Transit

When in Rome, do like the Romans.

When in Washington, DC, take the transit. Trust me. You do not want to drive, or worse, park, in downtown Washington.

Transit in the city is widely available and fairly easy to navigate. It’s not nearly as complicated as all the transit maps make it seem. Even I could figure it out. And there is a reloadable payment card that you can use both on the subway and on the bus so you don’t need to carry cash.

From where we were camped, we would walk down this lovely wooded path to the road bordering the park and would catch a bus to the metro. It was only a 5 minute ride, and we were greeted by a very friendly fellow passing out free newspapers. What’s not to like?

A half hour ride on the subway got us right downtown to the National Mall where all the museums are. We took that particular route several times.

Our starting point on the metro system was in the north, in Maryland. There are actually 5 different metro routes that crisscross through DC .The longest transit trip we took was to the farthest western outskirts. It was to see the off-site portion of the Air & Space Museum located in Chantilly, Virginia. The jaunt south on our local line and the transfer to the end of the west line got us as far as Reston, Virginia. 

That part of the trip took one and a half hours. The bus that took us the rest of the way was almost an hour itself! It severely cut down on our museum time, because we knew that the return trip would be just as long. 

But we got to see some awesome flying machines in that place. It was huge! Big enough to hold the Discovery space shuttle, an Air France Concorde supersonic jet, the Enola Gay fighter, and hundreds of other fliers: helicopters, gliders, and everything in between.

Speaking of high fliers, some commuters in the capital city of the United States are a little more elitist than others. While walking through the cherry blossoms near the tidal basin downtown, multiple helicopters buzzed overhead, back and forth.

We were in the wrong area to see if any of them originated from the White House.

No matter how happy we are with taking transit, there are some places that it’s just not worth it. We drove to the National Arboretum because it only took 10 minutes compared to the hour long subway to bus transfer we would have had to incur. And parking there was free and plentiful. It may have been because not a lot of the flowers are in bloom yet, but that was okay by us. We still saw dogwood trees and lovely azaleas in full colour.

We would have gone there just for the bonsai trees. There was one that was greater than 400 years old.

The one I’ve shown is a youngster at only 150 years old. It is a Japanese Cypress tree and stands about a foot and a half tall.

Our last transit trip to Washington was to watch the Cherry Blossom Parade. It was a chilly 6C with a breeze that played havoc with the big floating balloons.

It wasn’t a particularly big parade, in number of participants, but it took 2 hours. They scheduled long breaks between each section of 3 displays; usually a band, a group of dancers, and a float or big balloon. Then another 3 or 4 minute break. It must have been hard on the kids watching. A lot of them dressed up in cherry blossom head bands for the event.

We just dressed in warm layers.

Our next commute will be to Ontario.

Look out Canada, we’re already in transit.

W

Dry Camping in DC

First, I will explain dry camping.

Dry camping means the only electricity you have in your RV is supplied by the battery, and the only water you have is stored on-board in a 50 gallon tank. There are no electrical plug-ins, and no water hoses.

And it is an adjustment.

Our typical setup routine involves plugging in and then notifying our family of where we are parked (‘cuz you guys are important) and lastly, turning on the radio while we pop open the beer and wine.

Except when we dry camp, we don’t have a radio. Or a single serve coffee maker, or TV, or toaster…. You get the idea. Anything that requires 120 voltage doesn’t work. Unfortunately, electric appliances are habit forming. And it usually takes a minute after you decide to take out the vaccuum cleaner that you realize, "oh, I can't use this right now....  Guess I can't clean after all. What a shame."
Obviously I find it more of a hardship to be without the radio.

Thank goodness cork screws are manual.

Essentials work – the lights, stove, fridge, and water pump all run on battery power. But we have to keep our eye on the voltage of the battery. If it gets low, we may need to boost it with a half hour or so of using our noisy generator.

By dry camping occasionally, we find that we get back to basics. We tend to have campfires more often, as it becomes our evening entertainment. Books are opened more often as well.

And hubby uses his old fashioned coffee percolator in the morning. It reminds us of what camping is supposed to be. And even if it is not our usual lifestyle, it’s still something we enjoy.

Dry camping in Washington, DC could mean parking overnight on a city street, and getting a huge ticket, or in our case, finding a campground near the city where you don't have to pay exorbitant camping fees.

We were pleased to find a National Park campground within the metro and transit boundaries of Washington, DC. It is not well known among RVers, probably because it is only dry or tent camping. But it put us up in a lovely forested area where we were greeted by deer and cardinals, and only a few other campers.

From our campsite, there is a path through the woods that directs us to the local Metro station. It’s a walking distance of 15 minutes in the woods and then a bus ride. 

Of course, put my hubby in the woods for even a few minutes, and he always brings something home. 

Anyone who knows him will ask, “is that for a hiking stick, or a campfire?”

It was for a campfire. Relaxing in the quiet crackle of campfire flames is the best way to end a day filled with noisy children running through museums and with pushing our way onto subway trains.

But noisy school children and groups of tourists are to be expected when we choose to visit DC in the spring. School break and the cherry blossoms happen at the same time, and that also tends to be when we are on our way north.

We find that it is worth putting up with the crowds to enjoy the beautiful blossoms reflected on the water of the tidal basin. 

And we can’t beat the free entrance to the museums of the Smithsonian in Washington.

It is the reason we stop by this way. And now that we have found affordable dry camping within the metro city area, we will probably stop again to see the difference it makes if we come in the fall.

W