Greetings from near Washington, D.C.

Well, today was eventful. Ryan had to snowblow this morning so we could get out of the driveway. The three of us all left together and we dropped Robbie off at daycare and then Ryan drove me out to Post to the Optometry Clinic where I had to be by 8. The roads were less than good, and many schools in the area were on 2-hour delay or closed. Even Ft. Drum was on a 2 hour delay, but that didn’t affect me. We were supposed to get a briefing and then leave around 9:30. Well, because of the weather, they couldn’t get the Government van (15-pax) dispatched, so at 11:30 when they had told all of us to come back (I sat in optometry all morning since Ryan had left to go to work and I had no car), we found out that we might not be going. They gave us the option of either waiting until next Monday or driving down in our personal vehicles. I was originally going to just wait until next week, but then one of the E-7’s (SFC S) offered to let me ride with him. So we got our briefing (there was originally 10, but only about 5 or 6 decided to drive) and paperwork and headed out. I’ll be paying for gas on the way home next Monday. The roads were awful and it was snowy/slushy/icky/windy all the way through NY and into the mountains in PA.

As soon as we came down from the mountains, there was no snow and the grass was green. I guess the grass IS greener on the other side. . . It was still windy and drizzly most of the rest of the way, but not bad. We got to our hotel (about 30 miles outside of D.C. in MD) about 7:30 and got checked in and then headed to Taco Bell for supper. After we ate, we stopped by a grocery store to get some stuff for our rooms – there are small fridges and microwaves in them. I got some fruit, yogurt, milk, water, Wheat Thins, and granola bars. I don’t plan on eating out much while I’m here. And there a continental breakfast here at the hotel, so I don’t need to worry about breakfast at all. There’s also a fitness center here, and I had thought about going for a run on the treadmill, but I think I’m just going to head to bed instead. Gotta get up early tomorrow morning.

Stay tuned until tomorrow to find out why I’m here!!