Allie made biscuits and
sausage for breakfast. We convinced
Felisa to try the biscuits. She said it was the only kind of biscuit she
likes. After breakfast the kids played
cards and watched Phineas and Ferb.
Richard was sweating outside cutting the big branch that had fallen on
the playset. News from Northern Virginia
is that there are massive power outages and branches and trees down
everywhere. They are calling it a
derecho which is apparently a strong wind storm, similar to a tornado but with
straight-line winds. I called Mom to
make sure she had power. If there’s no
air conditioning up there, I want to stay where I am!
1:06 p.m. Leaving the
Purdys. 92 degrees and quite steamy
already.1:12 p.m. See a snapped power line hanging. The bottom has snapped off and the top is still hanging by the power lines.
1:15 p.m. Gas, $3.13/gallon.
1:32 p.m. Stop at Kohls. Richard found a nice pair of water shoes on sale here yesterday so we are hoping to find a pair for Ryan to take to camp. Success! Nice shoes and only $25.
1:58 p.m. Sonic for lunch. One of the employees comes out to tell us that station 13 doesn’t work so we’ll have to move. After a bathroom break we opt for the drive-thru. The line is long but at least we’ve got the a/c on while we wait. Current temperature, 94 degrees.
2:17 p.m. Leaving Sonic. Genie says only 2 hours to Vienna but I don’t believe her.
2:36 p.m. James River
2:45 p.m. Oh joy – our first traffic jam. Temperature is up to 98 degrees.
3:08 p.m. I think Genie just had a heat stroke. Her screen has whited out so I take her down and put her away to cool off. Current temperature is 99 and we have been in heavy traffic for awhile.
3:55 p.m. 100 degrees. We finally made it north of Fredericksburg but are still in traffic.
4:12 p.m. Almost to our original ETA but still south of Quantico. I am hot and tired. I don’t want to try any traffic detours today since it sounds like there are so many trees down and power out everywhere. In those conditions, the back roads will be worse than the traffic-packed highway.
4:24 p.m. Finally driving at the speed limit. 102 degrees.
4:31 p.m. Storm report news on the radio. Five people have been killed and 1 million people are without power. This is the largest non-hurricane related power outage in history for this area. There are 2 ½ million without power statewide.
4:35 p.m. Another traffic jam. Ugh.
5:01 p.m. Uh oh! The left exit to 66 is closed because of the new HOT lanes. Good thing traffic is light enough I’m able to scoot back across all the lanes and exit right instead.
5:12 p.m. Arrive at Grandma Duffield’s house. The kids hang out there while I go down the street to check on the tenants and the house. The house is hot (a/c not working right?) but everything else is fine.
6:11 p.m. Leaving Frederick Street.
6:23 p.m. Hunter Mill is closed past the bike path. Hope we can find our way without any other detours since Genie is out of commission still.
6:44 p.m. Made it to Reston. Parallel parking a minivan is HARD!
I attempted dinner out with Shani but apparently everything in the town center is closed. I feel bad for having her drive over. It all looked okay when we arrived – traffic lights were on and people were out walking around.
9:30 p.m. Time for bed. The kids are resisting. They are tired but apparently they have gotten used to their vacation bedtime of 11:00.
10:00 p.m. Turn the tv off.
10:15 p.m. Tell Ryan to turn his kindle off.
11:00 p.m. I was reading my book and now I’m going to bed late again. Oops.
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