Before I left for work (via bike) today I thought I’d better do a test run to see what I might face. What with the alleged impact to our federal lands/parks/trails/monuments. See I ride on/over/through/in each of these as part of my commute. Naturally I leashed up Samantha and we took a run to the closest space that would present all mediums of national land/space: The Lyndon B. Johnson Memorial Grove on the Potomac. I absolutely love this space–and for a number of reasons: It’s relatively easily walkable from home (so also within short run distance), it combines water, trees, animals, quiet, trails, and nice views. Perhaps most importantly it’s dog friendly and has a marina with a public restaurant with dog-friendly outdoor dining! One of our top local spots to visit. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve been to and/or through it.
Within a block of the small parking lot of the western entrance I gave a hard tug on Sam’s leash to slow her for the rest of the trip. Ahead were three law enforcement vehicles–not unusual since the other side of the street (literally) is the Pentagon reservation, east side. However, this time all three were tucked close together by the Park entrance so I was fully prepared with my speech of ignorance. Instead we took the sidewalk of the lot down the ramp and stopped at the landing before the bridge. At that spot we saw the National Park Service’s attempt at keeping out people: a couple large orange rubber traffic cones and a smallish wooden barricade.
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| West Entrance to LBJ Memorial Grove |
All had been moved aside and within a few seconds of stopping a bike whizzed by us and headed across the bridge. I waited a few seconds……..he didn’t come screaming back chased by law enforcement so we headed into the Grove. We saw a similar scene near the end of the marina parking lot so ran a couple trails inside when out of the corner of my eye I saw several guys running what looked to be repeats. We headed in that direction and ran across a number of youngish men with very close-cut hair…..along with water bottles and the expected gear tossed on benches. Oddly the guys were each wearing numbered bibs…..moving in closer I saw three uniformed (military style) with clipboards tucked behind a couple pines. My guess was correct–repeats of the PT type.
I was relieved I was now highly unlikely to be hauled out of the park as I had what I felt was a pretty decent excuse….the ‘barricade’ was removed before we showed up, we saw a bunch of guys running laps so we thought we’d do the same and get my pup a drink out of the human fountain (which she’s become excellent at utilizing).
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| Repeats, Military Style, LBJ Grove |
Count me pro-military….but it stung a little that the message was being delivered ‘civilian’ individuals could not use park lands but military staff can. And it hardly seems ‘essential’ that repeats be done during furlough time.
Count me pro-military…but it stung a little But I’m not enlightened to the intricacies of how things work so I decided I’d live with my own tiny semi-silent protest/expression of freedom of speech by simply finishing our run, again use a fountain and retrace our steps back home. On the way out of the park we encountered two additional cyclists and and three moms just getting out of their cars and strapping kids into strollers. Perhaps they too were headed into this wonderful park to deliver their own small, silent protest.