Washington D.C.
As have been most days lately, this was a lazy start. By the time I got ready to leave the house it was nearly noon and D.C. was 20 minutes away, without traffic. Of course there was traffic so it was over 30 minutes to get into the city. I can't imagine what the roads would be like during rush hour. One highlight of the drive in was the carpool only section of highway. It was a full two lane, in each direction, divided highway to be used only by carpoolers and motorcyclists. Pretty neat stuff. Another benefit of this road was that it dropped me right into the heart of D.C. near the White House, all the museums and monuments.
I circled around for a bit trying to find some free street parking close to my destinations. I was able to find a spot right in front of the Washington Monument and the White House.
After parking, the one problem with motorcycle touring presented itself: Dealing with gear while off the bike. I don't want to walk around with my jacket, pants, boots, gloves, and helmet but I really don't want to leave them sitting out in a city like D.C.. Fortunately I had borrowed a backpack that John had that surprisingly swallowed all of my gear and I was able to strap the helmet to it as well. That meant cool and comfortable walking around with out the fear of my stuff getting stolen since it was all on my back. Ideally I'd have a locking top case that I'd be able to fit everything in but this worked very well.
Now I am ready to start my touristing duties. First up: the Smithsonian Museum of American History.
(This isn't the museum but it sure does look like one doesn't it?)
I had looked online at the various Smithsonians and this seemed to have a good selection of exhibits that I'd be interested in. What I spent the most time looking at was one that I hadn't seen on the website at all...
The sad thing is that the first area was depicting a working laboratory from the early 20th century and it reminded me of some of the labs that I worked in during college...
There were displays on science based regulation and watchdog people/groups that made the laws that we know today. One such group affectionately called the Poison Squad had their own poetic motto
The next series of displays was of the effect of science on the general public and how it was embraced. This time period was the hay day of the kid's home chemistry set and popular literature/advertising was equally effected.
Included with society's acceptance of science was the fascination with nuclear power. Getting the public used to the idea of this new found power took loads of propaganda in the current war times. Everything from folk songs to clothing bore the mark of the atomic symbol. Did you know that the bikini as we know it got its name because of the atomic era?
Along with this mass propaganda pushing the technology there was a group encouraging the careful use of it and urging caution with regards to the ramifications.
Learning about the atomic bombs was very cool as they had a good display set up for it. There was a nearly life size model of the Uranium reactors first used to enrich the material and information about the various sites around the country that contributed to the effort to complete the weapons.
Finishing the physical science portion of the exhibit I wandered into the DARPA Grand Challenge area. not only was there an autonomous car on display but there was even an autonomous motorcycle there. This bike navigated a desert trail by it self and, should it fall over, could right itself and keep going.
To finish out the lower level of the museum was an exhibit on transportation in America. Every way to travel around the country was represented from trains to cars as well as some history and significance of each. There was even a 40 foot section of Route 66 taken from Oklahoma.
Now here's a question for you the reader... How comfortable do these boots look?
These are the boots of the first noted person to hike the Appalachain trail in one trip. It took him over 140 days! That's a long time to be wearing those things...
About this time I had to leave the museum to move the bike off the main street so went to see some more of the sights. I drove around a bit trying to get a good photo op with the White House with no luck. On the drive through the city I got turned around and a little lost all while having some minor fuel issues with my bike. I decided to forgo the photo op with the infamous Einstein statue and head back to John's, hopefully avoiding some traffic.
The rest of the pictures can be found HERE
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