Smile-breaks
Mis-Adventures goes road-tripping
What a road trip! Full of grandiose scenery, special people and misadventures galore! I'd looked forward to this trip for three weeks, ever since it occurred to me that if everything worked out the way I hoped it would, I could—yay! actually hop in my car and take off for Nevada, Arizona, Utah and Colorado. Alone.
Everything worked out—friends and family agreed to look after Paul for seven whole days so I could go free-wheeling along the highway. No worries, absolute freedom.
In St. George, at the end of the first day, I couldn't find the Best Western where I'd booked non-cancelable reservations. GPS was no help so I called the hotel for directions. The desk clerk knew nothing about freeway exit numbers, let alone north and south, east and west. Somehow I got there. Turned out not to be a place or location I wanted to stay so I sat in the parking lot, mentally tossed the wasted dollars out the window and called a Best Western I'd noticed a few exits back that looked pretty good.
They had a room available and I found it easily—right off the freeway. I parked in the lot and got out my wallet, reached for my credit card and it wasn't there. Not anywhere in the wallet so I did the "find-the-danged-lost-credit-card" shakedown of my purse. A mess came out. No credit card. I checked the driver's seat and the floor under and around it. No credit card. Did I leave it at the gas station in Baker—two hundred miles back? I hoped not. I called the station. No answer. Of course.
Very reluctantly—because you know what a hassle it is having your credit card canceled on the first day of a seven-day road trip—I called the credit union and they canceled it. Like RIGHT NOW. Not to worry, they would send a new one to my house. Lot of help that would be.
But I had my debit card and they assured me I could use it for as much as I needed. And I had a few envelopes of good old-fashioned cash so I put my keys in my pocket and. . . felt something hard; kind'a plastic-y. Quick! I called the credit union back. Please!!! Un-cancel my card! I knew they couldn't, but it was worth a try.
The credit union rep—a really nice guy—sympathized profusely. "I'm so sorry. The card's been canceled and that can't be reversed." A minute later he said, "Um, we don't normally do this, but since you're on a road trip, maybe I can catch it in the processing center. Would you mind holding?" Of course I wouldn't. Hope rises eternal. No luck at the processing center and he was about to hang up when, "Wait! There's one more thing. . ." He called Mastercard. "Sorry. They won't reverse it. They have to talk to the cardholder and then they might. You could call them."
Enough phone time! I declined the offer and armed with my debit card, walked to the Best Western entrance. Locked. What? I walked around the corner. Aha! Another entrance. Locked. This couldn't be! I asked a guy in the parking lot. He said the entrance was around the next corner—a great big entrance that I couldn't miss. I turned the corner and what did I see? Another entrance exactly like the two locked ones. Okay. A building has four sides, right? I went around one more corner and there it was: the great big grand entrance.
When I told the desk clerk about my door misadventures, she said, "Oh! You must have come in from the back." O-o-o-kay. I pulled out my debit card, made my reservation and went out to re-park the car.
You need keys to re-park a car. . .
So far we're having a great time on this road trip—you think? The driving is great. The scenery beyond words. The excitement one hundred percent provided by yours truly, Mis-Adventures. See you next week!
Next: Mis-Adventures keeps on tripping
