Washington DC & Family: This was our third venture, since retirement, to this giant metropolis of people, autos, and many monuments. And the beltway drive with the big rig is still just as bad. Too many vehicles driving too fast. Just a bad recipe when you mix in the slower to stop vehicles like me. But, after a long driving day we arrived safely and had a great week with our son’s family. Our Eastbound journey is now over! From Alpine Wyoming (our westernmost spot this summer) it is 2,100 miles!
The Drive
Folks, this was a difficult drive for several reasons. I’ll try to be brief. The drive from Washington Pennsylvania to DC is 250 miles, so we planned a stop at about the 150 mile mark. We only like to relocate about 150 miles. So what happened? Well, we were talking about the challenging drive into DC the next day on a Monday. Wouldn’t it be better on a Sunday afternoon? So, we just decided on the fly to skip our overnight stop in Hagerstown, MD. The plan was to stretch a bit, drive 250, and arrive on Sunday.
Leaving early, for us anyway, at 8:30am, we took I-79 south to Morgantown WV that was mostly fine. From there it was I-68 east and it began pouring down rain. In addition, I-68 includes 100 miles of straight up and then back down hills as we crossed the Allegheny mountain range. The F-350 was in constant downshift to 5th to climb and then I downshifted to 4th with the engine brake on the downside. That was some roller coaster!
I-68 includes a 13 mile stretch of 6% declines. That helps the mpg, but I have to watch the speed as there are many 45 mph curves at the bottom of the mountains. I tell you this stretch of road was more work than the Rockies out west.
Onto I-270 near DC and the traffic backs up to a slow crawl for about 20 miles. Of course, we saw the stereotypical DC driver try to exit right from 5 lanes to the left crossing heavy traffic. He/she almost made it except for a rough landing after getting launched by a curb or something. I think this must pass for entertainment on the daily commutes.
Once we hit the beltway (I-495), it was very busy, but moving nicely. We arrived at the lovely Cherry Hill Park at about 4pm. I guess that was not too brief.
Cherry Hill RV Park
This is an expensive park at $77 a night for a regular large back in space. No discount for staying a week. It does have many nice amenities if you have time. We’ve now stayed here three times.
Family Visits
Our oldest son Bryan, his wife Jennifer and her mother Linda live and work in the DC area. They are used to the traffic and even occasionally rent scooters to zip around. Pat and I just used the Metro and Uber. No scooter for me in this traffic.
Our son Ross drove over to DC for the weekend to hang out with us. It was great to see him after such a long time away.
We had a great time hanging out at their new home, meeting for dinner, and even attending a brewfest. The beerfest had a few thousand people attending and two stages with bands. Very nice time, although some lines were long and it was a loud atmosphere. Getting old, I guess.
Bryan & Jenn’s New Home
Homes in the DC metro area are incredibly high priced. All the land was built out back in the 20’s or 30’s, so now as the older houses are nicely remodeled the neighborhoods become very attractive to the working population in DC.
Bryan’s area used to be part of town that you could not safely visit. But over time and many improvements, the neighborhood is now well done with many remodeled homes.
Congratulations guys on the new home! It is beautiful.
Thanks for following along! Take care and God Bless.
Always nice to see family. Glad you got there to do so.
Travel safe.
Robert
Having family all over the country is great for RV travels!