Road Trip EastSide Wk2

Thurday Night Aug. 23
--- The Kin Concert was awesome . Great Music and Great guys.
--- Bad traffic though out of Philly, didn’t get to Wash DC after picking up Jake until 2:30am. Slept with 8 guys in a small one room apartment home.

Friday Aug 24
--- Left for Shenandoah National Park in the morning after some grocery shopping.
--- Set up camp (my tent was really big and tricky to set up) and relaxed.

Saturday Aug. 25
--- Hiked around to some water falls and bathed in some water holes.
--- Thunder storm in the afternoon makes us retreat into our tents and take a nap.
--- I went to get ice at night and didn’t know exactly where I was going and walked to the camp store which is over a mile away and they didn’t have ice but I got some beer, which took awhile to purchase because the electricity went out 5 times cause of a storm overhead so the computers didn't work. Then I hiked back to the camping area with a headache starting and found the ice place, but that just closed before I got there (the girl was still counting the money) Then I was told that the lodge about a 1/3 mile away had ice. I started walking that direction with the 6pack in my hands and headache getting a little worse. I asked some people at the lodges where the ice was and they were very helpful. They gave my a roll of clear plastic trash bags and one of the men bought me to the ice machine (FREE! A lot better than $3 a bag). This ice search is all worth it now that I found free ice! So I double up the bags and fill 3 bags of ice ($9 savings). I now need to walk back to the camp site with 3 bags of ice and a 6pack of beer, and it is now dark out. I start walking with the load and a headache and need to make multiple stops because of loosing grip and headaches. About half way back (I think) one of the bags tares open and I lose most of the ice, then I grab two new bags and try to pick up the ice off the ground and put it in the new bag. Then I continue trying to find the campsite and cant really see much in the dark. I try walking down what I think is a path and it ends up going right through someone else’s site and the old couple gets really mad at me for walking through there site. Sorry, I am kind of lost. Then after I walk a little bit further I stop at in the middle of the road and someone asks if they can help me. I say I think I am almost where I am suppose to be. A couple of sites further down I am back to the site about 2 ½ to 3 hours later. The rest of the group is eating and says they have been discussing when to send out a search team for me, it was going to be really soon.
--- Another storm starts up and we retreat to our tents again and keep hoping our tents hold out the rain enough. I fall asleep and it rains most of the night.

Sunday Aug. 26
--- In the morning I saw that some of the guys in my tent retreated further to there vehicle. And I found a big puddle in the screened area of my tent - the floor holds water well ☺
--- Throughout the week I am reading The Last Word And The Word After That by Brian Mclaren. It is the 3rd in the series and they are walking through DC in this part of the book. And I am like sweet I will get to see what they are talking about in a day or two. It is also just a life-changing book.
--- We ate and then made are way to Hawksbill trail to hike to the highest peak in the park.
--- We returned after a stop at the store and then a stop to get more free ice. Then we started getting food ready.
--- Some people packed up and to return to Wash DC that night.
--- The rest of us had a great time at the campfire. Some went to introduce themselves to the English girls at the site next to us. They were talking with them for a long time while I had fun being a pyro with the fire. It was pretty dark and I noticed this white thing moving on the other side of the campfire. Joel said he thinks it is a skunk and it walks literally 5 feet next to me and I still couldn’t tell what it was. I quick look for a flashlight and found a lantern on the picnic table. But I couldn’t get it lit but Joel did and the skunk was by our food box very close to us. Then when we got the light on it the skunk decided to run off. We kept the lantern on now though.
--- We walked over to the English girls site to check on our guys and then went to bed shortly after that in my hammock because it was an absolutely perfect night..

Monday Aug .27
--- Woke up to deer and wild turky’s and went for a walk and saw a paragon falcon (I think) land in a tree about 10 yards in front on me. Went back to camp, had amazing corona pancakes. Packed up, cleaned up, and headed out.
--- Traveled to Washington DC made a couple loops around the city because I couldn’t find the right road to the Hotel. Found the hotel and unloaded the car, then I headed to the Union Station to park my car with Jason Wyenberg.
--- When I finally made it to the Union Station I went up the ramp passing all of the taxies and I was looking for which section I needed to turn into. Then a police siren and lights startled me on my right. I slowed down and stopped and I heard over the fussy sounding mega phone “pull forward” so I pulled forward and was looking for a good place to stop, which is difficult on a ramp.
Then after I pulled around a corner I heard (I think) “pull the car over… stop the car” the police officer gets out of car quickly with his hand on his gun and yelling something like “put your hands in the air” and “turn your car off” and he said “you made this a lot worse than it had to be”, while still yelling at full alert.
I was thinking in my head like on the Anchor Man “I Don’t Know What We Are Yelling About” but I was shaking and very nervous by the officers intimidating posture. I asked with my hands in the air “what did I do?” And I was looking for more direction from him.
“You made this worse than it had to be” Still yelling… “Give me your license, registration, and proof of insurance”… “I want your I.D. as well” directing his voice to Jason now.
“What did I do officer?”
“You ran a stop sign back there” (note this is on a parking lot ramp) “and were driving away from me… blah blah blah”
After giving him my papers and returning my hands to the air and, yes, still shaking with my heart racing, I told him “I didn’t she a stop sign.”
“You didn’t see the extra large stop sign on the post and stop written on the pavement? ... blah blah blah”
“No I didn’t, I was looking for where I needed to turn and park” (I looked later and he was right, there was what he said, but there was also many other signs I was reading that were all around it)
“What am I suppose to think when someone is driving away from me, I was thinking I had a car chase on my hands… blah blah blah” (“In a parking garage?!?” I was thinking)
“I tried to follow every direction you gave” still with my heart racing and hands rose.
“You can put your hands down… There are a lot of unmarked police cars in DC you need to follow our direction… blah blah blah… I am going to let you off with a warning today.”
“Thank you very much” my heart is still racing and was racing after I parked and raced for a couple of blocks down the street.
--- Made it to my room and relaxed I needed it.
--- Went to dinner with everyone at a Irish place down the street. And Donald Roth walked past randomly as we ate outside. He just moved here a couple days ago that none of us know he was here.
--- Went for a walk with Donald and others through the mall and by Washington Monument, WWII Memorial, Reflection Pool, and my favorite of the night the Lincoln Memorial. And returned back to hotel.

Tuesday Aug. 28
--- Awesome breakfast buffet at the hotel after waking up late.
--- Took the metro to Holocaust museum, which was very powerful. The first picture I saw touched me.
--- Went to National Forestry Serveces.
--- Went to the National Air and Space Museum.
--- Metro to the White House and walked around it and being temped to have more police being on full alert at me.
--- Ate at Potbelly’s and then took the Metro to Arlington Cemetery. It was closed though a half hour earlier. Then we returned back to hotel.

Wednesday Aug. 29
--- Woke up late, packed and got the car. Drove to Cody’s apartment and unloaded there and parked around there.
--- Went to National Geographic and got a private tour of the Crittercam office and met the man who came up with the idea. This is a pretty sweet thing. We got in because Dan’s cousin Eric is an engineer on the crittercam’s.
--- Went to the National Cathedral, which was also pretty sweet. But there was no choir at the service, like we thought there would be.
--- Back to Arlington Cemetery about 15mins before it closed at 7pm. But the security guards said we could not go in because his shirt said security on it. He was a cool guy but that was frustrating.
--- Went to Pentagon and then returned back to Cody’s apartment to order pizza and do nothing else.

Thursday Aug. 30
--- heading to Arlington Cemetery for the 3rd time.
--- visit the archines to try to find my grandpa's name
--- heading to NYC