Mr. Reeves Goes To Washington

Yep, that's right. I visited Washington this week and have officially joined the Presidential race. I'm running on the GDI ticket. Heck, the competition doesn't look unbeatable. I have my cabinet ready to go as my group of friends are qualified as any. My vice-president would be Jim M. as I need an idea guy and Jim has a million of them. My legal staff/spin doctor would be Champ. Press Secretary would be Al C. as the press can be vicious and you can't get mad at Al. Chief Adviser would be government teacher Brian D. as nobody can talk politics better as I'll need some help with the Senate. The Secretary of Defense would be formal Naval man Hank G. The Secretary of Education would be teacher Shelley G. as she will not let this country turn into characters like in the movie Idiocracy (good movie). Dirt Girl Laura O. would make an outstanding Secretary of Agriculture. For my Secret Service, we have Buddy D., Gus and Tommy M. A solid line there for protection. I even stopped by the Watergate (pic below) just so I could get used to that area for future elections (ha). The door man there I assume has had too many people ask to take their picture as he denied my request. 

Seriously though, it was my first time to the nation's capitol and seeing all these landmarks in person gets the old ticker pumping a few extra clicks. I was seriously hyperventilating there a bit when I first pedaled (great bicycle town) up to the Washington Monument and over to the Lincoln Memorial along the Reflecting Pool. Makes you feel pretty proud and fortunate to have been born in this great country, flaws and all. 

As noted, D.C. is a great bicycle town. My hotel was less than a mile north of the White House so as Bob Seger says, "I could go east, I could go west, it was all up to me to decide..." I went everywhere. The pedaling through pedestrian and vehicle traffic reminded me of doing the same in New York City back in 1988. Some roads had dedicated bicycle lanes but even with those, you had to beware as folks in D.C. are aggressive in their pursuits to their cushy government jobs. Rightfully so as I would go bonkers having to drive in that traffic every day. They have a nice mass transit system via rail, however, it was shut down on Wednesday which made for an interesting day to leave town. We'll get to that in a bit. 

While pedaling Monday morning, I got to witness someone of importance in the royal family having to get something done outside the White House as 15 or so important looking vehicles came barreling out of the side gate while police stopped traffic. I was right in front of it all. I could just picture the secret service guys talking in their walkie-talkies, "heads up for the big headed kid on the bicycle." Those are some bad looking dudes with some bad looking dogs in tow so this big headed kid wasn't going anywhere.

I went by Ford's Theatre where Lincoln was shot and for such a horrible occurrence, it is kind of sad how the locals around the place are attempting to make a buck off of it. Across from the Theatre you can pay to go in the house where Lincoln actually passed. And next door to that you can have a delicious breakfast at...Lincoln's Waffles. 

I'm not a big museum guy but the Smithsonian is the "Smithsonian of museums" if that makes sense so I checked out the American History building. Some good stuff in there. My favorite was the file cabinet that the Nixon "plumbers" broke into that eventually led to the Watergate failure. Those morons beat the crap out of the that thing. My favorite museum was one that a local recommended, the Newseum. They had a portion of the Berlin Wall on display, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photo gallery and some cool artifacts from the news world that even ADD-boy Tim could follow along with.
The pedal over to the Georgetown and George Washington campuses was a beautiful one. Rows of joined homes aligning old-school roads with a few pubs mixed in for good measure. Yep, hit a few of those and met some great people along the way.
The Arlington National Cemetery was awe-inspiring to say the least. If you didn't get a little choked up with that experience, you don't get it. I wasn't going to look high and low for it but stumbled upon two 'Reeves' graves along the road (pic below). Represented.
So Wednesday comes and its time for Mr. Reeves to leave Washington. I planned to head to the airport the same way I came, on the rail. My flight wasn't until noon so there was no wake up call needed. I flipped the television on and the local news advised that the rail was closed all throughout the city for a safety inspection. While the traffic in D.C. is tough enough, you take away the rail system and you double your vehicles coming/going to/from the city. A Sunday shutdown would have been more efficient in my thinking but I guess until I am President, I have no say in the matter. No worries as the airport was only 10 miles away and a bus will surely be able to take me there. I walked to the bus station where I thought the bus to the airport would leave. It was going to the airport but to Dulles, not Reagan. I had the option of taking two connecting buses that would take me further away from Reagan airport before I got closer. After crunching some numbers, I decided to take a cab and thankfully found a great driver who dodged the morning gridlock (it was looking pretty fierce) and got me there with time to spare. The bartender at the airport diner joked that while it was a bummer that the rail was not in operation, crime in the city for the day would drop 20% because of it.
Thank you Mother Nature for only raining overnight. I can handle a few clouds. A good city and a good trip.
Future President Trail Head

I reserved the pool on Monday

Eisenhower Building 

 

freedom of speech

cool campus

had to get a picture here

Arlington - Kennedy Memorial

Arlington

Arlington - wasn't looking for it but yep, represented

Arlington

Arlington

Arlington Memorial Bridge 

ummm.....no

good pizza

Berlin Wall - Newseum

lady taking this picture dropped the camera after this shot - camera survived

Chinatown

my crib - served its purpose well - great location

view of D.C. from my flight headed home - U.S.A.!!!!

