Hotel Stay Before Camp

Nice People

Day one in the hotel.

Due to a miscalculation I ended up spending two days here as opposed to just one. For me, that’s a good thing because I like hotels. But more on that later.Last night, when the train came into Chicago, I shared a shuttle bus with a family of four from Iowa. It was mom and grandmom with two kids, minus husbands. They were extremely nice. See, here is why I can’t write off the entire white race even after experiences like the ones on the train might make me feel like doing just that:

The shuttle bus dropped us off at Pere Station. I hadn’t anticipated a couple of important things about Grand Rapids.

1. That the train station would be closed. To be honest it probably would not have been closed if the train hadn’t ended up 5 hours late.
2. That there were no cabs around.

My first inclination of this was as I gathered my bags from the bus, the grandmother asked me if I had a ride coming. I told her no, that I was going to catch a cab. I had assumed cabs would be just hanging around the train station waiting for customers like in some other big cities. And that’s when I learned the ugly truth. But I still wasn’t worried. There was a pay phone and the number to a cab company a listed.The grandmother asked me if I wanted to use her phone to call a cab. Not wanting to impose on a stranger, I said no thank you. I had a pocket full of change just for this occasion. The grandmother offered again. This time I saw the mother ( her daughter) of the two boys behind the grandmother giving me one of those let- us-help-you looks.

Who can resist that? I conceded.The grandfather, who had come to pick them up, called the cab company. Then came their next question. Did I want them to wait with me until the cab showed up. People disappear everyday never to be seen alive again, but at 12:30 am in Grand Rapids that didn’t concern me. I told them no. They were being far too nice to me - seeing that they’d never met me before - and it was making me uncomfortable. I realize how odd that sounds, but I'm from a big city where most people are indifferent to strangers.

The grandmother asked again if I did not want them to stay while I waited. I insisted I would be fine, anticipating a wait of no more than ten minutes or so. The family went back to their car. I started picking up and arranging my bags, tent and whatnot that had fallen on the ground. A minute later the grandmother came back to tell me they were going to wait anyway.

And they did.

They were so incredibly nice - something I almost don’t expect in white people ( not towards me anyway).

Do You Have Any Bug Spray?

A troublesome issue popped up at the hotel I stayed. I was washing my clothes in the bathroom sink and getting ready for bed and all that when I saw a bug in the bathroom. My first thought was it was a roach. I hate bugs.All of them.Well, let me qualify that, I hate bugs that I can see in my living space. Be it my apartment, a tent, or a hotel room. This was a somewhat large bug, so there was no way I was going to kill it. I was too busy trying not to panic. I left the bathroom and sat on the bed for a moment to gather my composure and decide what to do.

Then I saw another one ripping across the dresser.That, plus the oversized moth flying around the room prompted me to go to the front desk. They guy came back to my room, caught the one on the dresser and the second one in the bathroom. He informed me that they were not roaches, they were beetles. That roaches had long, brown bodies, these had.... well I forgot what they had and didn’t particularly care. I thanked him for getting them out and he left.But now my mind was now on bedbugs. So all of my stuff stayed packed up, bags zipped closed. I had no intention of taking any little visitors with me when I left the hotel. But see, I don’t know what kind of beetles they were, nor how they got in my room. Any of the following could have occurred:

1. They caught a ride on my bags somewhere between Grand Rapids and Oakland.
2. They came under the door - there is a noticeable gap...
3. They were in the room already ( which possibly leads back to #2).

I’m just glad they’re gone and hope to never see anything like them again while I’m here.

Hotel Day Two

I woke up to the Science Channel and a show called What The Ancients Knew. It was about Japanese culture. About why the Japanese seem to be so much better at technology than a lot of other countries, that they transferred a lot of their old traditions to the new technology. So an ancient tradition of making clay pottery and magic mirrors is turned to circuit boards. Reusing old information. Fascinating.

My goals for the day all come down to food (there is a Denny’s right next door, fortunately); locating a drug store or somewhere I can get camera batteries and ribbon (The ribbon will mark the path to my tent on the land. It’s easy to lose one’s sense of direction in the woods); check out and get to the train depot before two; and to mail letters.

**

Tomorrow is Wednesday. The day I would normally see Dan. Very unsure about the festival. Scared. Excited. It’s hot as hell here in Grand Rapids. Supposed to cool off by Friday. A little.I’m waiting here at the train station for this adventure to start. I have 2-3 hours. Checked out of the hotel late cause my watch wasn’t set to the correct time.

There’s a bus! I got my camera out to take a picture of the next one. A dude is coming by. Got my eye on him. He went behind the train building, walked along the tracks. Away from me. He checked the garbage. Walked away because he felt my fear? Probably not. It was simply the most direct route around the corner. Bus came by at 12:06. I’ll see when the next one comes. I want to get a picture.Should have eaten something before I left the hotel. There is nothing around here. Got beef jerky. I’ll eat that later. I’m not that hungry now. But by 3 pm or so, I will be. Hoping to get the tent up by before it starts raining. Dinnertime should be starting not long after I get there. Maybe I can get a cute woman to help me with my tent?A woman is walking by, white, maybe a kid. Nope, she’s older. Older than me. Through the parking lot. Think she’s gotten too much sun. She’s all dark and pruney, for a white person. In an unnatural way. Like George Hamilton.

I will be buying some more toothpaste and bug spray, I believe. My arm and hammer deodorant doesn’t work as well as I’d hoped. Think the woman is using the pay phone. I hear her talking.My stomach is starting up a bit. This must be major truck route. I see almost nothing but coming by. It’s hot out here. Not too unbearable though.

Figured out why I like to watch movies and listen to some songs over and over again like a little kid. It’s the feeling that it gave me that I like to keep with me, especially if I liked the movie or song.

Got a picture of the bus finally.It’s closing in on 2 pm.The shuttle should be here by 2:30 or 3. If it’s not here by then, I’m calling them. The next one comes at 4 and that’s the last one for the day. One hour to go. I’ll be so glad to be around nothing but women, although simply being out of the Bay Area has been wonderful. Being back in the Midwest feels great. Comfortable, like home.