Live from Alexandria

Ok, we made it. We should have left later. Leaving the Left Bank of the Ohio River near Milepost 606 around 6:45 am was a mistake. Easy driving from Louisville to Waddy. Then ice - everywhere. We poked along at 10 miles per hour or less, passing overturned and crashed vehicles, all the way to just past the I-64/I-75 split in Lexington. Smoother sailing from Lexington to Huntington, West Virginia, then back to a snail's pace. Cold, snowy, and considerable ice along I-64, then north on I-77/I-79, and continuing on I-79 to the University of West Virginia environs. I drove through the strongest snowstorm I've ever encountered along I-68 right at the Maryland/West Virginia line. The weather finally let up outside of Cumberland, Maryland. At Hancock, we exited the highway down into the little town on MD144, the old route of US40, the National Pike. In downtown Hancock, we turned north on Pennsylvania Avenue and drove the two plus miles out of the State of Maryland and into the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, crossing the Mason's and Dixon's Line, just to say we did. A fews blocks into Pennsylvania, we U-turned, proceeded back across the famous survey point, and on to Hancock, and then east along MD144 which eventually runs into a ramp back up onto I-70. Here's the best part (so far). At Hagerstown, we took a side road and ended up at a Burger King. While there, a friend from Louisville and his girlfriend pulled into the parking lot and came in. We had been there about ten minutes. I asked my friend, Shawn, how their trip had been. Amazingly, they responded they had had no problems. They left Louisville at 10:00 am, well after the ice had melted and the snow had passed. We could have slept in. Oh well. From Hagerstown, we came on down I-70 to I-270 to the I-270 Spur to I-495 to where we are now in Alexandria, just off Telegraph Road, and right by our Metro Access into the District. Tomorrow, after some sightseeing, we'll leave the car here and take the Metro over to our hotel room on the upper Northwest side of the District out Massachusetts Avenue. The drive, with the snow, wind, and ice, was frankly harrowing - a most perilous ride. But, all is well now.

More later. Off to bed.