We made it out of the flood zone in Pennsylvania, and within a few days, rolled into our nation’s capital! We had a fantastic few days with our friends Travis & Billie Hubbs. For starters, when we got into town on Sunday evening (the 10-year anniversary of 9/11), they took us along to a tribute concert at the Kennedy Center featuring Alan Jackson & Patti LaBelle… and the President! Neither of us had ever been in the same room as the President, so that was an experience to remember.

We made it to the Washington Monument!

We spent a day working on bike maintenance and uploading photos to our Shutterfly site (garthsontour.shutterfly.com). Then on Tuesday we spent time in the National Mall and at the Smithsonian.

Approaching the Lincoln Memorial

The WWII memorial was just built about 5-6 years ago, so it was new for both of us to see

 

Part of the WWII Memorial. Each of the gold stars on the wall in the background represents 100 Americans who lost their lives in WWII.

What a great few days! Billie and Travis made sure we were well-fed, and we were able to weigh for the first time since we left. Don’t worry, we’re not wasting away, but we have both lost a little weight, which we expected would happen.

Tonight we’re in Fredericksburg, Va. We realized it was a Wednesday night and decided we would love to stop in for a local church service. We found Fredericksburg Baptist Church and stopped to check service times and score!—there was a Wednesday night prayer service in about 45 minutes. So we changed in the bathroom and stopped in. The people were wonderful! They welcomed us and invited us to eat their fellowship meal. They also went above and beyond and offered to put us up in a hotel tonight! Sarah (on staff with the church) said that this church is very intentional about wanting to bless people, and we are grateful to be recipients of their kindness! What a blessing it was, too, to have fellowship and Bible study.