Actual conversation with fellow shuttle-van rider as we passed within 100 yards of the Washington Monument on our way down 14th Street to our hotel:
Him: "What's that?"
Me: "What's what? That monument?"
Him: "Yeah, that monument."
Me: "The Washington Monument. The Lincoln Memorial is off in the distance."
Him: "Oh. I kinda figured it was something."
I honestly thought he was only asking to see if I, a fellow American, knew - some sort of federal program to test the tourists' knowledge of the epicenter of world power.
Another rider, who took one last pull on her cigarette as she set foot into our van, later had a loud cell-phone conversation in which she implored her interlocutor to please call Craig and have him pick her (the caller) up at the Baltimore airport. We were a few blocks away from the White House at the time. I didn't want to ask if she knew that Washington and Baltimore are distinct cities, but later had to loan her my pen and give her a sheet of paper so she could take down Craig's number.
I thought all the weird, ignorant people were in the Midwest.