September 18, 2000

CHURCH STAY

I had a pretty good day riding from Relay, Maryland to Washington, D.C. Traffic was pretty light. I was also happy that repairs had been made on U.S. 1 (Rhode Island Ave.) into the downtown area of Washington, D.C. Since I had the loaded bicycle with me, I couldn't stop at very many tourist attractions. The only Smithsonian museum that I felt comfortable leaving my bicycle was the Museum of Natural History. I maybe went into the museum for about twenty minutes catching some of the exhibits that I had missed on my last visit.

The ride/ walk to the Arlington Bridge went okay. I did have to stop and quickly rescue a little boy under the age of two who had wandered off from his parents and was getting close to one of the busy streets. The parents were taking pictures of themselves and didn't realize that their son was with them.

I crossed over into Virginia around 4:30 p.m. and got on the George Washington - Mt. Vernon Bike Trail. There wasn't any place to camp out along the way because of all of the houses. In the Washington Farm area just passed Mt. Vernon, I rode passed a Methodist church and decided to pull in. The parsonage was right on the property.

Even though it was around supper time, the pastor was quite friendly. He gave me permission to camp out behind the fellowship hall. The pastor also connected me with the assistant pastor who was having a meeting to discuss better ways to evangelize in the area. She invited me to take part in the pizza meal that they were having.