NP#48 - Kobuk Valley

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Kobuk Valley National Park - Alaska!

 Loading up the Floatplane for our trip to the Kobuk Sand Dunes!

 The weather is a bit frightful! Visibility low! Yet away we go!

 Flying between the mountain peaks!

 Good thing Pilot Jim is experienced!

 We made it to Park #48 - Kobuk Valley National Park!

 First glimpse of the Great Kobuk Sand Dunes.

 Dunes from above. 

 Great Kobuk Sand Dunes.

Another look at the 23 square mile Dune field.

 Amazing to find sand dunes above the Arctic Circle!

 Bill, Jamie, Terry, John and Pilot Jim

Kobuk Valley National Park - our 48th National Park experience!

8/14 – The eve of our Alaska Adventure – I’m studying the NATGEO book about the parks and it has got my blood a flowing! We're about to embark upon a 16-day Alaskan Adventure that will take us to the Sand Dunes of Kobuk Valley, Walker Lake in Gates of the Arctic, a Disco Hike back at Denali, a Kennecott Mine Tour in Wrangell St. Elias and a whole lot of activity at Lake Clark. When our journey is complete, we will have visited 51 of the 59 parks on our Bucket List. 

Transportation for much of this trip will be in small aircraft – floatplanes, bush planes and thrilling rides through mountains and valleys!

8/15 – Phoenix to Anchorage. Our journey begins! We take Southwest Air from Phoenix (PHX)  to Seattle (SEA). A couple of hour break in SEA then off to Anchorage (ANC). As we depart PHX, the temperature is 110°! It will be cooler in Alaska! We arrive in Anchorage at midnight. It’s raining and 54°. 

8/16 – Anchorage to Fairbanks. After a nasty “free” buffet breakfast at the downtown Hilton, we walk about a mile down to the Enterprise Car Rental Center to pick up our Ford Focus. Off to Fairbanks – a six hour drive north in the rain. Traffic is relatively light as we wind our way north. We reach Denali around lunchtime. Today…there will be NO mountain sighting as rain steadily falls. We have lunch at the McKinley Lodge, catch the last two holes of the PGA Championship and head up to Fairbanks.

We’ll be staying at the Hampster Inn – our hotel of choice when on the road. After checking in, we take a side trip to North Pole, AK and sure enough, we find Santa’s home. Unfortunately, all the Elves have gone home for the evening and Santa and Mrs. Claus are on vacation!

Time for dinner. We end up at the Wolf Run Restaurant. (Excellent choice!) Neither Terry nor I are very hungry, so we order only salads; however, their aged rib eye looked incredible!  The server tempts us with a chocolate-coconut crème brulé for dessert. We take her up on the offer. Perhaps the best dessert we’ve ever had!

8/17 –  Faribanks to Bettles. Our flight on Wright Air from Fairbanks to Bettles doesn’t depart until, 1pm so we decide to take a look around town. We end up at the North Star Golf Course – the northernmost course in America – and chat it up with the gals in he Pro Shop. We decide to play 9 upon our return to Fairbanks on the 19^th.

After our visit to the course, we head back to Wright Air to check in. The small terminal is teaming with activity…mostly native Athapaskans and Inupiats heading back to their villages.  We still have an hour before takeoff, so we go to the local Barnes and Nobel for a cup of hot chocolate. Here I find a book I’ve been meaning to read for a long time – Dale Carnegie’s classic How to win Friends and Influence People.

Wright Air is located on the opposite side of the main terminal. They did a very nice job of transporting us to and from Bettles and I would recommend these guys to anyone wishing to head north of the Arctic Circle.

The weather has improved today. It’s 72° in Fairbanks under partly cloudy skies. The single engine prop plane we are boarding will hold 8 people not including the pilot. I get to sit in the co-pilots seat. Terry is nestled between an Athapaskan and her small child. The kid’s nose is running like a river and coughs continuously.

The flight from Fairbanks to Bettles will take about an hour and 20 minutes. Not much to see but vast expanses of tundra, a bunch of small bodies of water, rivers winding through the tundra and an occasional hill.

