Decided to spend Thanksgiving with daughter and her fairly new husband down in DC. I drove just to avoid giving TSA a chance to hassle me at the airport. Had a fine holiday, fine turkey dinner, good time.
Daughter owns a house in Washington NE, not far from H St. The H St trolley project is still sucking taxpayer money after five years. They have the track laid, the over head wire strung, and the trolley cars running, empty. After five profitable years for the contractors, they still won't carry passengers, they just run empty trolleys up and down H St.
The neighbor hood is mostly black. I was impressed with how nice the neighbors were, friendly, cheerful, helpful, really nice. Perhaps DC is far enough south that the southern charm is still alive.
The car, new to me, even if it is a 2003 Buick, ran like a top all the way down and back. Burned maybe a half a qt of oil, got 26-27 mpg. Lot of trucks hauling lots of product over the road. Even if some of 'em are empties, they wouldn't be on the road unless they were headed somewhere to pick up a load. So even with Great Depression 2.0 still on, a lotta product is being made, then shipped, and paid for. The truckers and the bus drivers are still polite and professional. They stay in lane, they signal, they drive straight, good safe drivers. I took the scenic route on the way down, crossed the Hudson on the Newburg bridge (60 miles north of Manhattan) then took old US 202 at Flemington NJ for West Chester PA. Avoided a pile of tolls. It's scenic and maybe a couple of hours longer. On the way back I took the toll route, I95, Delaware Mem. Bridge, I290, Jersey Pike, GW Bridge. Managed to get off the GW Bridge onto the Henry Hudson Parkway up the west side of Manhattan, nice views of the Hudson. Picked up the Cross County Parkway to the Hutchinson River Parkway to the Merritt Parkway, to the Wilbur Cross Parkway, all the way to I91. made the whole trip, including a quick stop at Mac's Market in Franconia in 9 1/2 hours.
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