The Budget Inn and The Denny-ites: June 24, 2012

Last night we spent the night at the worst motel I have ever experienced.  It was called the Budget Inn and it looked more like a holding cell at a prison.  It had cinder block ceiling and walls which were stained.  Both David and I sat in the chairs and ended up with wet butts.  (David wondered why just his ass was sweating.)  I don’t even want to think about WHY those chairs were wet.  I put a plastic bag on one of them in order to sit on it.

In any event, the motel was right next to a 24 hour Denny’s.  In the morning, I walked over and when I arrived, the server, a cheery toothless man named George said that he saw me coming and almost got the coffee ready.  I asked for a smoothie for David and he said that he could get the coffee but asked another server to do the smoothie.  She was on it, saying that she made the best smoothies.  They were quite a spirited team, especially for an early Sunday morning. 

I asked if they had muffins, and they said no, but offered me donuts that a girl, who seemed to be George’s girlfriend had brought in for them.  (They were from Dunkins.)  Somehow it came out that we were riding our bikes across country and that we had stopped in Herkimer because we needed a bike shop.  The smoothie girl said that her grandmother had worked at that bike shop.  I was surprised that a woman of her grandmother’s generation was a mechanic.  The whole experience warmed me and I am reminded that one can find camaraderie in the strangest places.

I went back to the motel and packed up thinking that very different people can relate to each other and inspire each other.