5/20/26
I disembarked the train from Richmond into Washington, DC’s beautiful Union Station, and was met directly outside by half of my Warmshowers hosting pair for the next two nights, Jessica. On the bike ride back to her home in Bethesda, Maryland, she led me on a whirlwind tour of some of DC’s iconic spots (though I didn’t really take pics of them, sorry! I had already seen the monuments many times in my childhood). I did get a few pics of some breathtaking wisteria! That’s Jessica on the left in the first pic, talking to another admirer we encountered.
We started out on the popular Rock Creek Trail, then transferred to the one I had been really looking forward to—the Capital Crescent Trail—which did not disappoint with its beauty, especially in the springtime golden hour light.
From that trail I could even catch some glimpses of the iconic C & O Canal Towpath, which runs all the way from DC to Cumberland, Maryland, and then transfers to the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) trail, which can take you all the way to Pittsburgh.
Many cyclists like to spend about a week biking from Pittsburgh to DC or vice versa on this trail combo. (In 2022, I biked 15 miles/24 km out and back on the GAP trail from Pittsburgh during my year of travels, and was shocked to encounter my Houston Warmshowers host couple out cycling there as well! I had stayed with them three months earlier.)
The next day, Jessica was leading a 35-mile bike ride, but I was feeling tired and ready for a rest, so I spent the day relaxing and doing some Cambly English tutoring in the beautiful home she shares with her husband Henry.
The following day, I set out to meet my parents at our family homestead in Waterford, Virginia, in western Loudoun County. As you may recall, I visited the homestead (which we affectionately refer to as Toad Hall, after the dilapidated mansion in The Wind in the Willows) back in November.
This time, I biked back down the Capital Crescent Trail from Bethesda, and found the trail much more crowded than it had been during the evening two days before. There were lots of folks out walking, and a few cyclists.
I stopped to enjoy some of the DC sights again, such as the (Francis Scott) Key Bridge and the Watergate Hotel, on my way to the Foggy Bottom DC Metro stop.
From there, I caught a train to Herndon, Virginia, then disembarked and began to cycle on the W & OD Bike Trail (which I had ridden in full back in 2019, fulfilling a decades-long dream!)
This time I only biked about ten miles/16 km to Leesburg, where my parents met me and loaded my rig into their car.
I wasn’t feeling great, though, which was a sign of some health unpleasantness to come. I tried to chalk it up to the hot sunny day and fatigue after an entire winter of traveling, but by the time I got to the house, I felt exhausted and had little appetite for dinner.
But before all this—and before my parents arrived at our agreed-upon spot in Leesburg—I had the chance to walk around a bit at the “downtown” streets I remembered so well from my childhood. Leesburg has sprawled dramatically since my childhood days in the ‘70s and ‘80s, but the downtown area—with the Tally Ho theater, where I think I recall watching the original Star Wars in 1978, still going strong—looks much as I remember it, including the old county courthouse.
Then I sat on a bench in Raflo Park waiting for them to arrive. That park is new since I moved away in 1990. I had met the (now late) Frank Raflo once, at the Loudoun County Democratic headquarters during my high school years, when I volunteered for my first political campaign, to help elect Virginia’s first-ever Black governor, Douglas Wilder.
And in Raflo Park, right in front of my bench, was a piece of art containing a quote that reminded me of my former partner, now close friend, Johnny: “No Mud, No Lotus.” That is the name of a book by Thich Nhat Hanh, the (also now late) Vietnamese Buddhist monk and peace activist. Johnny had once requested—perhaps ten years ago—that he and I read the book together, he from his prison cell and I from the outside. I enthusiastically agreed at the time, but since both of us are very bad at actually reading books, neither of us ended up actually ordering it… so, unfortunately, that has not yet transpired. But it felt like a sweet little inspirational full-circle moment to see that sign in the park.
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