Traveling home from another week out of town, I received a call about a project not going smooth in the East side of the State. There were problems with the contractor.
Since I was already in the car, I thought to go directly from the airport to the project site; no need to get busy with paper work at the office just yet.
After several hours in the car, it was getting dark and the project site was not as close as I first thought; I started to look for a hotel to spend the night. Being in the country on a two lane road east of all civilization, with deer just waiting at the next bend of the road to spring up in front of the car, where the skunks and armadillos are visible only after you run them over and trying to keep your eyes on the road looking for a hotel at this hour of the night can be very stressful.
Finally, lights ahead! There is a billiard hall with beer signs, a mobile home park, a closed gas station, and a hotel. The Canyon View Hotel is written on the outside of the building, but being so dark, I cannot distinguish the canyon.
Stopped on the front door where it clearly says “office”, but cannot find anyone to answer my call. Finally, a woman comes out of the back of the room and tells me this is the only hotel in 25 miles. This doesn’t look like the Hilton, the Ritz Carlton or even the Motel 6. This is not fun, and they don’t take credit cards, only cash in advance.
The woman walks me to another building where after another door, she opens it to what look like a sun porch, opens yet another door to a living room, another one to a kitchen, back door to the outside and yet another one to a bathroom where more than one person cannot fit. She is proud to let me know all this for only $19.99 plus tax per night. I feel so lucky.
After the litany of amenities in the room, including the latest renovation, she leaves me to lock the front door, find the back door does not have a lock, the television has a dial instead of a remote, the new curtains do not meet in the center so I was forced to use a paper clip to close them tight after removing the large green, ugly grass hopper sitting on them. I also managed to kill a couple of cockroaches with my shoe. I could not use the commode unless I close the door of the bathroom completely.
There is no closet, no way to hang up any clothes, no dresser to organize and no lamp on the nightstand. There are strange noises outside my room, but it may be the neighbors having some fun. I can’t worry, I need rest.
Finally, I closed my mind to all the worries, fell asleep only to wake up to banging on the wall; somebody was having too much fun on the next room. It is now about 1 am.
The next morning, the same woman who met me the previous night knocks on the door to offer coffee and doughnuts, compliments of the house; where else can you get this kind of service for $19.99 cash plus tax, in advance? Not the Hilton, not the Ritz Carlton, not even the Motel 6.
By the way, there was no canyon near by.