Finally it's Friday

When I got up today for the fifth time before 6 am, I was half boxer sitting on the little stool after going five rounds and not wanting to go back in the ring. The other half of me was the coach telling the boxer, "Just one more; come on, you can do this."

This place doesn't have guest laundry facilities and I was unable, as planned, to wear any clothes a second time due to the heat, mud, rain, sweat, etc. The front desk told me they would do laundry for $5 a load which I thought was a better idea than dragging my sorry ass to a laundromat.

Having been a victim of hotel laundry/dry cleaning services, I was worried that there was no bag for the laundry so I had a good idea of putting everything in a pillowcase. Thus at 6:20 this morning, I presented my pillowcase with laundry inside to the front desk girl who was not the most confidence inspiring. She wrote my room number on a tiny post-it note, and I made her add my name. Of course the post-it note wouldn't stick to the pillowcase so I told her to tape it as well. I confirmed that I'd get the laundry back today.

Off I went, did my event. If I'd had the energy, I would have clicked my heels when it was done. I hung around for a while and then took a nice drive into the country, had lunch, and came back to the hotel. I had had it with work. I was done.

I was driving aimlessly, just making turns, seeing how lost I could get, and found myself on this little road lined with blue flowers and Queen Anne's Lace. Very summery and pretty.

This is how the road looked... you can see I pulled over to one side since there wasn't a car in sight anywhere.



Then I got stuck with this train. I was trying to turn left. Even though the very considerate Wisconsin drivers were waving at me that they'd let me sneak in line after the train, the oncoming cars from the opposite side of the track made it impossible for me to turn for a few minutes.



I was a bit surprised my laundry wasn't in my room so I called and was assured it would be there "by this evening." I called again at 4:30  because I didn't want to hear the refrain, "Oh the girl who did it went home and we don't know where she put it."

On the second call, she told me my stuff (two pairs of pants and three tops) were in the dryer so I took that as a good sign. I was tempted to tell her to take it out now and bring it as I was sure it was in some commercial dryer at 870 degrees fahrenheit.

I have previously mentioned the totally poor housekeeping which has reigned all week so what happened next... well, what happened next still surprised me. I would typically tip, but I felt they had relinguished a right to a tip and as it turned out I'm glad I didn't even give a dollar.

I didn't really pay attention, just took this flimsy, filmy plastic bag and put it on the bed. The one shirt was hanging out and it annoyed me that she had been sloppy with it. I went to fix it and realized that she had taken my hot clothes straight from the dryer, still hot, and simply crammed them in the bag, just a balled up mess of clothes.

Oh, was I supposed to ask if my clothes got folded? Earlier that day, I'd told someone that a corporate lawyer friend had advised me to "always articulate the obvious" -- so if you order a hamburer, ask if it comes with a bun. It did occur to me to ask if the laundry would be done that day (articulate the obvious) but never would it have occurred to me to ask if it would be folded.

I am glad I was in the room to fold, but there are many more hot wrinkles in there than there should be. What a joke.

Meanwhile, at this place, cleaning the room means new towels and empty the wastebasket and pull up the sheets. That's it. A paper cup from the ice bucket tray that I used in the bathroom remained there all week, as did the soap wrapper, as did the empty toilet paper roll (Yes, there are two rolls so I guess I should be
 happy there were!) The sink is not cleaned, nor is the bathtub.  I had a paper soda cup from a fast food place with a napkin crumpled in it on the nightstand which has stayed there a few days until I threw it away. I always tip the maids, even for one night, but I am not leaving a tip for this crew.

I am torn about signing up for next year. I like this hotel (yes, that sounds surprising, doesn't it?) -- well, I like the location and the rooms and I sort of feel confident in the devil I know. Maybe I'll sign up when I check out for next year and see if anything else arises.

So I'm pretty much packed and next stop is Cleveland. I'm not sure what time I'm getting up. This is a longer drive -- 8.5 hours -- so I'd rather get going sooner rather than later. I actually could have left after this breakfast this morning, but that would mean too much hassle in the morning. I was thinking if I come next year, I will do my breakfast event, then come to the hotel and check out by 11 and drive to some nice Lake Michigan hotel, some sweet little cabin on the lake.. I think that would be a nice way to spend the night.