Saturday, April 25, 2015

College Park, MD - Off and Running

Time to be on the move and we’re up early. We want to get our propane tank filled and they do it between 8 - 8:30 here. We ate breakfast, filled up and then hitched the Jeep up. Hmmm, sure enough, it’s too cold for our Even Brake to work - it likes temperatures above 45 degrees before it will wake up and work. We’ve had trouble with this for quite a while but, since we are usually in places with temperatures higher than 45, it doesn’t bother us that much. We’d replace it but it works about 95% of the time and new brakes are expensive. So, we’re off without a brake for a while.

OK, we’re off. Oh no, no donuts. And, Gary tells me, he’d like to get some fuel before we hit DC. And, that’s where Haynes Fuel Stop comes in: diesel fuel that is easy to get to and scrumptious Danish - one with cream cheese and one with strawberry. Can it get any better?

We stopped at a rest area and saw this sign, expressing an old feeling. My mother, named Virginia, loved this saying.
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OK< full propane, full diesel and full tummies. Now, we’re off - oh, yeah, the Even Brake works now so we’re got our brake on. Easy trip to the NE part of DC, a nice 4-lane divided road through green countryside with farms, small towns and some horse ranches.

Until we hit the Beltway around DC. Ummm- a bit of traffic but no more than any beltway around a big city. It’s Saturday so we don’t have all the worker-bee traffic so that’s a plus. Of course, we’ve got all the family errand traffic. We got to our campground about 1:30, got to our spot and set up. There is a nice 2-mi trail around the woods around the park and we hustle to that before the 4:00 meeting for all the Newbies on ‘getting into and out of DC using the Metro and the bus system.’

Nice trail around the outside of the park. Since the park is at the crossroads of Interstate 95 and Interstate 495, the Beltway going around DC, the trail takes us close enough to the road that we can see the cars backed up during drive time. And, we can certainly hear those truck brakes. However, at times, you can’t see the park and can’t hear the highway traffic so it is a quiet walk. Care has been taken to make the trail but now, the park is expanding - as it probably always is - and some of it is a bit obscured by construction.
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On the other hand, before you wonder if we’ll be able to sleep at night, let me assure you that it is not that loud, at least where we are staying. There might be places where the noise would keep us awake but not where we are. And, it is very handy to get to the highway if you want to drive somewhere.

The park is a very nice one, with nice level sites, a picnic table at each, a pool, a cafe, a fully stocked store with groceries, souvenirs, and RV products, and, wonder of wonders - the local bus stops here to pick up us to get to the Metro, the train into town. How handy. The campground has location, location, location and we’re paying $65 a night for this location. Whoo-eee. Much more than I like to pay. And, then, when we stay home every now and then in the RV and do laundry or bookkeeping or maintenance, we’re paying the same $65 to do those things.

Now, the meeting. All of us who arrived today, about 25 of us, are here and the leader orients us to the transportation, giving us maps, directions, times of buses and trains, and lots of information about buying tickets and using them. There was a lot of information, she spoke fast and I’m not sure about all of it but it will work out. I hope. Actually, I was in DC for 2 separate weeks back in 2008 for some work meetings (without Gary) and learned how to use the Metro just fine. So, I’m thinking we’ll be OK.

Tomorrow we put all this info to use.

‘I’ve told you a million times not to exaggerate.’

                                         Anonymous

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