Day 50 – Duc Pond and into D.C.

Early to bed, early to rise… If mostly just to get my laundry done before the next leg. Hopefully I can last until I get back into Canada in a week or so. Unfortunately, also woke up to the news about the Dark Knight Rising shooting in Colorado. Heavy news in the morning. My prayers go out to the families and community. It’s gonna be a rough ride dealing with the aftermath.

While waiting for my laundry, I tried to figure out my next leg. I knew I had an appointment with Duc Pond, but nothing else planned for the day. I figured I would have plenty of time to get into D.C. even if the work took all day. Looking for a hotel online, I tried to place a call to one of the cheaper places Club Quarters. But as I wasn’t being careful, the number I dialed was for Hotels.com. It was early in my search, so I tried to get off the line to get back to poking around online. My biggest concern was finding a place with parking that wouldn’t be a huge hassle and/or cost me an arm and a leg. It’s the hidden costs that get you.

Few minutes later, the sales rep called me back and gave me a discounted price, and a discounted parking price($12 instead of $15). All in all, under $300 for two nights – fees, taxes and parking included. I caved to the sales call and handed over my CC info – after all, this was going to ease all my actual concerns about staying there. An hour later, still no receipt in my email and I started to get nervous – maybe this was too good to be true – did I just get scammed? Calling back to Customer Service got my receipt sorted out – $340 for two nights, no mention of parking anywhere.

After an hour on the phone and escalating to management, all I succeeded to do was get a $30 refund. What I should have done was just cancel it entirely and just booked directly or with someone else. But it was getting late and I needed to get Mendy to the shop. Never again will I go through hotels.com.

At least the Duc Pond was a much better experience, even if the mechs there are a little bit of a tease. I rolled in and asked for my oil change, new chain and to put on the new tire I picked up the day before. They were incredibly nice and suggested that I was mistaken and that I didn’t need all that done and I could save a bit of money.

Score! But since I had planned on spending money anyway, I started to shop a bit – Comfort seat? Crash bars? New windscreen? I learned a lot, but in the end, didn’t settle on any toys. For the best, since even with the best of efforts, the chain wasn’t salvageable. The general thought was that the 530 stock chain should last up to 30K miles and I should have some life left. But after some chatting, it seems like last 13K+ miles with the load I had on it was enough to finish it off. Oh well, bit of a heart break – I would have loved to end up with accessories instead. I appreciate that they tried to save me a few bucks.

While waiting for the work to get done, I ended up chatting with a local in to replace tires on his Monster. The bikes were done around the same time and he was kind enough to guide me towards DC on some back roads. Looking back at the GPS tracks, there’s no way I would have been able to do that on my own.

But got a chance to ride past Mt Weather, the emergency center for DC. Tall fences, unmarked vehicles, plenty of security. Probably what Area 51 would have been like if I had ventured off the ET Highway and up Telegraph road. Rest of the route was small towns, farms and vineyards. Nothing special, but I suspect much, much better than my original plan of shooting along 66.

We parted ways outside Centerville and I got my first taste of DC traffic with some stoppages outside. I probably should have been a little smarter and planned the route in first, but I figured it wouldn’t be that hard to find. Oh, how wrong I was. As you can tell from the GPS tracks, checking in involved many, many circles. I had the wrong address (939 instead of 839) and missed the NW vs SW 17th. Being off by a block means the one-way system bites you hard. Especially if the first few times, you’re on the wrong street, looking for the wrong building number.

Parking was self-park, and $20. Even worse than the amount posted on hotels.com and lied to me by their rep. And not even next to the hotel. Not far, but considering how the bike is packed, still took two trips to haul what I needed to the room. Changing how I pack is definitely something I would do different next time. Mostly splitting the top roll into two and making it easier to pull apart.

Hotel room wasn’t bad. Tiny. Reminded me of hotel rooms in Europe.

After grabbing a quick shower, it was time to wander the city and find something to eat. Chowhound seemed to group options either up North and out East. So on my way up to U Street, I was struck by a feeling of familiarity. Aside from the statues:

There was still something about my walk that reminded me about something in my past.
I went up to U Street and grabbed a bite at Marvin. I had gone for the Chicken and Waffles, but got distracted by the Moule Frite – Mussels and Clams. By the time I finished that, didn’t have room for anything else. Not a cheap dinner, but very tasty. I’d go back.

On the way back to the hotel, I bumped into Ben’s Chili Bowl and figured out why things seemed familiar. Bar food…

Bars. Lots of bars. Happy hour and people drinking after work. With the draconian drinking laws back in Vancouver, it’s not something I see at home. But something I first really encountered visiting Boston and New York. Probably not places I’ll visit this trip, but still nice to relive old memories.

Plenty of construction still in D.C.