Welcome, Ven a gozar!

Remember Star Trek with the Cyborgs taking over the known universe, and mechanically modifying every life form they came into contact with? The show carried a strong message on many levels. “You have been Borg’d”, brought a smile to many people’s faces. The sad thing is we have been ‘Borg’d’ but not by some outer space race. We have been Borg’d by our own modern style of living. It is now not possible to drive across the whole United States and never eat, or sleep, like you could in your own home town.

When I travel and time permits, I like to do things that are not in my home town. That means eating at a cafe or restaurant that does not advertise on national television. It means sleeping in a hotel that is not part of a national chain. Guess what, it is a lot of fun! The meals are usually very close to home cooking, and inexpensive. The hotels are clean and quiet too, but not the most modern. And you do not spend your night trying to sleep with a freeway fifty yards away from your hotel window. Of course you have to plan ahead, because the really small towns are pretty much shut down for the night by seven p.m., and if you do not have any snacks you can get pretty hungry by morning.

I was driving through Kansas two years ago and drove into a small town looking for somewhere to eat dinner. What did I find but a beach bar and grill with a salt water aquarium, and a singing Mermaid! I was a thousand miles from the ocean and here is this fun little place with a seaside theme that is not only surviving, but thriving! I had a good meal, and talked to the woman who was tending bar, about the place, an asked her if I could hear the mermaid sing. Of course at first she was reluctant because that only happens at nine p.m. each night, but considering I was passing through and asked politely…I heard a mermaid sing! Now how often does tha happen in a national chain of any type?

I drove on for another hour or so and ended up at a small hotel that had about fifteen rooms. I was tired, but it looked well kept, although it was empty except for me. The man at the desk told me I could have a room for twenty-eight dollars. Then he asked me right away if I thought that was a fair price? I started to say yes, but he interupted and said it was their ’slow’ season and I could have a room for twenty one dollars, but he could not go any lower. It was a nice clean room, a little on the old side, but when I turned off the lights it was hard to tell where I was, except it was oh so quiet.

The next morning I found myself in the Texas Panhandle wanting breakfast. I stopped at a little place with all of six tables in a town with a population that could not have exceeded a few hundred. I am greeted and placed at a table where the regulars have already had breakfast and the next group would not use that table until lunch time. A group of four adults showed up who of course were regulars. They made small talk with the waitress, who was fresh out of high school. It seemed that down at the electrical substation two miles out of town, there were doughnut marks in the driveway, and someone thought they saw a blue car down there last night, and was it her? After they got done teasing the waitress, I became their focus. It turned out that one of them had lived in a little town I once did many years before! The world sure is a small place some time!

If you have a weekend, or you can afford the time to drive somewhere, you might give it a try? Stay off the freeway and take the ‘back’ roads. There is a lot of America out there to discover, and you will have fun along the way. As I mentioned meals and lodging are usually very reasonable and you will sleep soundly without big city or jet noise coming through the walls of your room. If you are really lucky, you may even get to hear a mermaid sing! Or you could stay at a national chain hotel and eat dinner at a burger place just like back home.

Comments (0) Oct 09 2007