For Some Reason

I like to sleep when I'm in a motel room.

Tuesday night? When I posted last? Sleep? Not so much.

I'm gonna name names here - I and two others had rooms at The Branding Iron Motel in Faith, SD. It's a little place, older but seemingly fairly well kept. The room was neat and clean when I checked in, but hot. The building is "L" shaped, with a tiny restaurant near the center - which was also the office. I checked the thermostat on the wall for the heater - and it was set a fifty degrees. I turned down a wall heater, and there was another heater under the desk. It gets cold in that area, so I'm sure all those heaters would be a good thing at the appropriate time.

Just not tonight - it was just too hot in there. So, I cranked up the wall unit A/C and went to the cafe to eat. The cafe was pretty good, but the only waitress there really needed some help - so if you wanted a refill on iced tea, you had to ask. But, like I said, they were busy and she needed some help. Our corporate credit cards didn't want to run, so we were gonna have to wait until the next morning to try again and get our receipts.

Back to the room, where it was still hotter than Hades. The A/C was cooling a tiny hallway leading past the bathroom, but not reaching into either the can or the bedroom area. I'd hate to see how hot that room might get when it was warmer than about fifty degrees outside. Mkay, lets see about the internet. As I said in the previous post - no signal. So, I go to the can, man. About a fourth of a roll of bunghole fodder awaited me. No spare roll. Plus, the restaurant/office is now closed, so TP conservation is now in order.

It was just too hot to sleep - even with no covers. Toss and turn - nada.

Until about midnight - they are on Mountain time so it was one am for me. Someone just walked right into my room! I hadn't noticed the door didn't automatically lock. As it turned out, it didn't really matter.

Oh, sorry!

Ok, mumble mumble.

Well, that was unexpected. About five minutes later:

Hey, you in there!

WTF now?

You're in the wrong room! We've got the key, and this is supposed to be our room!

Uh, no - I've got a key and I've got this room.

Well! We've got a receipt! Do you have a receipt? Can you prove this is your room?

I've got to run my card in the morning when I turn in the key before I'll get a receipt. Otherwise, I've got the key and I'm already in this room. I'm not going anywhere.

Crap, what now? Are these guys gonna crash in and try to throw me out? I was just in some gym shorts and had my stuff all laid out all over the place.

So, is there a number we can call?

Yeah, that's me, expert on all things considered with this motel. If y'all already have a key and a receipt - you've been around this place well before me.

Hell, I dunno - this is the first time I've ever stayed here. Can't help ya there.

So, they went away. Had there only been one guy, I might have even offered to let him have the other bed in the room. But two of them? Probably drunk? Meh, not so much.

I lost track of things about two am - when I finally fell asleep. When I got up the next morning, it was evident that I had rationed the bungfod perfectly, if you know what I mean and I think that you do. The shower was just that - a tiny fiberglass shower. Patched with duct tape. I'd gotten about half soaped up when the hot water just quit. Oh boy, does it get any better? I shut the water off and figured I'd do a super quick rinse, if you know what I mean and I think that you do. When I got ready, the hot water came back - at least long enough for me to finish.

When I checked out, the waitress at the cafe told me the room mixup was her fault. I remembered why my card wouldn't run - we aren't authorized to purchase anything at a business that sells alcohol. Since the cafe serves beer, we can't charge a room - unless we call our finance guy and he clears it for us online. Well, it was well before he got in to the office, so I just paid cash.

She said she gave the two guys a refund - but where they slept? Got no idea. I'd looked online and knew there is another motel across town, but most of those places sell out every night. On my way back home, I drove by and it has truck parking, plus it's a hell of a lot more modern. I suspect we'll be staying there in the future - if we can get rooms reserved early enough.


If it comes down to staying at the Branding Iron or quitting a lot earlier - it's an easy choice for me. I won't stay there again.