Slugging Success

Since I've gotten my route down, slugging has been working even better for me. It only takes me about 4-5 minutes to get to the Pentagon in the afternoon leaving Crystal City to pick up slugs, and that's just because of stoplights and the traffic cops at the Pentagon. Then it usually takes me about 15-20 minutes to get back to the slug lot once I pick up slugs. I'm usually only on the HOV lanes for about 6-8 minutes. Sometimes it seems longer because of the distance I'm covering in that short time, but typically I am going 60-70 mph on the HOV lanes (it's ok, Dad, even though I know you aren't reading this, the speed limit is 65).

Seemed fitting.

Once I exit the HOV lane, it only takes about 10 minutes to get back to the slug lot because I take the Parkway instead of Old Keene Mill Road. OKM road in the afternoon is seriously painful. The Parkway doesn't get bad until right after the exit that I take to drop off slugs, so it goes much more quickly than OKM. I feel like I have inside info knowing this, because I think about 90% of the slug drivers going to Rolling Valley lot take OKM road in the afternoon. If you suggest this to the riders, they are usually more than happy about it, and is another way to achieve "prototype slug driver" status.

A couple days ago, I hit every light, picked up slugs immediately at the Pentagon, and traffic was great on the HOV lane. I think it took me maybe 22 minutes to get home. It was heavenly. That used to be the amount of time it took me to walk down to the slug line in DC. Seriously, sometimes it's the little things that get you through the day.

CC Walker-Talker

I picked up slugs both this morning and yesterday morning. It's been reliable for me in the morning lately, and I definitely prefer picking up slugs and getting on the HOV lane to sitting in the crawling traffic.

Yesterday I actually had riders that were going to Crystal City. Up until then, each time I picked up slugs in the morning I was dropping them off at the Pentagon. I'll pull up and say Crystal City or Pentagon, because Crystal City riders are kind of hit or miss to find and are rarer than Pentagon riders. I was glad I finally got some CC riders because it's less out of my way and the traffic at the HOV exit is much better once you split off from the Pentagon drivers and go to the right instead of sitting in the line that turns left. I did end up going out of my way to drop them off a little further into CC than where my parking garage is. But I kind of felt like that was me "giving back" again as a former-passenger because I've had drivers that have gone a little bit out of their way so that they could drop me off closer to work, and it's just nice. Plus I had no idea where the "normal" drop-off for CC was, so I just went with the flow.

Today I went back to the Pentagon to drop slug off, and one of my riders was definitely a talker. Not to say that I mind, because it usually makes the time go faster and I like meeting new people and socializing, anyways. But it does depend on the person. Sometimes as a driver (or even as a passenger before) I just wanted the other people in the car to be quiet for one reason or another. If it gets to that point it's probably because they are obnoxious or annoying, because ask B, I like to talk. All of my afternoon slugs have been quiet and I just play my country music and tell myself if they don't like it, oh well.

I found out this guy usually goes to CC but just that day he had to go to the Pentagon. So I'm sure I'll be seeing him again. I heard parts of his life story, we talked about slugging patterns and odd slugging stories, and he asked about my job, etc. The normal traffic conversations, discussing the new building off 395 that has no commuting plan whatsoever and is going to be a massive headache when workers are transitioned there, the usual slug convos. It did make time go faster and he didn't question the status of my university or anything like that. (My last "talker" asked me if Penn was a real Ivy league school or a fake one, because he thought it was a fake one.  And was I sure it was a real one? Well, it's not as GOOD as the other ones, right? I should have said, we're the party school Ivy, and left it at that.) The ride took about thirty minutes total, so not too bad.

I'd seen that guy before when I used to be a passenger, and just from standing in line I knew he was a talker. So I knew what to expect when he came over to my car. I don't know names so I'll dub him CC walker-talker. Apparently he walks back and forth between the Pentagon and CC a lot, whether to the Pentagon slug lot in the afternoon or if he can't get a ride to Crystal City in the morning. It's not far, and I'm pretty sure a lot of people do that because the Pentagon slug lot is just easier to get rides to and from.

DC sluggin'

Next week, I will be starting a new job in Crystal City. Don't worry! I can still slug! (If this is the first and only post you have read, refer to this post to understand).That's literally everyone's first or second concern when they hear my new job is in Crystal City. "But...can you still slug?" It's typically genuine concern (although one of my coworkers had a more sarcastic tone to it...he is skeptical of slugging and shall remain nameless) and I choose to interpret their concern to mean that they love reading my blog so much that their day would be less entertaining without it. Or maybe they just enjoy overhearing my morning story time with S where we exchange any funny slugging stories across cubicles loud enough for the entire sparsely populated office to hear. Since I only have like 8 followers. Or maybe modesty isn't my best trait and they are just concerned about me being able to continue slugging for financial reasons. Since right now I pay nothing for my commute. Nah, genuine concern for my finances? I'm going with the first reason.

To summarize, yes I will be slugging still. The only difference is in the afternoon, it doesn't appear that drivers from Crystal City go to my slug lot where I park in the morning. So while I can slug from the morning lot to Crystal City, I will need to metro to the Pentagon and slug from there in the afternoon. Not a big deal. And I'm sure I will still shave at least 15 minutes off of my commute since I won't be sitting in any 14th street traffic! Perhaps I'll transition into the slug driver in the near future...that'd be interesting.