geography problems: Atlantis Found, Minor Wash, DC geo problems in novel

I'm reading Atlantis Found, and enjoying it.

But, it would have been a good idea for the author or publisher to have edited by someone who lives in the Washington, DC metro area, because the geographical mistakes are slightly distracting. Of course this is a minor detail of little matter except to us locals.


In case the author reads this, here are some notes:

c. p. 125

> Took an hour and a half from Springfield to Fredericksburg at posted speed

That doesn't make any sense -- it only takes an hour and a half from Springfield to Fredericksburg if you have heavy traffic on I-95. That's plenty common, but in that case you are *not* going at the posted speed limit.


c. p. 128-129

> Took the George Mason bridge over the Potomac to Washington's International Airport.

This really is a giveaway that noone from Washington/Nova/MD metro area edited this.

The "George Mason bridge" is part of the 14th Street Bridge, and you can't take it from Virginia to get to any airport, unless you are taking a particularly bad route to BWI, which makes no sense here. Washington has three airports, and none is colloquially referred to as its "International Airport" -- they're all three international airports, and they all three have well-established nicknames.

BWI ("Baltimore Washington Airport") is nearer Baltimore than Washington, but is widely used by people living in the Maryland suburbs.

National, aka Reagan National (Washington National Airport, aka Ronald Reagan National Airport), is in Virginia just next to the Potomac river, and I think you must have met this airport, but you can't call it Washington's "International Airport" because that sounds way too close to Dulles' arcane but actual name -- plus, Washington has 3 international aiports.

Dulles, further east in Virginia, is actually named Washington International Airport, but nobody calls it that, and most people don't even know that is its actual name. I knew someone who saw "Washington International Airport" on an intenet ticket he bought, and drove to National, where he unhappily discovered that "Washington International Aiport" is the legal name of Dulles Airport.

Driving from Fredericksburg, you don't cross the George Mason bridge to get to National or Dulles, unless you started out going south from Fredericksburg to the 301 bridge to get to Maryland, and then came back up to Washington, so you could recross back into Virginia -- but I can't imagine anyone would do that on purpose.

Driving from Fredericksburg, if you crossed the George Mason Bridge to get to a bridge, you would have to be headed towards BWI, but you'd still be 30+ miles away from it after you crossed that bridge -- and again, BWI is not "Washington's International Airport".

Let it be a lesson to all of us "DO NOT TAKE DIRECTIONS FROM THIS SOURCE'

*Note to self*...........................
When visiting Washington DO NOT rent a car that has Onstar............
spend $10 and buy a friggin map book instead

I can see how this would bother you. If the characters had been in Detroit and taken funky routes to go somewhere, I definitely would have noticed.

That brings up another point, I can't recall a single Clive Cussler book where any of the characters went to Detroit. Can you? Now, there are plenty of good reasons NOT to go to Detroit, but in almost 30 books you'd think they'd at least make a stop over.

One thing that bugged me from AF is the reference in Chapter 26, to " large islands as Greenland and Mozambique". I'm pretty sure the intension was Madagascar. There is an island called Mozambique (over and above the country), but that is pretty small.

I'm pleased that there will be an editor in future to check out these details.

Yeah, I live five minutes from the 14th street bridge complex in Alexandria, of which the George Mason bridge is one. Its actually the same spot that a plane crashed in the early 80's. Everytime I drive by National, which is almost everyday, I try to picture Dirk's hangar on the tarmac, but there really is just no room there for an old abandoned aircraft hangar, at least not where Clive mentions it. I always picture NUMA headquarters to be in Rosslyn, next to Iwo Jima and Arlington cemetery, with an unobscured view of DC and Georgetown.

Considering how much of a car guy Clive/Dirk Pitt are, you'd think Detroit would be a must at some point...

Does Dr. C have any Studebakers or Packards? We have the Packard Museum here in Dayton, Ohio and the Studebaker Museum is in Indiana. Maybe one of his new characters could drive a Studebaker or Packard. Or if you are a history picker you could find a rusted car on some back road homestead and refurbish the vehicle to look like it used to be. Or find a pawnshop that sells everything from old cars to boats to weapons.