The only two Avis car rental outlets were at the airport, and out on West Broad St - on the map in Canberra, West Broad started really close to where we were staying . . . and the outlet had to be downtown, right? Wrong!! It was a good 20 minute taxi ride along the freeway (I checked the bus and it was going to take forever). After breakfasting together with Lisa, Bob, David and I headed off to Avis with a fascinating taxi driver who had lived in Sydney for a couple of years. Older and articulate, he was quite unlike the photos of the taxi licences stuck in the visor, a greater group of reprobates would be hard to imagine, their photos looking like mug shots taken after the prison riot.





We arrived at the location OK, and as our phone calls that morning to the outlet had gone un answered, Bob raced in to check that the car was there for us. The kindly cabbie refused to leave (and turned off his meter) until we were sure, as it "wasn't a good neighbourhood".





Inside was a woman at the counter who had just stepped out of character in some sitcom: an ole' biddy well into her eighties, made up to the nines with thick pancake make-up and the thickest southern accent. She kept returning seeking information of how things worked on the vee-hick-el and was most unhappy about having an auto with a hatch instead of a trunk. (For disposing dead bodies maybe?). She'd only ever driven ve-hick-els with a trunk.





Eventually our turn came, and our car was ready. I was delighted to find that it was a Chrysler PT Cruiser, as I thought that this would be more flexible for our travels. And it was! After returning to the hotel and checking out, we loaded our gear in the car, a little sceptical that David's bike would make the cut, along with all of our junk and three passengers. The flexible design and high rood line did the trick with room to spare - soon, we were heading out of Richmond and PT Cruising down Interstate 191 in search of decent coffee.





And we searched, and we searched.




Amid the heavy traffic on this six lane road were signs at each exit extolling the "full service food"; gas stations and fast food on enormous bill boards. After a while, our eyes were tuned to recognise the colours and shapes of the icons of not just McDonald's, but also Friendly's, Arby's, Wendy's, Burger King and a few dozen others. Occasionally an Italian Restaurant would be featured and we would quickly consider this as an espresso caffeine source before dismissing it.
As the hours ticked by and our fatigue grew, we knew that we had to find something before we reached the beltway around Washington DC. On the outskirts, we turned into what looked like a big shopping centre, although all was not as it seemed! A discount supermarket (in the Aldi mould) took over one section, rather unattractively named "Bottom Dollar". Next to this, with a large, roughly painted sign on the concrete building Moxie's Java was advertised. We made a beeline to this entrance.





We couldn't have been more surprised at what we found: A heavily secured entrance was guarded by an armed guard, and in the barn-like interior of must have been a former deportment store stood a number of small stalls, set up like that of an expo, or in the dry markets of Asia. Here, the lingua franca was spanish, and on asking the guard and some stall holders for the location of Moxie's Java, we were responded to in heavily accented Spanlish. The rest of stalls were predominantly Hispanic, although Muslims in Hijabs or with heavy beards seems to have the corner on electronic and cell phone concessions, and ethnic Chinese looked after the Gold and jewellery.





Past the signs selling shoes, lots of elaborate coloured frilly underwear and clothes (all in Spanish), we turned at the African Hair Braiding Stand (doing a good trade on African Americans) to find a bare interior dominated by the acoustic ceiling tiles and fluorescent strip lights. A couple of chairs and small tables were in front of Moxie's counter; there was an espresso machine, although there were also the ubiquitous large flasks of weak brewed coffee, the brew of choice of just about everyone. The ethnic Chinese woman was shocked at Bob's request for two double espresso's and David gave instructions on how to make a latte.