DC- Macedonian diplomats and traffic games

6/4

We arrived in DC with the trip odometer reading 1767 miles.

We landed in town a bit ahead of schedule, a rarity for us, and took some time to dry off and relax with a fresh cup of coffee at a Jamaican Café just around the block from our hosts’ home. These breaks are necessary for Alex and I to just catch up on life, and what’s going on apart from our hosts. Like any relationship (or motorcycle), our friendship needs regular maintenance.

Don and Angela, our hosts for the night, were a unique couple (and a ton of fun to be around). Angela is originally from Serbia and is a lawyer for an international law firm in the city. She is currently working on projects surrounding the legalities of the exchange of “virtual” currency. From what she tells me, I need to start a virtual business selling virtual motorcycles to virtual people in virtual worlds like Second Life. (Sounds crazy to me.) Don is a graphic designer for a very interesting organization called the Institute for Justice (sounds like the Justice League). They are a Libertarian organization that sues the government. Nice right. My friend Amy would like them.

Don and Angela took us out for pizza and drinks at a favorite local restaurant. They know the owner (through some connections in the Serbian/Macedonian embassy), and before long the owner was at our table joined by a Macedonian diplomat named Zorro. Zorro was a big jovial fellow who enjoyed hearing about our trip and encouraged us to continue the trip to Europe. I am seriously considering it.

Before long, our group had separated into an English speaking group (Don, Alex, and I) and another with an eastern European language I wanted to, but couldn’t, understand.

In the morning, Alex and I took the Metro to downtown and did the tourist walk trough the Mall. We returned, packed up, and left for Fredericksburg hoping to beat the traffic with a tip that had been recommended to us by a local. We must ask the wrong locals because as with most of the driving advice we have received, this one returned the usual terrible result as it took us 5 hours to drive the 60 miles to Fredericksburg.

Alex and I invented games to keep ourselves occupied in the sluggish traffic. One game in particular… the objective is to go as long as possible without touching the ground with your feet. We have developed various tactics to keep the bikes upright in slow to standstill traffic. Hopefully the acquired skills will come in handy down the road.