Last day of this particular det to the greater Bowie-Annapolis-etc part of the country and last day of standing the watch at a rehab/transitional center. However, I did manage to get out yesterday for a quick tour, including some documentation/photo stops at two of the former Washington Defense Area Nike Ajax missile sites, down by Croom and Brandywine.

As mentioned previously, there are two great Triumph clubs in this part of the country, CTR and TRAC. If you find yourself out here for a visit, by all means check in with either or better yet, both. AND, if you’re looking for some appropriate sports car roads, hie thee south along US 301 in the general direction of Dahlgren, VA (on the opposite bank of the Potomac) and dive off onto one of the side roads. The terrain and twistiness reminded me of the turf to the west and southwest of St Louis, although be advised a lot of these roads paved versions of old trails: very narrow and not much in the way of sight distance around the curves. Still, great fun, with plenty of outstanding scenery, historic old homes, farmland and periodic opportunities to look at the Chesapeake or one of its estuaries.

Once you’re away from the wilds and back in the main urban areas, a couple of rules: one, if you’re on a major freeway or highway (for example, US 301 north of Waldorf or thereabouts), do the same speed the traffic’s doing; if the speed limit is 60, plan on doing 70-75. The same goes for the freeways hereabouts…having a vehicle which accelerates quickly is handy (for a four-banger with automatic, the Command Vehicle – ie, my ’14 Kia – gets up and goes with great alacrity, highly useful hereabouts).

Also, while the denizens of St Louis are familiar with periodic accidents on the region’s freeways (such as the daily – almost scheduled – wrecks on I-70), around here they tend to take things to a whole different level. Case in point: heard on the radio that the pursuit of a suspected carjacker in Baltimore this AM ended up with his crashing into three police vehicles near Fort McHenry (which would place the event on I-95). Six other drivers immediately crashed their cars, apparently in sympathy with the law enforcement event wreck.  Sheesh….I expect things are still a mess up that way.