How to Have Major Car Trouble in Washington D.C.

Driving along the strees of NW DC to get to 295, during major peak hours (rush is a stupid word for such a situation) my car completely crapped the bed. The electrical system flipped out, shut down, and I was stalled in the street. As I got out, a guy. O a ike told me "you can't stop there!" As if I meant to do so.

My youngest, 6, freaked out. (His last trip into a major US city by car involved a trip to the NyC impound lot since I didn't know it is 15feet from the hydrants.) We got 911 and AAA on the phone. The police were there with flairs right away. AAA took longer. We had time to get my bike off the back and into the car, pull one night's stuff out of our trunk, get the wife and kids on the metro back to our friend's place. I went with the tow truck and got it towed to a decent repair place not too far from our hosts. I rode my bike in the city for only the second time ever (first was on the way to packet pickup at nations for a few blocks) and got safely back to the "home base." My evening will be figuring out whether to rent a car to finish my kids' trip to the beach, deal with the repair options in the AM, and see how much this is all going to cost me eventually.

So it sucked. BUT, I had a smartphone, major public transit, AAA, my bike, good friends, and we're going to be fine. If we had been on rute 295 or 50 when the car crapped the bed, my kids would be crying on a highway berm until we figured out how to get 4 of us in a tow truck and to a motel near a garage. I try to remind myself when things like this throw my life into semi-chaos that I am in a positon to deal with it OK and tha life will go on.

So, that said, anyone in DC want to take us to the beach and crash in our mote until Saturday?