Away From Home

After a weekend in No Data Service Available, Iowa, we are soaking up all the smokin' hot wifi we can at our motel here in Clear Lake. 

That's right, we're in a motel. We checked the moose into the Winnie "hospital" in Forest City this morning to get the last of our warranty work taken care of. Then, we found our way to our home away from home for the next few nights. 

This will be the first night in 476 that we will not spend in a motorhome. (But, who's counting?) We did spend a couple of nights in our friends' motorhome when we were homeless back in July. But, tonight our home has no wheels. 

It's weird!

Once upon a time, I spent more time in hotels than I did at home. At least it felt that way. When my work required me to hit the road, I became quite adept at making myself at home away from home. But, today it feels like I'm in a foreign land. 

When we lived in our sticks and bricks house, the two of us were quite skilled at the fine art of packing for travel. All we needed was an hour to pull together everything we needed for a few days away and have it packed in the car, ready to roll. We're sad to say we've lost this ability we once mastered. Figuring out what we needed to bring with us for the next few days was a big project. Finding it all, packing it and squeezing it into the Jeep was another. Turns out we didn't forget anything major, that we know of anyway. Time will tell.

While we're missing our moose, we have stuff here that we don't have in our rolling home. A king size bed is number one. A bathtub is number two. I think a nap and a good soak are definitely on the agenda. 

We're trying to treat this forced getaway as a bit of a vacation. But, rural Northern Iowa in late October is not exactly our idea of a vacation destination. And, when did motels get so expensive? We're paying as much for this far-from-glamorous pied-a-terre as we did back in the day when our vacations took us to beautiful places and lovely hotels. This place makes the nicest campgrounds we've visited look like real bargains!

We wish the "doctors" in Forest City all the best as they get our moose back in shape. We hope their work goes well and finishes quickly. I have a feeling all four of us are going to be eager to get back home as soon as we can. 

Meanwhile, I think I'll soak up just a little more wifi!