Greetings from our nation’s capitol. I’d almost bet some of you wondered what happened to us yesterday since I didn’t post anything. Well, the trip here from New Jersey wasn’t an eventful one and the weather got increasingly crappy on our journey south.

When we left Beach Haven it was overcast deluxe and it had rained so much during the night that almost every intersection along Long Beach Blvd was flooded. That was what we thought until we got to intersections where all the really elaborate houses lived. There were drains on every corner unlike the flooded ones where there didn’t appear to be any. This led us to believe that the unfolded corners is where the permanent residents live. The flooded corners are where all the rentals are that are now abandoned for the season. It makes sense.

It even flooded the access to the Wawa Market. Point of interest … there are lots of Wawa Markets on the island. Kind of like all those Waffle Houses that line the Gulf Coast. We learned from Tom, our bus driver, that Wawa is an Indian word for geese which accounts for the logo also depicting a picture of a goose. Very graphic, don’t you think?

The roads we traversed getting to I-95 were surrounded by dense pine forests, the kind I’ve read about in some of my books where the bodies are buried because no one will ever find them. I’m guessing that’s true.

Finally, we came upon the Delaware Memorial Bridge that defines our exit from New Jersey and a brief foray into Delaware at the very tippy top of the state, then hopped the border into Maryland shortly thereafter.

As the sign indicates, we made a flyby of Baltimore. Newark is on the sign, too, but we never saw it. I think the road crew had some paint left over and added it just for fun. No, actually, Newark, NJ is just west of NYC so after this sign we had to choose between a left or right turn. Thankfully, Diane chose left and continued south.

We made it to our destination with no incidents and got checked into our room. On the top floor. And there is no elevator in the building. We’re in the Navy Lodge located on JBAB (Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling) that used to be Bolling AFB. Our GPS took us to a blocked road that was overgrown with weeds and stuff and we could see our destination through the fence. But, we had to back track and enter through the only gate available to us.

Getting onto the base was simple – we just had to show our government issued military IDs and the guard waved us through, wishing us a Good Day. Thankfully there were signs all over the place leading us to the Navy Lodge because left to our own devices we may have wandered around the base for days without finding it. Turns out it’s at the extreme southern end of the base surrounded by military housing. It’s as if the who decided where to put the facility wanted it located in a difficult place to find so that folks would be unlikely to return. But, the room we were given is just great. Soft beds, a kitchen, and a really nice TV. It looks as if it’s been recently refurbished as the innards look pretty new. We’re happy.

By the time we got checked in, and I hurked all of the suitcases to the top floor it must have been around 4-ish. We were hungry because the only thing we had to eat all day was a cinnamon roll and two cups of coffee before we left Beach Haven, and some pieces of trail mix that I found imbedded in the car mats. So, we ventured forth and stumbled across a Subway sandwich shop where we bartered for a ham and cheese sandwich which we took back to our room, thanks to all those Navy Lodge signs, and had our dinner. After that we kinda fell asleep.

Now all we need to do is find our way to the closest gate that will allow us access to DC Metro. I’ve already done the research and know the Metro stops.

Today will be one of discovery as we drive around looking for a place to park outside the base. I’ll let you know how that goes.

Cheers.