It’s time to head out and make the grand circle tour from Dulles to the Outer Banks and then finally on the way to Raleigh.
But first, it was finally time to tank some petrol for the short run to Arlington National Cemetery to visit Dad before heading off to get the kids and Mistletoe.
At the petrol station, I’m sure I scared the hell out of the guy at the pump next to me when I’d looked toward the north and noticed a massive four-engine jet on final approach to Dulles. I hadn’t started pumping so I grabbed my phone and sprinted to the berm at the street just in time to catch the Emirates A380 about one minute from touching down. I’d imagine they were landing on 19L on the right side of the diagram (any of the three 19s can handle the A380 but 19L has the advantage of being closest to the class-F gate used by the superjumbo).
The last time I’d seen an A380 was at New York City’s JFK terminal #4 where I had all of about fifteen seconds to snap some quick pictures of another Emirates A380 winding through the alley past an Aer Lingus A330 and avoiding the notice of a suspicious security guard.
The reverse of 19L is runway 1R which is the runway Alex’s Super King Air landed so many years ago when he was seven weeks old and he was flown from RDU to IAD and then transported by ambulance to Children’s National Medical Centre in NW Washington DC (the rest of us had the joy of driving in on I-95 and the lovely experience that is the I-495 Beltway).
That seemed as good a sign as how the day would go as any. 🙂
After finishing the fill-up, I got onto I-66 to head toward Arlington but having never driven that route before, I missed the initial turn for Arlington. But that’s OK, I got much better views of the Pentagon from the hill near the Ft Myer entrance where we had entered for Dad’s funeral.
Of course, I took full advantage of that view before heading back to the entrance. I made it through the security checkpoints quickly enough but took the scenic route on Eisenhower and then Patton to arrive at Section 76.
The day was a beautiful summer day with a bit of a breeze every now and then but other than the odd plane landing on runway 19 at Ronald Reagan National (DCA), it was very quiet.
That was the setting that inspired this letter I would have sent to my father. It only took a few seconds to compose in my head but I stayed next to his grave marker transcribing the letter into my phone for the next hour. I was hoping the battery would last as I wasn’t wanting to unpack the boot of the Traverse to get the iPad out and fortunately luck was on my side.
Once the letter was finished and it was time to say “until we meet again” (because we both always abhorred saying “goodbye”), the Traverse decided to show its usual perverse sense of humour with the song that was coincidentally next on the playlist at departure.
