It will take a lot to convince me otherwise, but I truly believe that when a hotel front desk person is trained they are instructed that no matter what a guest requests that guest should be given a room exactly the opposite of what was requested.  It happened at 2 Hilton properties, it happened at the Venetian and it just happened at today’s oliday Inn. I ask for a room close to the elevators or to the lobby. I get a room that a Sherpa would have trouble getting to. Back to the trip... 

Sunday,  June 14th 450 miles today about half of it was on state roads going through towns and watching the speed limit sign go from 65 to 55 to 45 and to 35… over and over again it happened.  When I was first planning this trip I thought about avoiding the interstates so I could visit the “real America.”  Today’s drive showed me that if I had done that the 3.5 week trip would have taken 3.5 months if not more.  The buildings that I saw in these towns reminded me of the buildings I saw when I was a kid and my father drove coast to coast. That most recently was 69 years ago and those buildings were run down then.

Finally, I got to Trinity, Florida on the Gulf side of Florida where I got to have dinner with my son Neil, daughter-in-law  Dawn and Dawn’s Aunt Carol.  We went to a nice seafood restaurant about ½ hour away in Port Richie called Catches.  I had grouper with lump crabmeat on the top and covered with a very nice lobster sauce.  Homemade potato chips on the side.  Tomorrow I’ll continue the visit here.

Neil has one of those devices that plugs into the car’s diagnostic port and confirmed the same error message that I was told lo those many days and a lifetime ago in Utah.  He reset the check engine light.  He also said he can use a power washer to get rid of the dead bugs all over the front of my car.  I have to decide if I’ll let him remove these friends who have been accompanying me and have become “attached” to me.

**After writing the above about day 17 where I spewed about how front desk clerks don’t listen when assigning rooms. I did an internet search on the subject (I don’t say I Googled it because I use Duck Duck Go rather than Google because they don’t track you) and found that my tongue-in-cheek remark is i fact correct. They ARE trained not to listen.  According to several travel blogs the most undesirable rooms are given first.  There are several reasons.  1) They want to cluster guests as close to each other as they can for more efficient housekeeping and heating and a/c.  2)Holding the better rooms gives them the opportunity to possibly upscale and therefore charge more to either those arriving late or those arriving without a confirmed reservation.  Almost uniformly it is recommended to not accept the first room offered or to look at a hotel room map before leaving the front desk.

Monday, June 15th. The day started with me bringing the car into an Ace car wash where 90% of my dear companions, the bugs, were washed away into oblivion.  They may be gone but I’m sure there will be others to take their place.  The rest of the day was spent with Dawn, Neil and Carol except for a few minute drive with Neil to go to the mausoleum of George Steinbrenner… don’t ask why.  Then it was back to the house and telling family stories and a few jokes.  Dinner was nothing fancy just very good burgers and good… very good caring service at Craft Street.

One other thing we did was I got the others to watch the first episode of one of my favorite TV shows, "All Creatures Great and Small." It is a PBS show and a real "feel-good show."  If you've never seen it I highly recommend you find the episodes and binge watch

I tried calling the manager of the Hampton Inn in Mesquite Texas to complain about my stay there but I inadvertently called the Hampton inn in Mesquite Nevada. So I’ll try again tomorrow.

Tomorrow it’ll be dinner with Lindsey, Keith, grandson Jaxson and ex #2 Jayne in Port St. Lucie.  Dinner with Jayne will complete my trifecta of having had dinner with all three of my exes within one month.  After dinner it’ll be on to Boynton Beach.