We did get to see the Dalton Highway and the Alaskan Pipeline. The skies get even cloudier as we make our way northwestward to Bettles, AK. Bettles, the little town we will occupy for our visit to Gates and Kobuk, sits 35 miles north of the Arctic Circle. The only way to get to Bettles is by airplane or in the winter, on an ice road that used to be called the Hickel Highway.

The reason we are heading to Bettles is because that’s where our tour of Gates and Kobuk will originate. I found a company online called Brooks Range Aviation (BRA), which offered day trips to Gates and Kobuk via a floatplane.  I dealt with Judy Jesperson when making the arrangements. As it turns out, BRA is a pretty loosy-goosy operation. The kids who were running the show were ok, however, we saw Judy but once during the three days we were in Bettles.

One would think that when one is spending two grand for a day trip to visit the parks that the person who owns the company and made my reservation would be at least willing to greet us in a warm and friendly manner. Instead, she asked us if another couple could join us on our tour. She said it would lower our cost and it would really help them out! Who cares about “them?” What about us – the original paying customer?

Bettles was founded in 1896 during the Alaskan Gold Rush. The population of Bettles hoovers around 43. The airstrip that serves the community was built during World War II and is now used exclusively for commercial proposes. It serves as “base camp” for hunters, campers, floaters and sightseers like us.

Lots of caribou hunters in town this week. We saw our share of antlers that had been freshly cut off the tops of their kill and many sacks of caribou meat the hunters scored during their trip.

When I originally spoke with Judy last March ,I asked her about accommodations in Bettles. She said “Not to worry. Call back in May and we’ll get you a place to stay. You can stay in our bunk house or in the hanger!”

Terry wasn’t too keen about sleeping in a hanger for a couple of days so she made arrangements for us to stay at the Bettles Lodge. Good choice! The people at the Lodge were terrific and the accommodations much nicer than an airplane hanger!

Perhaps the most gratifying experience we had in Bettles was the people we met during breakfast and dinner. At dinner on the 17^th, we first met a couple of gentlemen from Lawrence, KS who had just completed their float down the John River in hopes of catching fish. They got completely skunked!

Next, we met three film producers from Burbank, Ric Serena (Producer), Jen Serena (Producer and Still Photography) and Jason Fitzpatrick (a bear of a human who also shares the title of Producer). The three of them had just concluded a two week float down the Noatak River in Gates of the Arctic National Park filming a couple of 70+ year olds who have been floating Alaskan rivers for years together.

While chatting with an FAA agent who was making an inspection tour of Bettles, Andrew Thomas and his wife Debbie overheard our conversation about Wrangell. Andrew was quick to tell us that the “infamous” road from Chitina to McCarthy wasn’t all that it is made up to be. He and Debbie drove it with no issues. A few bump here and there as the road was built atop an old railroad line and the railroad ties still remain!

We invited them to join us for dinner and learned they were from Australia. They had just completed visiting their 57^th and 58^th National Parks having spent a week camping in the outback of Kobuk and Gates. They too are on a mission to visit all 59 of America’s great treasures. Their next stop, number 59 – Denali – The Great One!

Andrew is compiling a photo journal of all 59 parks and hopes to have it published in the near future. We gave him some ideas about Kickstarter and what it takes to publish anything…and make money doing it!

The final couple we met were Bill and Jamie Goldmann from Estes Park, CO. Ironically, they are on the same mission as the Thomas’s and Binkele’s – visit all 59 major National Parks. They were the couple Judy asked us if we’d share the plane with….which we did. For Bill and Jamie, Kobuk and Gates would be Park numbers 53 and 54. Like Andrew and Debbie, they would be heading to Denali for number 55.

We were placed in room 15 in the Aurora Lodge. Nobody else in the place! Skeeters are plentiful and the temperature is in the high 50’s under cloudy skies. The Lodge crew had mentioned that the Northern Lights had been visible the past couple of days, so I set the alarm for 2:30 am to see if we could get a glimpse of this phenomenon. A little after midnight, a steady rain all but washed out our chance to see the Lights!

8/18 – Gates and Kobuk Valley National Parks. Today is the day we are scheduled to make our trek to Kobuk and Gates. And today, the skies are cloudy and douse us with a gentle rain. Yet, the tour will go on! Now Judy with Brooks Range Aviation may be a service duck…however, Jim McClain, our BRA pilot is a topnotch eagle! This fellow has been flying all his life. Flew big commercial jets for many years. Now, he’s an Alaskan Bush Pilot…and a good one at that! He had to be considering the conditions we were about to fly into!

