Oh The Places You'll Go

I got the "Down Low" on the secret surprise trip for Elisabeth's birthday. I missed a really great time from the sounds of it. The adventure, the intrigue, the spontaneous singing...the blood stain????? One of the things Elisabeth metioned was the state of the mattress in the hotel they stayed in. It got me thinking about a story...

When I was in Bible college, my friend Leon and his girlfriend (now wife) Kasia came to visit me from VT. I was really excited about it. At the time, Leon and I had briefly discussed being roommates for a period...but that never panned out. Anyway, VFCC had a lot of rules...one of which was that you couldn't have a member of the opposite sex stay in your room. This made having male friends visiting from out of town a bit challenging. One of the nights they stayed at my friend Marty's house...but the next night the 3 of us decided to stay somewhere on our own. We wanted freedom. So, we rented this motel room. YIKES. It was scary, but cheap. The room was a bright blue with a ratty latch hook rug on the wall. I have a picture of Leon and Kasia pointing at it with perplexed looks on their faces. It's very funny. The toilet paper in the bathroom was a mostly used roll and the towels were yellowed from smoke (we hope that's what it was from). I remember it being freezing cold in the room. I slept on the floor, it sucked big time.

Another weird hotel room memory was when Karen and I went to Nashville for our friend Val's wedding. What a trip. Usually when we talk about it, the focus is on the ridiculousness of the car issues and how we now can't look at a Kroger's or Firestone with anything but disdain. But the hotel room was another highlight...let me tell you. If you have seen the movie "Identity" ...I think that this hotel, although in a busy area, kind of reminded me of that place. Well, in the middle of the night, we awoke to (or had we fallen asleep yet?) sounds of people out and about on the walkway, feeling the place shake a bit when people ran up and down the stairs, the sounds of what we could only assume was drug deals going on, and more. I'm pretty sure there was some discrpency in the cleanliness of the room, too. From then on, we decided we would find a nice hotel when we traveled together. (After such a crazy time with the car and all the hoopla, we stayed in a Hampton on the drive home)

The moral of the story...when you're travelling...you may be desperate for a place to lay your head...but make sure you are prepared for all conditions. Maybe a crime scene kit like from one of those detective shows to investigate the room, your own bedding and toiletries, a spare padlock for the door to protect you, or at very least, your own wall hangings.