I-66 Inside the Beltway

[DonRocks]

You may have noticed a new sign for Wendy's near the N. Lincoln Street overpass of I-66 eastbound, just before Exit 72, Spout Run Parkway.

If the mere existence of this sign wasn't bad enough, once you've already committed to the exit ramp, there's a second sign concealed by a tree, basically saying "tee hee hee - it's 2.0 miles from here."

Worse, it doesn't tell you which way you're supposed to turn! If you take a right, you'll be thrust into Rosslyn with no Wendy's to be found. So where is it?

Incredibly, the sign is apparently for that nasty, decrepit Wendy's near the intersection of Lee Highway and George Mason Drive. You have to take a left onto Lee Highway, then fight two miles of traffic running opposite to the way you were coming from on I-66. On the way, you pass Pasha Café, Arrowine, Lebanese Taverna Market, Crisp and Juicy, Café Parisien Express, Heidelberg Bakery, and maybe a couple others I'm not thinking of, not to mention The Italian Store which is virtually at the bottom of the exit ramp in Lyon Village shopping center.

To add insult to injury, there is no hint of any reentry onto I-66 eastbound from that Wendy's. You either need to continue down to Sycamore Street, or head back up to Glebe Road. Any way you slice this up, you're looking at a potential thirty-minute detour just to fight your way to some seriously disgusting food.

Why did Wendy's get to have this billboard posted on I-66? Do they have some sort of contract with FHA? VDOT?

Cheers,

Rocks.

[V.H.]

Perhaps it was a gloriously brilliant ploy by the Lee Hwy Business League. You con loads of people who think they want Wendy's into driving down a most delicious two mile stretch of Lee Hwy. Instead of the Triple Mushroom Cheddar Jack Spicy Crispy Homestyle Chicken Sandwich, they get a schwarma sandwich and some chocolate croissants. Or perhaps a tasty bratwurst sandwich if it's a Saturday afternoon and they're grilling out in front of Heidelberg.

[lackadaisi]

Any way you slice this up, you're looking at a potential thirty-minute detour just to fight your way to some seriously disgusting food.

So, did you end up eating at the Wendy's?

[DonRocks]

So, did you end up eating at the Wendy's?

It had closed at 1 AM, unfortunately.

[johnb]

It had closed at 1 AM, unfortunately.

It is not clear to me why exactly this is unfortunate.

Was this episode due to the ineluctable pull of a very strange jones, something eminating from tastes developed during a misspent youth, for example? In a place like, oh, Casper, Wyoming?

[jparrott]

Or dinner at Minibar?

[The Hersch]

Hold on a cotton-pickin' minute there, pardner. At 10:12 pm Rocks posted this in the 2941 thread:

!

And less than three hours later he's wandering around Arlington jonesing for Wendy's cuisine? I think we're in very deep waters here. In fact, either he or we may have just crossed over into The Twilight Zone.

[Meaghan]

We need to start a thread:

Good Restaurants with Highway Signs

Deep in France, do they have signs on the road pointing you to good places to eat? Or yellow and black signs cautioning that winemakers are crossing?

Likewise, we need to have the Rockwellian scale of substantive portioning:

1= very small portions/mandatory second meal

10= huge portions;mandatory post-meal fast and risk of reduced sexual activity, bloating and mild depression

[Bob Wells]

We need to start a thread:

Good Restaurants with Highway Signs

Deep in France, do they have signs on the road pointing you to good places to eat? Or yellow and black signs cautioning that winemakers are crossing?

Likewise, we need to have the Rockwellian scale of substantive portioning:

1= very small portions/mandatory second meal

10= huge portions;mandatory post-meal fast and risk of reduced sexual activity, bloating and mild depression

that's a great idea for a thread. south of virginia, almost no good barbecue joint has either a billboard or a line on a gov't highway sign.

[Banco]

Why did Wendy's get to have this billboard posted on I-66? Do they have some sort of contract with FHA? VDOT?

This is something I've noticed since moving to the DC area ten years ago, and I'm not sure if it's national. It used to be that you saw a sign like "Gas - Food - Lodging", took the next exit, and there you are: your gas, your food, your lodging (though I always thought the order of these didn't make any sense). It worked the same with signs with the restaurant logos on them. But now whenever you take that "next exit" you have to drive for a few miles into some God-forsaken retail strip. I guess it's another sign of industry telling government what to do.

[jcc]

Worse, it doesn't tell you which way you're supposed to turn! If you take a right, you'll be thrust into Rosslyn with no Wendy's to be found. So where is it?

If you take a right onto lee hwy and then a right on Veitch and a Left onto Clarendon Blvd, you'll see the Wendy's at N. Courthouse Rd and Wilson/Clarendon Blvds.

Avoid it.

[DonRocks]

If you take a right onto lee hwy and then a right on Veitch and a Left onto Clarendon Blvd, you'll see the Wendy's at N. Courthouse Rd and Wilson/Clarendon Blvds.

Avoid it.

I had thought about this previously. That can't possibly be the Wendy's they refer to - it has no drive-thru, virtually no parking, and even Kreskin wouldn't know to turn onto Veitch Street, much less to follow it all the way to Courthouse.

Cheers,

Rocks.