Clouds cover most of the Brooks Range as we depart Bettles from the float pond two miles outside of “town!” I get to sit up front with Jim for a first look at the gloom we are about to fly into! The good news is Jim has a modern  flight instrument that shows us the elevation of the surrounding mountain peaks.

We are flying at 1100 feet above sea level. Bettles’s elevation is 630 so we are basically skimming just above the tundra below working our way through the valleys between the mountains! The surrounding mountain peaks average more than 7000 feet so we are well below their peaks!

The two and a half hour flight to the Sand Dunes at Kobuk Valley takes us over several meandering rivers cutting through the dense growth of Arctic tundra.  Tundra comes in three varieties – Arctic, Alpine and Antarctic. Since we’re flying above the Arctic Circle, we’re experience the Arctic variety that is characterized by areas of stark landscape and frozen grounds. The soil up here is typically frozen year round from between 10-35 inches. Trees do not grow in this environment so the landscape supports only low growing plants and mosses. Not much in the way of civilization out here! This is true wilderness.

Off in the distance, we spot one of the three sand dunes of Kobuk Valley! The three active dunes in Kobuk are the Great Kobuk Sand Dunes, The Little Kobuk Sand Dunes and the Hunt River Dunes. We’ve come to experience the Great ones, which lie a couple of miles south of the Kobuk River. These dunes cover an area of over 23 square miles. It is said that at one time, the dunes spread across 300 square miles!

After circling the dunes for several minutes allowing us to take pictures of this unusual landscape, Pilot Jim touches down on the Kobuk River. By this time, my aged bladder is full and as soon as I’m on shore, I dash to the tundra to pee!

The sand bar which we’re on is filled with all sorts of animal tracks. We are treated to bear, moose, wolf and caribou tracks indicating this area is filled with wildlife. Unfortunately, the Dunes are too far in the distance given the time constraints we have on this leg of the trip so we’ll have to forego a hike to the sand.

It’s a little after 1pm when we prepare to depart Kobuk and Jim asks us if we’d like to have lunch here on the sand bar or when we get to Walker Lake in Gates. Terry and I assumed that for $2000 for this excursion, we’d at least get a sack lunch as part of the deal, so we did not pack anything. No water, no food. Unfortunately, this trip turned out to be a BYOF excursion. (Bring your own food) It would have been nice for someone, Judy or any of her young help, to mention that we might want to pack a lunch for the trip!

Graciously, Bill and Jamie shared some of their goodies with us! Off to Gates!

Grand Canyon - Widforss Trail

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Trekking the Widforss Trail 

 Grand Canyon Lodge - North Rim Moon Set  (1)

 North Rim Canyon View at Full Moon (2)

 Transept Canyon view from Lodge (3)

 Grand Canyon Wildflowers! (4)

 Sunrise Silhouette (5)

 Trekking the Widforss Trail (6)

 Canyon view from the Widforss Trail (7)

 The Transept Canyon (8)

 Aggressive Blue Grouse on the attack! (9)

 Termite Trail Map! (10)

 Aspen stand along the trail. (11)

 Lone Tree on canyon spire. (12)

 Trails end! (13)

 View of Isis Temple and Cheops Pyramid Canyon from trails end. (14)

 Canyon View from Widforss Point (15)

 Heading back to the Lodge (16)

Happy Trekkers (17)

June 2, 2015 - Back to the Grand Canyon! While shopping at Costco recently, Terry and I found a book called Arizona Highways Hiking Guide - a collection of 52 of Arizona's best day hikes for winter, spring, summer and fall.

Summer has arrived in Phoenix with the temps already reaching 106° so we took a look at our newly acquired Hiking Guide to seek out some relieve from the heat! The "summer" section of the guide features high altitude hikes across the state - locations that will definitely be cooler than Phoenix Valley.

The one that caught my eye was hike number 38 - the Widforss Trail located on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. The author of the book mentioned that of the 52 hikes featured, this one might well be the best! We were sold and promptly made reservations at the Grand Canyon Lodge!

