[Hoot Gibson]

How has traffic been in DC this week Hoot?

A stupid question, no doubt.

I was out of town all week, Bob. I rode back to DC last night with one of my sons. Traffic was awful leaving town on Friday - getting out of this area for the weekend is always tough, but traffic on the return trip was pretty light. I guess most of the out of town visitors had already checked in to their hotels or wherever else they found to sleep. My daughter said that they shut down quite a few roads last night, so my son rode the Metro back to DC early this morning.

DC is a very unfriendly place for people who own cars, businesses, or anything else. They need a large number of parking towers but the liberals in charge do not want to do anything to encourage driving vehicles. It would not be so bad if the Metro system was not so badly mismanaged. The District's Council's attitude toward its subjects is "let them ride bicycles and scooters."

If West Virginia ever finishes work on Corridor H, which will connect Elkins to Wardensville and the Virginia state line, the drive from Paintsville will be much better, IMO. I hate traveling through Beckley on I-64 and I-81 to DC and I don't like the route through Maryland on I-79 and I-68 much better.

Because I work in the Capital District, today is a federal holiday for me. I just watched President Donald J. Trump's inauguration speech. The darkness of the Obama era has been lifted and I feel like the sun is finally shining again. We dodged multiple bullets over the past 8 years and survived. We cannot afford to blow many more chances to rein in the power of the federal government. I hope Trump lives up to my hopes and expectations.