Washington D.C.
Wednesday 18th July, 2001
Packed and said goodbye to Tracy and her husband Jim. Departed Griggstown and onto Highway 95.
Crossed the Delaware River into Pennsylvania and breakfast at McDonalds, Langhorne.
Through Philadelphia, saw the stadium. Into Delaware and an hour and a half later into Maryland. Through the Fort McHenry Tunnel at Baltimore.
Onto a Days Inn (our first) in Washington DC. Settled in and went for lunch at the Hawk and Dove and met Michelle, a friend of Jims, who is from Alaska and a lobbyist for an Eskimo group.
After lunch went to Michelle's office where Gary checked his email.
Then to Union Station and checked out the shops. Then drive through very heavy traffic seeing some sites as we go including the White House.
Back to hotel and crash.
Thursday 19th July, 2001
Once again we are up early and take the hotel shuttle bus to Union Station. Caught a Tourlink Pass and went to National Museum of American History - then walked to Holocaust Museum.
Onto the Lincoln Memorial. Great spot with the Korean Memorial, Vietnam Memorial and the reflecting pool.
Took a tram to Arlington and saw JFK and RFK gravesites.
Tram to White House. Walked to Metro Centre and took Metro Subway to L'Enfant Plaza. Spent time at the National Air and Space Museum part of the Smithsonian. Amazing display including the Apollo 11 Command Module, The Spirit of St Louis, the original Wright Brothers flyer and much, much more. Interesting place.
We started to walk back to Union Station but we were all very tired and Jim hailed a cab which took us back to the hotel.
After an hours 'down time' we went to Tyson’s Corner and had dinner at Clyde’s, we were to meet another friends of Jim but she didn't turn up. This was where Gary tried out the cheese platter and found a cheese so disgusting he had to spit it out - more laughter.
Good day. They all are and Jim and Bette are great people.
Friday 20th July, 2001
Up early - again. Packed the car and checked out of the hotel. McDonalds for breakfast and on the road at 9:10am. Took the Beltway 495 and Virginia 7 to Tyson’s Corner Mall. Here Rayls bought a Build a Bear which became our signing bear for the trip. Gary bought a Harry Chapin CD.
On Road 7 West, into Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and at 12:20pm we arrived at Harpers Ferry. Very scenic spot with lots of stores. Spent an hour there and then hit the road again.
5 minutes from Harpers Ferry we came across a Wal-Mart - our first on the trip - it won't be our last.
Headed towards Richmond and somewhere along the way we decided that instead of stopping somewhere on the road for the night we would just keep going till we got to Jim and Bette's house in Prosperity, South Carolina. Long way to go.
At Richmond we had dinner with Richard Campbell at a Crackerbarrel Restaurant. Richard is an expert on Mama Cass and the Mamas and Papas and he and Gary had met on the internet because of Gary's Scott McKenzie web site. Pleasant dinner.
We then across the state of North Carolina - I think we all slept for most it and into South Carolina arriving at Jim and Bette's house at 2:00am.