Or, at least we thought we'd made reservations! When we arrived to check into our cabin, the reservations clerk pointed out that instead of two nights checking in on June 2nd, our reservation read one night checking in on June 3rd! Oh oh! We didn't bring our camping gear! "Can you help us out young lady?"

We did, however, have dinner reservations at the lodge's dining room for both nights! Which, by the way, if you do stay at the Grand Canyon Lodge, be sure to make dinner reservations. If you don't, be prepared to dine after 9:15 pm each night.

Much to our delight, the Lodge did find accommodations for us in a handicapped accessible cabin, which seemed appropriate as both Terry and I have become mentally handicapped! Can't remember where we put stuff. Make reservations for dinner for two nights…but room reservations for a single night! Welcome to Geezerhood Mr. and Mrs. Bink!

It seems that every journey must have it's challenges. On our last trek to Shenandoah, our rental car got towed! This time…a reservations malfunction!

June 3, 2015 - In anxious anticipation of our morning trek,  I am awake 4:15am. Terry's still sawing zzz's so I grab my camera and tripod to go shoot the sunrise. It's 38° outside, not a cloud in the sky and already getting light.

The Canyon takes on a whole new look in the early morning hours. First of all, there's hardly anybody else up at that hour so finding a spot to take a shot is easy! Not so much at sunset when pretty much every inch of the rim is crowded with smartphone toting folks snapping selfies.

After an hour photo session, I head back to the cabin and find Terry ready to trek the trails! After scarfing a hearty breakfast of sausage and egg burrito and chocolate muffin, we're off to the trailhead located 4 miles north of the Lodge. The trailhead turnoff is well marked and leads you to a gravel road. The mile long access road is in good condition so you won't need 4-wheel drive to reach the trailhead!

The hike measures 10-miles round trip - 5 miles out…5 miles back. It's rating is moderate and in terms of elevation change, the Guide says the hike has very little "elevation gain."  This is true. There are several "small" elevation gains (and losses) along the trail…however, you will be hiking at 8000'. The air is a wee bit thinner than the Valley Floor. Thin air and 64 year old lungs can make hiking this moderately rated trail a breathtaking experience!

Another motive for choosing this hike was the name of the guy for whom the trail is named. Gunnar Widforss was an artist who painted landscapes in the National Parks in the 20's and 30's. While living at the Grand Canyon in the 30's, Gunnar produced a large collection of watercolors capturing the Canyon's geologic detail.  Why did this guy's name appeal to me? My middle name is Gunnar! Hence, we had to hike this trail!

At the trailhead, there is a metal box containing a Trail Guide. Take one…and leave a donation! Along the first 2 1/2 miles of the trail, there are 14 numbered stops all of which will depict points of interest as you stroll along the rim of the Canyon.

The ten-mile trek takes most people 4 to 6 hours to complete. Most of the trail is shaded as you walk through a forest of pine, fir, spruce and aspen. Unlike the North Kaibab Trail which has several water stops and potties along the route, the Widforss Trail has no drinking water or restrooms so be sure to bring plenty of water with you. There is a pit toilet at the trailhead!

Sign Post #5 in the Trail Guide is called Peak View. Take a close look at picture (7) above. In the distance, through the haze you will notice mountains called the San Francisco Peaks. The highest of these volcanic peaks is Mt. Humphries, the tallest mountain in Arizona at 12, 670'. Years ago, it was possible to see the trees on the slopes of these mountains. Today, however, long-range visibility is impaired as urban and industrial pollutants fill the skies!

The first section of the trail parallels the Transept Canyon, one of the regions many tributary canyons. Along the route, you may see a wide variety of wildlife. On our trek, we happened to see a rare sighting of the Kaibab Squirrel. This shy creature native only to this region, is identifiable by its pointy tufted ears and its bushy silver-white tail that seemed to glow.  We also encountered a dozen white tailed deer, several other squirrels, and a variety of birds.

One such bird we encountered at Sign Post #9 was a very aggressive female Blue Grouse. (see picture #9 above) At the trailhead, there is a sign posted warning hikers about this bird. She has a nest very close to the trail…and she does all she can to keep hikers from intruding upon her territory. Trust me, she is not afraid of you and came very close to pecking a piece of my lower calf! Terry had to use her hiking sticks to fend off this feisty feathered female! If you encounter this grouchy Grouse, hike well around her stomping grounds!

