The Towels Were Just the Beginning of the Nightmare

Susan goes to bed early because she has to get up very early most mornings to be at the hospital preparing for surgeries. I'm more of a night owl.

We settled in once we got back from dinner and turned the TV/computers on. We noticed that there was a loud bang that occurred about every 10 minutes, which was annoying, but not enough to keep Susan awake. It did keep me awake--sounded like it was coming from the bathroom, but it wasn't. Then, at about midnight a bus full of young people (obviously not supervised by adults) arrived and the nonsense started. It lasted until 3:30 a.m. - running past the rooms, yelling, laughing, knocking on doors, etc. When they finally quieted down, I could get some sleep.

Susan got up and ran, and walked Jack. We both showered and decided we would take a ride down to Sylva and Dillsboro. It's obvious that the economy has taken its toll on many small business when you go through these small towns. They are charming to visit, however. I don't have many pictures to show for the day. In many of the little towns along the backroads, the roads are very narrow and there's no room to pull over or park.

The weather was near perfect--could have been a little cooler, but it stayed between 75 and 80 for most of the day. The ride wasn't as pretty as I had remembered it, but that may have been because I was tired. Regardless, we enjoyed the afternoon, and headed back to explore some more of Asheville.

We were trying to decide which restaurant we would go to for dinner. A friend of Susan's had suggested a few. First we'd go back to the motel to freshen up and get Jack settled in.

We arrived. The same big bus that had brought the noisy people was still there, so we knew we would be in for another night of noise. The beds were made, however sloppily. We had hung our towels to dry on the towel racks provided in the bathroom. Still, they left the dirty towels from the previous guests on the floor where we had been told to put them, yesterday. There was also a wet, dirty rag/towel left on the side of the tub--guess housekeeping was in a hurry and forgot it.

It took us about two minutes to decide that we weren't suffering through another night. We left. I stopped in the office to tell them why and to return the keys; they couldn't even provide a receipt because I had made the reservations on the internet through Orbitz. They said I would be emailed a receipt. I explained to them that when Orbitz sent me a confirmation, my ISP quarantined it because it had a virus. I was holding my temper, but it was not easy. All I got in response was a shrug. We'll see whether they shrug a complaint from headquarters off. I have a feeling that I won't get any satisfaction as I'm sure they are full most times; and the bottom line is all that most companies care about.

So, while I had a nice time with Susan, the weekend wasn't what I expected AND I'll never travel anywhere without my trailer, again! If I ever HAVE to, I'll bring my own towels. :)

The Jackson County Courthouse is an impressive building.

 Dillsboro has a stream running right along the main street

Susan relaxing on one of the many benches in Dillsboro

Dillsboro provides very nice public restrooms. They could teach the Days Inn a thing or two. 

On a quick stop in Canton, I saw this mural. 

It's 9:00 p.m. and I can feel my eyes closing. This trip just convinces me even more that the west is so far superior to travel than the east with the exception of the coastal regions.