Way Back Machine - Spring Break '85

In the spirit of the upcoming surge of underage, idiotic, naive, believe they are immortal, did I mention idiotic? Michiganders jumping on I-75 south in search of some sunshine and celebrating their last year of high school, the way back machine today heads back to 1985 when a bunch of underage, idiotic, mortal adolescents did just that; and had the time of their lives. 

Our story starts in the fall of 1984 when the planning of said trip was in the preliminary stages. Al C. had mentioned that his parents were headed down a week earlier for the spring holiday to visit relatives and he planned to head down with them and do a partial grandparent visit in Port St. Lucie (going off of memory but believe that was their location) mixed in with a Daytona Beach excursion. The partial time missed in school could easily be arranged with teachers. The only roadblock I could see would be the school baseball season that would be starting up about that time. We didn't have an official coach at the time as the previous year's coach took a teaching job with another school system that offered more security. I missed him as a coach but can't blame him for looking out for his family; getting a pink slip every summer with hopes to return in the fall to teach doesn't sound like something I would want either. Missed practices could be made up in some fashion via sprints or cleaning the ball field and the new coach would understand (I rationalized) so Al, Gus, Matt and myself were in for the extended spring break! Fast forward to the spring of 1985 when the new baseball coach was brought in. The first thing he mentions to the team in the first practice is anyone missing time for an early spring break won't be playing for him. No exceptions. You have got to be f****** kidding me!!! No games missed, three practices. No exceptions. I mentioned to him that I made my plans before he was hired. No exceptions. Other coaches spoke to him. No exceptions. I'll give him credit for sticking to his guns but young Tim was off to Daytona Beach. No regrets on said choice.

The caravan south was quite a scene. We had Al's parents and a couple of their friends in the front van pulling an orange dune buggy (that we would use in Daytona Beach) while Al, Gus, Matt and I were in either a Grand Marquis or a Crown Victoria in the rear. This was pre-cell phone days but boy did we have fun with the CB radio. If any truckers could have tracked down our vehicle, I would have to think Matt would have gotten his rear end seriously kicked. Some of the stuff he was throwing out can't be printed. Matt also gets a gold star for his driving around the Cincinnati area when we were headed down. Rain was coming at a typhoon rate; I couldn't see a thing but somehow he got through it. 

So we hit the land of gray hairs and settled in for the first portion of our vacation with some good eats (believe the smorgasbord place was called 'Duff's') and the four of us took in a Tiger baseball exhibition game in Lakeland another night. We marked up a hotel blanket (from a hotel that shall be nameless) with our names and took it to the game. I recall making an attempt with the banner but I don't think we made it on television. A fun appetizer for the rest of the vacation it was though.
The first part of the vacation was done; it was time for the four of us to separate from the elders and spread our wings in Daytona Beach. Al's orange dune buggy was our mode of transportation to said destination from Port St. Lucie. I'm sorry I don't have a picture of the buggy to share as Al's dad Dave created a beautiful ride there. I'm also sorry I don't have a picture of the four of us (all pretty large human beings) in the buggy with all of our luggage crammed in with us as we rode 40-45 miles an hour (the vehicle could not go any faster) down the freeway as cars zoomed by us on the left. It took us awhile but we had a good giggle the entire way.
So we arrive in the city of...., not sure what Daytona Beach is the city of. NASCAR and the sun I guess. I'm not a big fan of the former but welcome the latter. Our lodging for the week was the AAA four-star rated (have no idea) Royal Beach Motel. I'm not sure if it was Mark or Al that found the place but it served our purpose. No frills, on the beach, had a pool, cable TV so we could watch the same 10 MTV videos the entire week (it was a battle between REO Speedwagon and Madonna for side bets on which video would come next), a lounge and you could walk right from the parking lot into your room. People whose keg parties were shut down at other hotels brought their beverages to our pool area (no lie). I pulled some pictures from the web of the place and found the legendary Royal Beach Motel is.....now closed. A good run it was.
Meeting up with the four of us in the same hotel were Dave, Johnny B., Mark and Terry; and a good portion of our senior class. Beverage purchase was handled via a place down the strip called 'Drive Thru Brew' as I recall. One ID (from someone who shall be nameless but there were a few out there) and load up the tubs back at home base. The locals knew we were all stupid youngsters but as long as someone had an ID, they could make their money. One establishment that we frequented a bit was a place called 'The Pier.' I walked in with my ID, looped around the side to a waiting Matt, gave him the same ID and in he walked.

The week was wild as it seemed like you ran into someone you weren't expecting to see each day. Matt's friend Steve K. either lived in the area or came down but one night Matt and Terry took Steve's motorcycle to Orlando. A chilly night ride I recall Matt claiming when he got back. Another pop-in came when Al and I were riding down the strip. Who jumps in the buggy at a stop light but none other than Al's brother Roger! He road tripped down from CMU with a group.
There are many other stories to share but to protect those involved, we'll leave those for the fishing boats.
I am sorry to say there are only a few pictures out there of the trip as it was one for the ages. The one picture I have from the trip (thank you Mark C. for it) came on one of the last days. Matt had made a claim to the group that he was going to hurl after drinking the rest of his beverage. And being a man of his word, Matt calmly walked to the bathroom after finishing said beverage and let it fly. He struck a pose with the group after the experience.
A Seadog celebration it was.
Trail Head

walk right into your room at the Royal Beach

Royal Beach is no more