Days Eight and Nine: Keeping It Going

I have to say, now that I'm over a week into my carless adventure, I expected by now to be sick of it.  I expected to be longing for a shorter trip to work, more time to sleep in in the mornings, more time to do whatever I want in the evenings.

But I'm not.

This despite the fact that yesterday's travels involved two missed busses and rain in both directions.  I woke up early at Jon's apartment in Van Ness, hoping to leave there at 6:45 for the bike ride up to the Bethesda metro.  I was planning on catching the Route 47 RideOn bus leaving for Rockville at 7:16.  Well I didn't leave the apartment as soon as I wanted, it was raining, and well... yeah.  No excuses - I didn't make it.  I pulled up to the 47 slot and asked two nice little old ladies if it had already left.  One exclaimed, "oh yes, it just left tee hee heee heeee!"  So, I sat on the bench and pouted for a hot second, until I remembered that Route 46 runs from Medical Center up the Pike (not the one in Columbia) to Rockville.  I pulled out my phone to check the 46 schedule and saw that I had 13 minutes to get up Wisconsin Avenue before the next bus got there - more than enough time.  I got there with a few minutes to spare, and was joined by my co-worker Beth, who got on at the next stop.  The best part of taking the 46 to work: there's a stop at Maryland and Jefferson, right in front of my building.  (That part took about 40 minutes.)

Heading home, it was still the same state of constant drizzle it had been all day, but I had all I needed to keep my phone safe in the ziplock bag Rebecca had given me last week.  I took off for the Twinbrook metro, planning to take Route 5 home to Silver Spring, and got to maybe Edmonston Drive (?) before I realized I left without my wallet, keys, and County ID... wtffff.  Seriously, Chad?

I had no choice but to turn around, as I needed the wallet to go grocery shopping later, keys to get into my apartment, and County ID so I could ride the bus for free.  I was pissed.  I almost made it back to Twinbrook in time for the next Route 5 bus, but once again arrived right after it had left.  I raced it down the Pike until I caught up with it at the White Flint metro finally.

I learned an important lesson.  (OK well two.  The obvious being make sure you take everything you need before you leave work, as it takes even longer to turn around when you're biking - duh).  It only takes a few minutes longer to bike the extra distance to the Medical Center Route 46 stop than it does the Route 47 Bethesda Metro stop, and it only takes a few minutes longer to bike the extra distance to the Route 5 White Flint stop than it does the Route 5 Twinbrook stop.  In both cases, it minimizes time spent on the bus and gives me a few extra minutes of exercise.

This morning I got lazy needed to carry some extra stuff to work with me so I took the Q2 all the way from Silver Spring to Rockville.  Is there a line less reliable?  (The answer is probably yes, I admit).  But that bus never comes when the schedule says it's going to, plus it takes almost 55 minutes.  55 minutes with no exercise involved? Ugh. Today after work I'll redeem myself, running to the Twinbrook metro - or maybe White Flint, per yesterday's lesson - and take the Route 5 home.

PS - thank you to friend of One Month. One Guy. No Car. / former co-worker Dan Reed for the shout out on Just Up The Pike this morning.  Much appreciated.