Road Trip: day two -- Three Disasters Averted

I got lucky today. First disaster was I couldn't find my Mobile WiFi stick and had searched the room, thought I might have left it in the car and last night used the hotel's WiFi. I looked again this morning, then went to the car and it wasn't there. I really looked under the seats... everywhere.

I was torn about what to do. Part of me just wanted to give up, but I had brought my hotel key with me in case I went back. I decided to go back, went to my old room, searched again... then I called the front desk to see if anyone had turned one in (figuring it might have fallen out of my computer bag somehow in the parking lot or hallway), but no.

I asked her to send a housekeeper to the room to help me look. This young woman came, and I asked her to search under the bed... I had only done that part half-heartedly -- never got down on my stomach, but she did, and she was crawling under the bed... and FOUND IT!

That saved me $160 for a replacement.

Next disaster averted is I went to my first order of business, which was getting gas. I pulled up, When I opened the little door to put the gas in, I saw this bright yellow gas cap and this warning that you can only use E83 fuel. I have no idea what that is. I sort of looked around thinking that maybe there's a whole new kind of fuel other than regular gas and diesel, but no.

I decided a few things-- if I couldn't put in "normal gas" -- I would have been warned by the rental car place. The yellow gas cap would also warn me what NOT to put in, and then the gas pump nozzle would probably be a different size (like diesel is) so you couldn't use it. Then I thought there's no way a rental car company would have as part of its fleet a car that required special gas.

I filled it up and hoped for the best.

After "regular gas" was in my tank, it occurred to me to look at the owner's manual, which I did, which made no mention of special fuel -- only to use premium fuel, which I don't ever do in a rental car.

#3 is I was getting off an exit, about to merge, and I hear this big WHOMP in the right side of the car as if I had hit something -- quickly looked and there was nothing to hit -- no fence, no sign, no other car, no nothing. I thought the car might have thrown up a stone or something -- when I stopped the next time, I held my breath as I went to look, but not a spec... I guess the rock (or whatever it was) hit the underside of the car.

In short, I had a lucky day... which included some sunshine... and this oddly beautiful storm system. The photo doesn't really do it justice, but it was these storm clouds with blue sky both above and below:

Most of the day, I was in sunshine. One thing that I miss living in a city is this big beautiful sky. We don't get to see this much sky ever, and I'm fascinated by how lovely the clouds are -- like something in a jigsaw puzzle.

When I've made these trips, I've discovered these great truck stops which I prefer since you can get gas, plus park right in front of the store (like a giant 711 with restroons). Plus, they are always located right at the exit. Anyway, I had to use the restoom, so I stopped at this place... hadn't really paid attention to the name, but I thought it was not exactly a Madison Avenue-approved name for a place -- but it was evidently a popular place as it was really crowded. In case it's too small, the name of the place is SHEETZ and the other words say "Fresh Food Made to Order."

and finally, here's the view from my hotel window. You can see I'm on the first floor and the building you see is a Holiday Inn -- so close you could throw a stone at it, but I'm in the Fairfield Inn.

BONUS PHOTO: HELL IS REAL

This is one of my landmarks. When I see this sign, I'm about 45 minutes from my client.