Weekend in D.C.
We left home on Thursday, the plan being to drive to Washington D.C. for a long, relaxing weekend staying with our friends Ruth and Jose.
However, after about 6 hours on the road, there was a funny smell of burnt rubber.... and we broke down at 1 a.m. on the New Jersey Turnpike.
The AAA refused to come and help us, because they said they couldn't fit more than 2 people in their tow-trucks.
We ended up towed by the emergency services to a desolate truckers 'travel station'.
After 2 hours of phone calls in their restaurant, trying to get AAA or anyone else to come and help us, we admitted defeat, and realised we needed to find a bed for the night.
The nice waitress, who had taken pity on us and had been bringing us mugs of free tea throughout, told us they have little rooms upstairs for exhausted truckers.
S went to find out more...... and was asked for her Commercial Drivers License.
How cheering to look so bad, that you are mistaken for a trucker.
Anyway, at 4 a.m. we checked into a room that smelled exactly like a British pub on a Sunday morning.
Here's the view.
The staff helped us to get the car to a local garage the next morning, but it became apparent we'd be spending most of the day waiting for it to be repaired.
A entertained herself by copying Daddy's irate phone calls from the previous evening,
and S got talking to some ZZ-Top-esque truckers (who looked a bit scary, but were all very nice, and certainly a lot nicer than the staff at the AAA) about their grandchildren, their visits to England, photos of the Queen, etc.
The waitresses all made a big fuss of A, continued to bring us free drinks, and the motel staff let us keep our stuff in the room after check-out time at no extra charge.
It really was a case of 'the kindness of strangers'.
We were back on the road by 5pm and in DC by early evening, where our lovely friends cooked us dinner and helped us recover from our unexpected detour.
Saturday morning, we got up bright and early, and spent the whole day walking around the spectacular monuments.
DC is very beautiful and fun, with lots of green open spaces, lovely cherry blossoms, and grand old buildings.
We also stumbled across a Sikh New Year party near the WWII Memorial. We knew the food would be free and available for all,
so we enjoyed a nice plate of home-made curry, which also reminded us of home.
The return journey was nearly as eventful.
We drove home through rain that turned into a massive, massive storm, much bigger than anything you'd get in Britain, with phenomenally heavy rainfall, flooded roads, lightening, and the National Guard called out......
It was very scary stuff, but nothing went wrong for us at least.
As we observed the pelting rain, we realised we were glad our clutch had burnt out on Thursday.
Overall, despite our eventful road trips, we had a very enjoyable weekend in the District of Columbia.
However, after about 6 hours on the road, there was a funny smell of burnt rubber.... and we broke down at 1 a.m. on the New Jersey Turnpike.
The AAA refused to come and help us, because they said they couldn't fit more than 2 people in their tow-trucks.
We ended up towed by the emergency services to a desolate truckers 'travel station'.
After 2 hours of phone calls in their restaurant, trying to get AAA or anyone else to come and help us, we admitted defeat, and realised we needed to find a bed for the night.
The nice waitress, who had taken pity on us and had been bringing us mugs of free tea throughout, told us they have little rooms upstairs for exhausted truckers.
S went to find out more...... and was asked for her Commercial Drivers License.
How cheering to look so bad, that you are mistaken for a trucker.
Anyway, at 4 a.m. we checked into a room that smelled exactly like a British pub on a Sunday morning.
Here's the view.
The staff helped us to get the car to a local garage the next morning, but it became apparent we'd be spending most of the day waiting for it to be repaired.
A entertained herself by copying Daddy's irate phone calls from the previous evening,
and S got talking to some ZZ-Top-esque truckers (who looked a bit scary, but were all very nice, and certainly a lot nicer than the staff at the AAA) about their grandchildren, their visits to England, photos of the Queen, etc.
The waitresses all made a big fuss of A, continued to bring us free drinks, and the motel staff let us keep our stuff in the room after check-out time at no extra charge.
It really was a case of 'the kindness of strangers'.
We were back on the road by 5pm and in DC by early evening, where our lovely friends cooked us dinner and helped us recover from our unexpected detour.
Saturday morning, we got up bright and early, and spent the whole day walking around the spectacular monuments.
DC is very beautiful and fun, with lots of green open spaces, lovely cherry blossoms, and grand old buildings.
We also stumbled across a Sikh New Year party near the WWII Memorial. We knew the food would be free and available for all,
so we enjoyed a nice plate of home-made curry, which also reminded us of home.
The return journey was nearly as eventful.
We drove home through rain that turned into a massive, massive storm, much bigger than anything you'd get in Britain, with phenomenally heavy rainfall, flooded roads, lightening, and the National Guard called out......
It was very scary stuff, but nothing went wrong for us at least.
As we observed the pelting rain, we realised we were glad our clutch had burnt out on Thursday.
Overall, despite our eventful road trips, we had a very enjoyable weekend in the District of Columbia.
posted by BS&A at 12:11 PM
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