Today’s Starting Mileage: 113,757

 

Today was a relatively busy day for an older, high mileage car.  I started out at about 1:00 AM running out to Leesburg to my editor’s house for a quick consult about his restaurant review website.  I returned home at about 4:00 AM to continue working on packing for my move.  In case you wonder, the 24 hour McDonalds location in Leesburg, Virginia starts serving Breakfast at 4:00 AM sharp.  If you want French fries at 4:01, you are out of luck.

I slipped over to the Target store near my house to get some more tape at 7:40 AM.  Target opens at 8:00.  I had to kill about 10 minutes before the store opened.

I had a lunch meeting in Reston, Virginia at 11:00 AM, followed by another meeting in Alexandria, Virginia at 2:30.  The person I was supposed to meet with in Alexandria was late.  Two hours late.  I had to spend $9.00 to park in some underground parking lot who wouldn’t take a card.  I had to drive around to find an ATM machine because the attendant would not let me leave the car while I was looking for cash. 

After the meeting, I was supposed to go to a campaign event, but since the meeting ended up finishing at 5:00 (2.5 hours behind schedule), and the political event started at 4:00, I had to skip out on that.  After listening to WTOP Radio’s afternoon traffic reporter I decided that  rather than sitting for hours in Washington DC Beltway traffic, I should take the scenic route home on the George Washington Parkway and Georgetown Pike with a short stop at Gravelly Point to watch the planes land (Pictured). 

Gravelly Point is one of my favorite places to go in the Washington DC Metro area.  Planes landing at Washington’s Regan National Airport fly merely meters above your head as they touch down.   Not all of them get it in one try either.  One Delta MD-80 in particular had to go around four times before finally settling in. 

After leaving Gravelly Point, I drove north on the GW Parkway to the Capital Beltway, continued one exit south to 193/Georgetown Pike, and followed that west all the way to Hwy 7.  The weather today was perfect for open-sunroof, wind in your face driving.  I briefly considered another pit stop at Great Falls National Park in Great Falls, Virginia but realized at that point it was 7:00 PM, my energy level was fading fast, and I had a review deadline to meet. 

I arrived back in my parking lot at 7:23 PM.

Today’s ending Mileage: 113,873

Total Miles: 116

Total Vehicle Related Expenses: $9.00