At Sign Post #10, you'll find the largest Ponderosa Pine along the trail measuring nearly 13 feet in diameter. This tree is probably 300-500 years old and still stands today because it sits on the protected lands of the National Parks!

Once you've visited all 14 Sign Posts, the trail leaves the canyon rim and heads into a lush valley. Along this section of the trail, you'll hike amongst groves of aspen, quietly quaking in the gentle breezes. Ferns and tall grasses line the trail as you make your way to WidForss Point. (picture 13)

Find a comfortable spot and take in the view! Here, Terry and I enjoyed our picnic lunch and soaked in the sights. You'll be able to see the Isis Temple and the Cheops Pyramid from this vantage point along with the grandeur that makes up this fantastic canyon!

Happy Trails!

NP#47 - Shenandoah National Park

Park Visit #47!

 Dark Hollow Falls

 Rolling hills of Shenandoah

Yellow Birch splitting Rock!

Terry on top of Stony Man Mountain!

 Along the Appalachian Trail

 Thar's a Bear in the woods!

(double click picture to enlarge)

 Happy Trekkers at Dark Hollow Falls

 Lower Dark Hollow Falls

 Rose River Falls

Sunset at Shenandoah

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May 13, 2015 - After experiencing a most dreadful breakfast at the Waffle House in Columbia, SC, we begin our 7-hour drive to our 47th destination - Shenandoah National Park. Terry sleeps most of the way as we head north on I-77. 

We enter the park from the west through the Thornton Gap Entrance. The Ranger at the Entrance Station notices we're from Arizona. He says he was stationed at the Grand Canyon for some time. I asked him how he liked Shenandoah. He said he couldn't wait to get back to Arizona and the Canyon! Hmmm?

After bidding the grumpy Ranger adieu, we head to the Byrd Visitors Center, about 20 miles south of the Thornton Gap Entrance. Here we purchase our commemorative pin; watch a 26-minute movie about how Shenandoah was the first park in the system to be built by the Civilian Conservation Corp in the mid '30's; and ask the Ranger on duty about good hikes within the park. He suggests several hikes that take in waterfalls. One in particular, Dark Hollow Falls, he says is supposed to be very nice this time of year. 

It's getting late and time to check into the Skyland Resort. We're assigned Rm 128. Older hotel-style room with a nice view of Shenandoah Valley. Before dinner, we take a short self-guided nature hike to the summit of Stony Man Mountain.  Apparently, if you view the mountain from the north, Stony Man resembles the face of a bearded man looking up at the heavens. After our hike, we headed north on Skyline Drive to take a look at the Stony Man. One must have a really keen imagination to see the bearded one looking up at the sky!

Along the trail, we came across a yellow birch tree splitting a large rock in two. (pictured above) We learned that all of the Chestnut trees in the park have succumbed to a fungus that was unintentionally introduced to the forest from Asia in the 1930's.  Before this blight, one in three trees in the park was a Chestnut. Now Oaks dominate the landscape. 

We walked along a small portion of the Appalachian Trail. Gazed at a variety of colorful wildflowers. Enjoyed the peace and quiet along the path as we lazily made our way to the summit. Standing on the forehead of Stony Man, we marveled at the acrobatic antics of the ravens riding the updrafts and shivered as the wind wrapped its cold arms around us!

 After saying goodnight to the Stony Man, we headed back to the lodge for dinner. Sadly, the food served at most National Park restaurants is mediocre at best. The Pollock Dining Room, the main restaurant at Skyland Resort was no different than most. 

May 14th. I decided to get out of the sack early to see if I could capture a couple of decent pictures in the early morning light. The sunrise was nothing spectacular this morning so, while Terry was back at the lodge snoozing,  I opted to hike down to Dark Hollow Falls to see about shooting it. My mini trek was rewarded with very nice lighting and a lovely waterfall. The hike down to the falls from the parking lot is only three-quarters of a mile. Very easy going….downhill. The sign at the trailhead suggests the hike back up is quite different! And it is….rather steep!

