- Thread starter
- #101
Sorry for the delay. I went up in the mountains camping and exploring. I just got home.........
The next morning i made myself home at the crappy continental breakfast bar at the hotel and coffee'd up. I packed my truck and then headed to the front desk to discuss the rate.
I told the lady at the desk that i would like to give her the opportunity to make the situation right and what did she think was fair? She said how about a $10 discount. WTF! I smoothly reached to my wallet and pulled out my business card. I flipped it over and asked her to write her managers name and phone number along with the district managers name and phone number on my card. Tell them to expect a call from me after i have called Comfort Inn corporate and the BBB. I walked out the door and decided to just shake it off and let it play out.
I jumped on the road and set the cruise. It worked and it was beautiful weather. My goal this time was to try to make it to the east side of St. Louis.
Again, east Colorado, Kansas and most of Missouri pretty much bite when it comes to driving. It's just long and boring. I drove hard all day and luckily this time the wind was mostly to my back. After driving for hours, i finally realized that i probably was really going to be pushing it to make it to the other side of St. Louis. I could do it but it would probably be close to midnight before i got there.
And then, the thunder clouds started to build. Great, i could see that i was about to drive into a storm.
Finally i reached the rain and the lighting. It only got worse. Eventually it was raining so hard and the wind was blowing so hard that i had my wipers on full throttle and had the cruiser tucked behind a big rig running a whopping 35mph! Then the hail came. After over an hour of driving through this it was getting dark and i realized that i probably wouldn't even make it to St. Louis at this rate.
I started looking for exit signs for a hotel but i could barely see them with the rain and wind. I tried to glance down at my phone and use some apps to find hotels. It wasn't looking good and now it was about 10:30 pm.
Then i remembered about the state park that i camped in on the way out. I wondered how close i was to it. I punched in the coordinates on my GPS and realized that the exit to the campground was only 25 miles away. I could make that.
So, i pressed on in the hail, rain, wind and lightening and made it to the camp spot. It was pitch black and i finally backed into my camp spot at around 11:30 pm. Then i realized i needed to test my abilities to set up this fancy tent in the rain when it counted.
I reached for my rain jacket and decided on the count of three i would jump out, do a Chinese fire-drill around the truck and pop the 4 latches. one, two, three i jumped out, jumped up on the slider and got the first one off. Then to the second one. Third one and finally forth one, it popped up! I reached in for the ladder, hooked up the ladder and then got ready to jump back in the truck..... except for the fact that i started to laugh and realized that i was completely soaked. Yes, my t-shirt under my rain coat was dry, but my pants feet... everything was soaked.
Being completely dark, i decided to reach in the truck, get a dry pair of undies, a towel (the cleanest one i could find, which means it wasn't really "clean"), strip down to be butt naked, climb the ladder, towel off quickly and slip in the tent. Slip on my new, clean undies and pass out. After just a few minutes of listening to the hail pound the roof i was Done!
The next morning i made myself home at the crappy continental breakfast bar at the hotel and coffee'd up. I packed my truck and then headed to the front desk to discuss the rate.
I told the lady at the desk that i would like to give her the opportunity to make the situation right and what did she think was fair? She said how about a $10 discount. WTF! I smoothly reached to my wallet and pulled out my business card. I flipped it over and asked her to write her managers name and phone number along with the district managers name and phone number on my card. Tell them to expect a call from me after i have called Comfort Inn corporate and the BBB. I walked out the door and decided to just shake it off and let it play out.
I jumped on the road and set the cruise. It worked and it was beautiful weather. My goal this time was to try to make it to the east side of St. Louis.
Again, east Colorado, Kansas and most of Missouri pretty much bite when it comes to driving. It's just long and boring. I drove hard all day and luckily this time the wind was mostly to my back. After driving for hours, i finally realized that i probably was really going to be pushing it to make it to the other side of St. Louis. I could do it but it would probably be close to midnight before i got there.
And then, the thunder clouds started to build. Great, i could see that i was about to drive into a storm.
Finally i reached the rain and the lighting. It only got worse. Eventually it was raining so hard and the wind was blowing so hard that i had my wipers on full throttle and had the cruiser tucked behind a big rig running a whopping 35mph! Then the hail came. After over an hour of driving through this it was getting dark and i realized that i probably wouldn't even make it to St. Louis at this rate.
I started looking for exit signs for a hotel but i could barely see them with the rain and wind. I tried to glance down at my phone and use some apps to find hotels. It wasn't looking good and now it was about 10:30 pm.
Then i remembered about the state park that i camped in on the way out. I wondered how close i was to it. I punched in the coordinates on my GPS and realized that the exit to the campground was only 25 miles away. I could make that.
So, i pressed on in the hail, rain, wind and lightening and made it to the camp spot. It was pitch black and i finally backed into my camp spot at around 11:30 pm. Then i realized i needed to test my abilities to set up this fancy tent in the rain when it counted.
I reached for my rain jacket and decided on the count of three i would jump out, do a Chinese fire-drill around the truck and pop the 4 latches. one, two, three i jumped out, jumped up on the slider and got the first one off. Then to the second one. Third one and finally forth one, it popped up! I reached in for the ladder, hooked up the ladder and then got ready to jump back in the truck..... except for the fact that i started to laugh and realized that i was completely soaked. Yes, my t-shirt under my rain coat was dry, but my pants feet... everything was soaked.
Being completely dark, i decided to reach in the truck, get a dry pair of undies, a towel (the cleanest one i could find, which means it wasn't really "clean"), strip down to be butt naked, climb the ladder, towel off quickly and slip in the tent. Slip on my new, clean undies and pass out. After just a few minutes of listening to the hail pound the roof i was Done!
