A Wild Weekend Pt 2

Brian Continues... 

The cab drives us about 3 blocks to a cluster of motels and not too far away another hotel. First motel has no vacancies. Second motel has no vacancies... wait... someone just cancelled the room with no heater.

We take the room and an extra blanket offered. All we have with us is a plastic garbage bag with a couple of waters and energy drinks I pulled from the car before we locked it up, another plastic grocery bag with some playing cards and one or two items in it, plus what's in a pouch and our pockets.

The room was clean but the bed was uncomfortable. Nonetheless, we got enough sleep to face the next day which started off okay. No razor, no deodorant... but thanks to the motel, we did have soap and shampoo.

We also lucked out and got a minimal but sufficient continental breakfast bar. Deciding we could both use a little exercise, we decide to walk from the motel to Pep Boys. It is now that I realize that walking along a city avenue, carrying a couple of plastic grocery bags at 8ish in the morning might make us appear to be homeless.

I begin making mental entries in the imaginary journal of a couple...

"First day being homeless. Bellies full. Don't think we'll have to walk too far today."

"Day two being homeless. Found grocery cart alongside road." Really, we did find a shopping cart - the folding kind that is taller than they are long for private use, alongside the road.

We get to Pep Boys and get things rolling. Like a bad good news/bad news joke we get a series of alternating good news and bad news.

Good news - problem is alternator (which we suspected) and that's an easy fix.

Bad news - don't have the right one in stock.

Good news - we have sources to get them from even on a Sunday.

More Good news - one of the sources had two in stock.

Bad news - not really.

Good news - the last source has one.

Bad news - they don't deliver.

Good news - service manager will go pick it up.

Bad news - it'll cost more.

Good news - its only a few dollars more.

Okay, so now we have free time. We also need a couple of items including a car charger for at least one phone. WalMart almost right next door. Problem solved.

More time to kill now, so we play hand and foot in the Pep Boys waiting area, much to the amusement of several other customers.

The drive home is uneventful and pleasant.

Yeah for the simple pleasures in life. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This concludes my first guest post and first two parter. I have interesting friends as you can now see. I look forward to featuring more from them and other strangers I encounter this year. Keep watching!