Back to lodge to wake up Sleeping Beauty. Following a very good breakfast, we venture out to do the 4-mile Rose River Falls loop hike. We start off down the Rose River Fire Road and about a half mile into the hike, Terry mentions that she hasn’t heard or read much about bears in the park.  I tell her that I’ve seen quite a bit about the bears…in fact, pointing down into the forest about 100 yards from us, I say, “See, there’s one now!” Ironically, just as we were discussing the park’s bear population, we spotted one browsing about the forest!

Continuing down the Fire Road, we reached the junction of the Dark Hollow Falls Trail, where, I’d been earlier this morning. Made the short, steep hike up to the Falls and shot a few more pix. However, the sun was now directly overhead and did not provide the same photo ops as earlier in the day. Note to people who want to take pix of waterfalls. Do it in the early morning or late afternoon! Shoot them using a tripod! Use a very small aperture 1/22 and a long shutter speed (1 second or more) and chances are you'll get a great shot. 

We had an early dinner so I could attempt to get some sunset shots of the Blue Ridge Mts. No such luck tonight. The clouds won this battle! Back to the bar for a nightcap. Terry discovered a Blackberry Frappe drink that made her coo!

5/15 – Got a case of the lazies and did not get up this morning to shoot the sunrise. Opted to snuggle up with Terry!  Decent Breakfast of Bagels, Cream Cheese, Smoked Trout, red onion, tomatoes and rabbit turds (capers). This was perhaps the best thing on the menu!

After breakfast, we headed north on Skyline Drive, perhaps the key feature of this park…albeit, I think the falls are far cooler than driving 105 miles and seeing virtually the same scene the entire distance. Trees. Trees. And more Trees! And if you stop at any one of the 75 turnouts…you’ll see the canopies of all those trees, trees, trees!

This afternoon’s destination, Labyrinth – a retail shop featuring games, puzzles, mazes and more located on Pennsylvanina Ave, SE in Washington, DC.

We work our way through the infamous “traffic maze” surrounding our country’s capital, and arrive at Labyrinth at 12:30 pm. Fortunately, there is a parking spot less than 50 yards from the front door. We park our rented Toyota Camry and proceed to introduce ourselves to Kathleen Donahue, the store’s owner.

The reason we chose to pay Kathleen a visit is twofold: Number one – She had contacted us via email following notification that our game had earned one of the coveted Mensa Select Awards. She likes to sell Mensa Select games. Plus, she is a Mensan as well!

Number two: Rather than drive 4 plus hours back to Charlotte to return to PHX, Terry booked us departing from DCA – Ronald Regan Airport…a mere 5.2 miles from Kathleen’s Shop! The airport is just across the Potomac River a mere 12-minute drive from Labyrinth. (Note: 12- minutes if there is no traffic!)

Our meeting with Kathleen is very productive. She gives us her thoughts on the game and game retailing. We learn quite a bit about what a retailer looks for in a tabletop board game, and how she goes about making decisions to purchase games.  

After our meeting with Kathleen, we decided to grab a bite to eat at Hank’s Oyster Bar a couple of doors down from Kathleen’s shop. Good Shrimp Tacos and BLT. However, when we exited the restaurant, our rental car was nowhere to be found! It had been towed!

Unbeknownst to us, we had parked in a (not very well marked) commercial spot and failed to see that the entire length of this section of Pennsylvania AVE SE was metered parking. Not only did we not see that we parked in a commercial spot, neither Terry or I noticed the signs instructing parkers to go to the kiosk and pay for parking.

It’s now closing in on 2 o’clock. Our plane is scheduled to depart at 5:10.  If we can find the car, we should be able to still make it to the airport on time. We call 311…the number to call if you discover your car has been towed! We are placed on permanent hold!

A fellow standing just outside the restaurant noticed our state of panic and confirmed that a white Toyota Camry had recently been towed away.  He mentioned that the cops usually park the towed vehicles somewhere closeby!

At 2:45 pm, we finally get through to the Traffic Cops and they inform us that our car has been towed just around the block! We race to the car. It appears undamaged from the tow truck driver.  Two tickets are lying under the wiper blades. One citation is for $50 for parking in a "commercial zone." The other is for $100 for having to be towed for nonpayment! Adding up the damage,  our meeting with Kathleen and lunch at Hank's ended up costing us about one-hundred eighty scoots! Ouch!

