Washington DC 1978

HRH and I didn't just turn around one day in our forties and say, "Why don't we go someplace?" We rode a train to Texas in 1965 and a bus back to Iowa in 1969. The return trip to Texas was via plane. But, we returned to Iowa in January 1971 in a Ford Maverick with the Mom, two brothers and a drugged cat named Florence.

After that, there was one drive up to Racine, Wisconsin to visit Grandpa's relatives but my strongest memory of that one was being offered a chamber pot in the event I needed a bathroom in the middle of the night. I only mention that because after a night in a tent, I think a lot about that chamber pot now.

But our first trip as "adults" was to March on Washington DC. Adults is used loosely here, in that I was 20 and HRH was almost 19 but we had no other grown-ups traveling. I talked her into coming with me to march in favor of extending the deadline to ratify the ERA. We stayed in a motel (Days Inn if I remember right), rented a fire engine red Mercury Cougar, dressed for dinner, discovered pint cartons of lemonade, and saw everything you could see in four days.

The adventures started with finding a way to rent a car in the name of one sister who had a credit card (me) and the other one had a driver's license (HRH). Then we had to find our way around Washington where there are four of every road; NW, SW, NE, and SE. Now this is important to remember because later I'll explain that I am spatially impaired. HRH was surprised I didn't know North from South but I also didn't know Left from Right. Apparently that is a fact you should share with the driver if you are going to be the navigator.

Over the next few days I will tell you about our favorite museums, getting lost and ending up at the Iwo Jima Monument, losing the aforementioned Mercury Cougar, and standing among 100,000 other people exercising their right of assembly and expression.

But now it is late and I have a killer day tomorrow.