Back in the first leg of the trip, I wrote a bit about listening to Dignity, by Chris Arnade, in which the author resigned from a soul-sucking job and sought to better understand America by visiting communities that have been hit particularly hard in recent decades. As he settled into his work, he developed a routine, finding the new community’s McDonald’s and then spending hours there.
It didn’t take me long to realize that he was onto something. Two observations struck me in quick succession. First, I don’t know of anyone in my immediate social circle who eats at McDonald’s regularly, and any that even do so occasionally certainly don’t get any closer than the drive-thru. Second, for whatever elitist disdain I might cast towards it, the Golden Arches have their virtues. The wifi is strong, the climate control is outstanding, the bathrooms are clean enough, and the drinks are cheap as they come. In the fall, that meant bottomless iced drinks for a dollar; today, that was a small coffee for a whopping 66 cents.
After procuring my beverage, I hobbled around the corner to find the largely empty wing of the restaurant, making it easier for me to internally justify applying sunscreen to my face while seated. There was only one other patron in the area, a teenage girl who was tucked tightly away in a corner. Turns out, that wasn’t good enough.
Just a few minutes after I sat down, a police officer stormed into the restaurant with a clear purpose. (As an aside, the police presence in DC is massive–I don’t think I’ve gone more than two minutes while walking through city streets without passing a cop.) As I subtly palmed my sunscreen tube, he turned squarely into the girl’s corner and began firing questions at her. How old are you? Where are you from? Maryland, she answered to the latter. She knew the game and could see where this was headed. Show me your ID. Where do you go to school? Finally, we entered the endgame, with the officer reminding her that she was required by law to be in school and then whisking her away to call her parents from their control center. DC police take truancy laws seriously!
Maybe she’s just wary of coronavirus transmission…
It’s too bad for the girl, because it was another gorgeous day, and it seems like nobody else bothered going into work. The vast majority of my walk was spent on pedestrian-friendly tracks and trails, and residents of the capitol were out in force. It started slowly enough; few were with me on the Northwest Regional Branch Trail along the Anacostia River in the still-chilly early hours. By the time I transitioned to the Rock Creek Park, though, temperatures had climbed and joggers and cyclists were warming up. This was the highlight of the day–my first extended stretch on a footpath, winding amidst the trees through undulating hills. After days of walking in a single, uninterrupted stride, it’s surprisingly exciting to be jumping over tree branches and picking spots through rocky terrain.
Somehow, in the process, I missed DC. I mean, I didn’t miss it. I saw residential neighborhoods as I passed between the NWRBT and the RCP, the stately brick buildings all lined up neatly in rows. I saw clusters of young kids marching together towards school, and well-groomed professionals doing the same at a transit station. I saw the McDonald’s. And yet, everything one thinks of when they think of DC was well off my radar; instead, the day was all rivers and woods and car-free walking.
Then, suddenly, I was in Georgetown, walking down Pennsylvania Ave. I had expected to stop here, but the weather was approaching 60 degrees, I felt good, and I had arrived at an idea. I was staying with a couple of Camino vets in Northern DC, so no matter what I was going to have to take a bus to reach them. Why not keep on walking, cover a little ground on the C&O canal, and then bus from there–making my next couple of stages a bit easier in the process? Truth be told, I’ve been reading and thinking about the C&O for so long now that I was eager to get in my first steps. So, I grabbed a falafel in Georgetown and pushed on. The city quickly evaporated. Before I knew it, life was distilled down to the dirt road in front of me, the canal to my right, and the Potomac River to my left, with a strip of trees in between that vacillated in size as I moved along. This will be my life for the next 5.5 days. Well, after a full day spent in DC proper tomorrow, while being very well taken care of by my hosts.
