Next week I will be working onsite with a client in Washington, DC (technically in Tysons Corner, but that is close enough). Coincidentally, my Dad is going to be visiting my Sister in Williamsburg, VA this weekend. The plan is that I will go up a little early on Sunday and we will all hang out in DC. The next day my Dad and Sis will hit the museums and I will work.
I started looking at tickets and everything with a decent schedule was going to cost $600+ and many of them would have been over 5 hours travel time. So…
I am going to ride the motorcycle.
Sure, instead of 5 hours it will take 10, but I have been wanting to take a motorcycle road trip for a year. The weather is perfect. And the timing is great for several other reasons.
The plan is that I will saddle up some time Saturday and ride for 400 or so miles. Then Sunday morning I will ride the remainder to arrive in DC around lunch time.
Of course, this also means there will be the expense of a hotel room on the way up and the way back. I don’t want to bill that to the client since this is for me (I will bill for the mileage which is about what the plane ticket costs). I have plenty of hotel points and could use those for free rooms, but I would rather save those for family trips. I kinda think that since I am going to be doing the biker thing I should camp those nights.
There is something funny about camping out on the way to do some big fancy consulting work. Still, I think this is going to be good for my soul.
The only question is how to pack a weeks worth of business clothes and shoes, a laptop, minimal camping gear, a few tools just in case, rain gear, some food, toiletries, and such on to my bike.
Two fists to the wind with an iPod and Google Maps. I am a true rebel I tell ya.
Afterthought: Sabrina and I have only been camping once. It was at the Natural Bridge in Virgina. Maybe I can make it there to camp on the way up. The way back will probably be in the Smokies.
Update: Maybe I should take this route:
