i'm taking a ride from birmingham, al to washington, dc probably around 6-1 but possibly 7-1. any information about the trip, i would appreciate. i am going alone with camping equipment so info on good sites or less expensive motels along the way would be great. specifically, i would like to know about whether it is preferable to ride to the city and find parking or park at metro parking and take the train into the city. also if anyone can give me an idea about the ride involved from shenandoah nat'l park to the metro site in springfield(outside of manassis). also, what is the time involved because i'm paranoid about deer in the evening and past dark. this is because of a five hour emergency surgery a couple of years ago. any replies would be greatly appreciated. thank you.

billy

 

Navigating around downtown DC is tough, even for the locals. Lots of one-way streets, and it isn't the typical urban grid pattern, so one wrong turn and you end up in northern Virginia.

Traffic lights are sometimes attached to buildings. Tourists don't look for lights that far to the side and run right through the red.

Parking is available, but fills up quickly. Around the National Mall, there is a constant precession of cars searching for an empty parking place.

I recomend the Metro (subway). I usually get on at the New Carrolton station, but there may be a more convenient station for you. On the other end, there's a Metro station right in the middle of the National Mall. Lots of stuff in walking distnce from there.

 

If you are going Memorial Day weekend plan on having a few hundred thousand biker friends there for Rolling Thunder.

 

i might do DC for memorial day...that would be cool

 

I'd sure love to go there but my loathing of crowds and traffic makes it seem highly undesirable for me. I'm sure it's a ZOO most of the time.