Places: Jon's Apartment (For Now)

My boyfriend Jon moved to the DC Metro Area (I refuse to call it the DMV) about a year ago after graduating from college.  He settled in North Bethesda, across Rockville Pike from the White Flint metro.  He's been there for over a year now without a car - so the challenges of that lifestyle that I'll likely encounter in the next month are old news to him.  The area, I would say, has served him pretty well for the last year: the White Flint metro stop got him where he needed to go in the city, the mall was right there for shopping and movies (even during the Snowpocalypse) and he was able to work there part time while he slaved away as a Capitol Hill intern for free.  Jon and I have been dating for four months and he is the most caring, hilarious, intelligent, supportive person I know.

This endeavor in carlessness would have been a lot easier for me had I started several months ago.  That's because on Thursday, Jon moves to his new apartment in Van Ness.  He always wanted to move closer in to the city since he moved here - I have also, albeit in a more hypothetical way - and I'm really excited for him.  But until then, I have to figure out how I can get myself from Rockville to White Flint for a few days.  I've ruled out taking Metro Bus, because unlike trying to get from Silver Spring to Rockville, there is a RideOn route that makes the entire trip.  If I take RideOn Route 46 from the Rockville Metro, it's got a travel time of 24 minutes and a cost of $0 - as I mentioned before, County employees are fortunate enough to enjoy free RideOn service.  An alternative would be to run this distance - it's 3.6 miles, and of course would be free and take me about 35-40 minutes.  (Since I started running about nine months ago I've been able to cover a lot of ground, but never at more than about a 10 min/mile pace.)  But, as anyone who has ever walked any stretch of Rockville Pike knows, it's not very friendly for that purpose.  I actually have run this before, as dangerous as it is, as part of an eight-mile route around Rockville/North Bethesda I used while training for the Broad Street Run.  So, if it's not pouring tomorrow (or even if it's drizzling) I'll lace up the running shoes and meet Jon at Harris Teeter to grab some food to cook dinner.  As far as what I'll do when he moves to Van Ness, that will take a little more creativity for a later post...