this just in!

Well, after several days on the road I have found time to write. here's a recap of events so far:

day one

I woke up to snow covering the ground and pouring from the sky. four or five inches at least. we were delayed by probably three hours--there was a lot to coordinate: 2 rental cars, and 2 trucks pulling trailers, 11 men and their luggage. my comrades and I took possession of a car and set off due east. Kansas was quiet, but we were treated to a huge orange moonrise. 

We stayed overnight in Topeka, a cold desolate heartland town. temperatures were in the negs, and the eight of us who rode in cars took shelter in a nearby and rather empty Hooters to drink beer and to wait for our boss-men to show up and pay for the hotels. It must be like Hooters policy for the nearly naked waitress to sit and flirt with the poor saps who frequent these kinds of joints, kinda sad really. well, there we were nursing our brews and the waitress pulls up a chair and starts chatting us up. She plays twenty questions: "Where are you guys from?" "What the hell is a pedi-cab?" and so on. 

We play twenty questions: "what's fun in Topeka?" or "Are the liquor stores open?" and so on. for fun, the young waitress lady, Saasha (two a's) directed us toward a strip club (well out of our price range). As for the LQ-the damn thing was closed. With sadness in our hearts, we resigned ourselves to going beer-less.  On our way out we passed a beer display with cases piled high, right by the door. Well, perhaps it should go without saying that our beer-lessness was cured.

Day two

mostly a blur of driving and sitting in uncomfortable postions; we drove just shy of twenty-four hours until we made it to the outskirts of D.C.

Day three-four

Man, DC is freeking super cold: single digits with wind chill well into the negs. Our cabs were covered in sand and mag-chloride from the trip, so we had a sub-zed cab wash. 

After all this, I finally got to get on my cab. There is nothing quite like touring a city from a rickshaw-there is an intimacy that only a tricycle will lend one: how do the hills feel? where are the shortcuts, the hidden spots, the hot districts? despite the cold, it felt great to stretch the legs and get really, really lost in downtown DC.  

I had a big lunch in chinatown and then spent the rest of the day touring the National Mall (trying to make money along way). from my rickshaw i saw: Washington Monument, reflecting pool, WWII memorial, Vietnam Memorial, and Lincoln Memorial (but not to close, the city was setting up for a huge free concert on Sunday for the likes of the Boss, CSN, Stevie Wonder et al.) Well, after a day of "work" I came home with 30 or so dollars earned. not bad for tricycle tourism...