A Living Magazine - Day 248 - Homecoming - High Point: And The Wind Blew

I woke up at around 7:30 a.m. and decided right there and then that I would spend one more day at the motel. I went down to the office and purchased it from Mr. Personality, and then headed to Walmart to get some more food for the day...

On the way back I saw these two hilarious vehicles...

Car culture. Trick out your grandfather's car.

The clouds were breaking, the temperature was rising, and the wind was really kicking up...

When I got back to the motel, I noticed the builders were back (see the white truck)...

I worked for a while, but kept being drawn to the outdoors. I could hear the wind whistling around the railings of the second floor. When it blew through the trees it sounded like a truck going by on the highway. When I stepped out I noticed just how quickly the clouds were passing over. I tried to capture it, but the video just didn't seem to do justice...

The wind speed according to Intellicast was approaching 60 mph.

So, if you consider that this cloud ceiling was about 1,500 feet and think how small a car

would look up there in the sky traveling along with the clouds, it is easier to imagine the speed.

When I went back inside the hammering and power tools began above me. I tolerated it (with grinding teeth) for about five more hours. But, I just couldn't deal with it anymore as late afternoon approached. I went back down to the office. The manager wasn't there and a woman was sitting in his place. She rose and asked how she could help me. I told her the situation. She said she didn't think they would be working there all night. I stepped up to the counter and said, "All night? Are you being serious?" She said she didn't know much about the situation. I told her that I'd paid for a peaceful night there and they needed to stop NOW. 

She said she understood and would call the manager. I thanked her and was returning to the room when the manager walked around the corner. I approached him. I told him - again - about the situation (as I had the day before). He smiled like it was all a big joke and practically walked past me. I stopped him and told him that the noise had to stop. He huffed, with the same shit-eating grin still on his face, backed up out into the parking lot and yelled up to the guys on the second floor in Hindi. They stopped for a moment. 

Apparently, he had his son, cousin, brother in law and everyone else he could talk into emigrating from India up there remodeling his rooms at my expense, while I slept on his plastic bag bed with the burn holes in the bedspread and brown burn marks all over the tub. We were both saving money I guess. All the Indians nodded and laughed. He looked at me, said nothing and waved as he continued his walk to the office. I yelled after him, "So we're all set then?" He turned and nodded on his way.

By the time I walked back into my room it was 6:00 p.m. I figured the guys upstairs would continue for a few minutes and then pack up. So, I took some photos of the evening... 

My room.

See the two doors open above my room? The workers were having a grand old time up there,

watching TV, rounding off screw heads, and what not. 

Something about the slippery word "lox"... Not what I would name a door lock system.

But, what the hell do I know from bagels and cream cheese?

The work continued for another hour. Just after 7:00 I heard them all pile into their truck and head out. 

I had a big walk the next day and wanted to get as much sleep as possible. So, like any good American I shut down the laptop and climbed into bed, falling asleep in front of the TV watching Dominic Monagham's Wild Things (good show, by the way).