We punch the address of DCA into our smartphones and the girl inside the device instructs us to head south on 6^th street and merge on to Interstate 695/395 heading toward Arlington.  It is only 3 blocks from where we picked up the car to the freeway onramp. We can see the westbound cars on the freeway from where we are, stopped dead in a tangle of traffic. A funeral procession is in progress. It must have been a fallen Policeman or fireman as there are an incredible amount of public service vehicles in the procession. This event has closed the freeway. Traffic is at a standstill; however, time marches on! It’s now 3:15 and we have moved all of about 8 car lengths.

In utter frustration, I opt to take another route. ANY other route to get us out of this area!

Rather than heading west on 695, I hop on the eastbound portion choosing instead to head south on 295 down to the 495 and then back north on Hwy 1 to the airport.

For the first half mile, traffic on 695E is moving along nicely. Then, it comes to a crawl! We are now inch-worming our way to the airport and I have to pee really bad and there are no off-ramps anywhere!

It’s now 4:00 pm. We’ve finally made it to the 495 with a warning sign saying “Prepare to Stop when Drawbridge is in operation." I’m talking about the drawbridge over the Potomac River! If that sign lights up…I’m jumping! Fortunately, we make it over the bridge without incident.

I make the Hwy 1 off ramp and find a gas station. Although time is running thin, I’ve got to pee! After a much needed whiz, we’re back in the rental car and off to DCA to the Rental Car Return Center. We get to the Airport at 4:15pm….still time to make our flight! However, lo and behold…the Dollar Car Rental Return center is NOT at the Airport…it’s offsite! After finding the address to Dollar, we weave our way back into the now-all-to-familiar-traffic-snarl indigenous to this area!

4:22 pm. We are at the Car Return center and now await the shuttle bus. It arrives at 4:29. Every minute is agonizing as we await people to disembark from and load onto the shuttle! 4:33 – the Shuttle leaves Dollar and heads to the airport. Stop number 1 – Southwest Air. A couple begins unloading the many bags they have schlepped aboard the shuttle at Stop 1. Just before the shuttle is able to head to Stop #2, a bus pulls alongside, blocking our path! I look down at my watch and think, “there’s no way we’re getting on our flight home.” 

We still needed to print our boarding passes and get through security. Mind you, it’s Friday evening. The airport is abuzz with travelers! It’s 4:39 by the time we reach Stop #2. Now a family of 4 begins the disembark procedure from the Shuttle Van. These people have even more baggage than the couple that got off at Stop 1! It takes them forever to get all their gear off the van. And then a family of 5 begins to slowly enter the van!

US Airways/American is at Stop #4. We get to Stop #3 at 4:44. No one is getting off here, however, another large group of folks begins to load up the van. I can’t take it any more and tell Terry to grab her bag, we’re walking to our gate! You see, I found walking in this area is the most expedient form of transportation! The worst thing you can do is get into a car or a van!

Now on the trail, Terry is very methodical about the pace she keeps. We do not travel very fast out in the wild. But get her inside an airport terminal, and the gal literally hauls ass! We’re up the escalator in no time and now frantically look for a place to print our boarding passes. Fortunately, there’s one close by.

And so is Security. Terry glances over at the lengthy line weaving through the Security Maze and says, “No way we’re making the flight unless we get TSA Pre!”

She punches in our confirmation code. I am begging for TSA Pre! Her ticket pops out – TSA Pre! But what about mine? What happened to my ticket? It’s now 4:49 pm…eleven minutes before the plane is scheduled to depart. I’m the kind of traveler who most always gets to the gate at least an hour before departure. I dislike the anxiety of wondering if I’ll make the flight or not. By this time, I had resolved in my mind we would be spending the night in Arlington and would hopefully be able to hop a plane in the morning.

She finds my ticket. It had printed along with hers. I too got the TSA Pre stamp of approval and the two of us scurry over to the Security line!  We breeze through TSA Pre uneventfully and head on to Gate 42.

Now the ticket that got us through security was only a standby ticket….meaning if there was room on the plane, we’d get home as long as we got to the gate before they close the doors. We get to the gate with minutes to spare, there are two seats available and as improbable as it seemed when we were trapped in traffic just a wee bit ago…we were going home! Next time, we'll be sure to pay for parking!

Happy trails my friends.