it looks like a mitten.

Well friends… I’ve had a billion ideas in this head of mine, but I’ve been mostly unmotivated to write for some reason. This is only my 70th post, and I’m already fatigued… I gotta snap out of it!! 299 posts remain! (also, 294 shopping days ‘till Christmas.)
So yesterday I departed Michigan. I drove the 11 or so hours straight through and it felt good. I love driving. I really really really love road trips. Someday I’d like to take like a month to just drive around and stop at all the fun and campy roadside attractions… lots of people backpack around Europe… well I’d like to road trip around the US. Maybe start with Route 66… pipedream, probably…
So I was in Michigan for the first time since I took an awesome group of high schoolers to Toronto on a mission trip four years ago. We stayed in East Lansing on the way home at a low-cost hotel chain. (I don’t want to say the name, but there’s 365 of them Inn a year… if you catch my drift) SIDENOTE: check out the comment on my Qwest diatribe… too funny!
Anyway, we’re at this hotel in Lansing and it is the WORST. Ghetto doesn’t even begin to describe this joint. We were on the 5th or 6th floor- all to ourselves. The lights were out in the hallways, the beds messed up and there was blood YES BLOOD on the lampshade in my room. We had 2 rooms- girls in one, the boys in the other. I honestly have never prayed so hard knowing that the girls- all under age 17 were in the room across the hall all alone… it was a scary place. I was so put off by this experience that I wrote a letter. Actually, I wrote 3 letters. One to the manager, one to the franchise owner, and one to the president of the company. I still have a copy somewhere, I’m sure… I never heard back from the president. The franchise owner said he gets a ton of complaints about that particular location and would look into replacing the management. The manager called me. He was mad that I was unhappy. He basically called me a liar and said that I was never in any danger. Eventually he took my address and promised to make it right. 3 weeks later I received a $20 gift certificate to be used at a future stay. It expired in 90 days. BLOOD ON THE LAMP SHADE… and I got 20 bucks off… doesn’t seem right. Needless to say, I’ve never even considered staying at that hotel chain since.
Thankfully, last night’s stay was much more enjoyable and my general disposition toward Michigan might be once again almost favorable… maybe.

TODAY I LEARNED how important fog lamps and white lines on the highway are. I would not have made it home last night had it not been for them.

TODAY I LEARNED ABOUT GOD: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NLT)