Washington DC Play-by-Play

Washington Dulles Airport

6:15 a.m. (really 3:15 a.m. CA time. So….)

So here we sit in the Dulles Airport. It’s always fun trying to find your way around in a strange airport where nobody’s been before. The flight was smooth. Apparently there was a crazy guy a couple rows in front of us. I didn’t see him.
We’re tired, but all is well. Hannah is eating popcorn. Everyone else is sitting around waiting. Jeff is off to get the van which will take our luggage to the church while the rest of us trek off on a Bus/Subway adventure.
We’ll be eating breakfast at Metro Union Station.

I’d post this live online, but for some reason the airport internet connection, though it says it’s there and with a full signal, won’t find the server.

Hope y’all are all doing great. We’re fine. Well there seems to be an outbreak of giggling and Hope is rolling Hannah around in a wheelchair, so I’m going to sign off for now…

Rob



10:45
Wow! What an adventure! So we head out to take the bus from the airport to the Subway Station. Unsure of exactly where to catch that particular bus, we missed it by 2 minutes. We could have made it easily had we known where to go to catch it. So this brought a 50 minute delay. We made it on the next bus, but just barely fit. I’ve never seen so many people and luggage packed into a bus. We made it to the subway station and had to buy everyone’s Subway pass. We had to buy them two at a time in a machine, so that took a bit. Getting off at the first Subway transfer, we learned that Ben didn’t make it on the Subway. Fortunately, he had the foresight to get on the next stop and had been paying attention when we told everyone what stop we were getting off at.
After finally making it to the Silver Springs Subway exit, we dined on a glorious breakfast at McDonald’s (I really can’t remember when the last time I ate at McDonalds was). Then walked the loooooooooong trek from the Subway Station to the Church where we’re staying.
As we walked through the parking lot, my first question was: “why didn’t that big bus come pick us up at the airport?

So now that we’re fed and finally at our destination, we’re getting ready to go get showered and rested and fed again then we’re off to the Gospel Mission to serve food and do our program. I’m looking forward to our first performance of the trip.

Rob


2:00 p.m.
So Ben Johnson apparently doesn’t know the front from the back of his shirt.
If only I’d had my camera with me…

6:30 p.m.
Central Mission –
This homeless shelter for men runs dinner and a service for them. We got to help serve dinner to the men staying there and then perform a short program for them. We did a couple of songs, I did a few magic tricks telling them a little about deception, then a couple of dramas and a couple of songs later, we were done and jumped back on the Subway to go eat dinner.

The performance was a bit rough, with a couple of minor mistakes, but then since we were all operating on 48 hours of being not only awake, but traveling 3,000 miles on an airplane then 60-75 on a bus and Subway for four hours, I thought it went well.
After the performance, Noah said "I felt dead..."


8:30
So the adults are finishing dinner when we get a call saying “okay – time to come back to the church – we’re moving…”
As we return to the church, everyone was in a fury of packing and carrying luggage out to the vans. We were moving to another church about eight blocks away. Church 1 was “St Mary’s Baptist Church.” I wouldn’t call it the nicest, roomiest accommodations. Chruch 2 – First Baptist Church of Silver Spring. Way nicer. Way roomier. Way closer to Starbucks!
It was kind of crazy spending four hours carrying our luggage all over the bus and subway system of Washington DC. After all that, we moved in and unpacked. Then we went and did a concert and packed and moved again. Long crazy day, but the new place we’re staying is so much nicer. A 48 hours of no sleep adventure.
Before going to bed, we decided to do a little exploring. FBC is a big place with stairs and hallways that wind around all over the place. At night, it’s kind of creepy. I half expected someone to jump out and attack me as I walked down some of the halls. As it turns out, it was only Jeff.
It sure was nice to finally lay down to go to sleep. Morning came way too soon.

Sunday –
Got up – we all had our quiet times, then went to Starbucks for breakfast. At last! Caffeine! I can be alive today. We sang during the worship service at Walter Reed Army Hospital. Singing in a chapel that was built in 1930 was very nice. The acoustics were great. The choir did a really good job.