside a red Cadillac with a small dog almost coming out of the driver side window. They deserved to be next to each other and I was glad they or we finally pulled off on an exit ramp. I love people who follow rules - that goes for the door that was ajar with a sign next to it that said it needed to remain locked at all times. A more comical twist on the rules at Splash carwash probably isn't even noticed by most people who pass by them. The last bit of wit was sent from DC services saying that a job was completed when it hadn't even started. Since we moved to DC these types of occurrences seem more pronounced. Or maybe I am just on the lookout for them more.