To Hilltop Hostel

By Ben |

I tried to sleep in after staying out late last night, but I'm so used to waking up at dawn I couldn't help myself.  I packed up and left Gallaudet for All Souls Church, riding through the neighborhood Marisa had warned me against last night, and I have to admit it looked pretty questionable in the daytime, too.

Gallaudet

By Ben |

Today's weather was just miserable: cold and rainy and windy.  I stayed indoors as long as I could stand to -- Marisa let me use her computer while she was in a study group all afternoon -- but then I insisted on going out.

Marisa thought I was crazy, not only because of the weather, but because the neighborhood is considered to be very unsafe.  I figured I had seen worse weather and worse neighborhoods, but I didn't make it off campus.  By the time I got back to the dorm, my pants and shoes were soaked with shockingly cold water.

To Washington DC

By Ben |

I only had to ride about 2 miles on the highway today; near Mount Vernon I picked up a bike trail that parallels the Potomac River all the way into town.  I stopped at a place called Gravelly Point for a first view of the Washington skyline, and I wound up watching a mother trying in vain to get her son as interested in the airplanes at Reagan National Airport as she was.

Through Richmond

By Ben |

The storm clouds continued to glide overhead all night, but today was dry, and the sky cleared beautifully in the afternoon.  I took time to repack my troublesome bearings this morning -- caught them before they rusted this time.

I rode right through the middle of Richmond, Virginia, because I couldn't find a good way to go around it.  I probably should have given the town more than a passing glance, but I didn't know where to start.

To Emporia, VA

By Ben |

Today was gray and sunless, but aside from a little drizzle it stayed dry.  As I rode through Roanoke Rapids, NC, a man and two boys rode alongside me on their bicycles.  They asked me where I was going and where I'd been about 5 times before they were willing to believe my answers.  They had more trouble believing I was bicycling to DC than that I had already ridden thousands of miles... it's the Florida Effect all over again: DC is Far Far Away.