Catherine Love~ Ramblings from my Heart and Home

Road Trip!

This past weekend was almost unbelievably weird.  Weird is pretty much normal around here,  my motto has become:

Around Here NORMAL Is Just A Setting On The Dryer

But, our little church trip to the leadership conference was something out of the ordinary scope of "weirdness" .

First of all, I had an interesting time getting facts about the arrangements, as our dear church secretary who had made all the arrangements was unexpectedly called home to be with the Lord a few weeks ago.

Then, when I thought that I had everything nailed down, Motel 6 reservations changed to my name and confirmed- not once but twice; off we went to Grand Prairie.

6 adults on a church bus...

My dh was the designated driver, and he requested someone "other than me"  to read the map and directions (so I've gotten us a bit lost once or twice). 

Well, the men "ahem" missed the all important exit, which resulted in absolute hilarity as we went "round and round", seeing many (or the same one) Whataburgers and Waffle Houses, getting more goofy and giggling as we went!  We did stop for coffee, which wasn't the best idea at 11 p.m.; interestingly enough, the "navigators" didn't bother to ask for directions.  One of the  three, the one who wasn't navigating and finally gave up like a child who's stressed and went peacefully to sleep in the midst of the mayhem and madness; did suggest (to the ladies) that they usually have free maps at the travel centers!

We did eventually find our Motel 6.....right smack in the middle of a tattoo parlor, Flashdance cabaret bar, and a "smoke shop"!  Oh yeah.  Check-in was interesting.  Nevermind the ladies from "Flashdance" and their....whatever.  My reservations, which I had confirmed, TWICE, were a joke.  Yes, they did have two rooms reserved for me.  Not adjoining as I was told, but we got that worked out, after half an hour of waiting behind the bullet-proof window amid the masses of disgruntled guests.

The rooms, well I should say the room the ladies got, was not quite what we were expecting.

First of all, their idea of Non-smoking was an ashtray turned upside down with a No Smoking sign on it .  The previous occupants apparently didn't get that one.

Next, there were BUGS in our bed!  My dh tried in vain to convince us they were gnats.  They did look a bit like a gnat, but they preferred hopping to flying, and those critters were down in between the sheets, NOT flying around the lights!

Let's see....oh can't leave out the smoke detector with the low battery, that started that beeping about 3 a.m.  One of the ladies pulled it off the wall, which had no effect on the beeping.  Then, she wrapped it in a towel- nope.  Finally, she resorted to taking her comfortor and wrapping it up in that.  It was probably still beeping, but at least we couldn't hear it.

They came by and emptied the trash dumpsters around 4 a.m.; which sounded to us ladies like the inevitable: a drunk crashing into the probably already vandalized church bus. 

About this time, the bar closed and there were some very loud, but tired, or so they said, people talking outside our door.

By the time the alarm went off at 6 a.m., we were more tired than when we got in bed! 

Strangely enough, the men did not have any of these experiences, and I can only assume that their room was sound-proof and had been recently exterminated, or else one or more of them snores really loud!

We gave up on finding all those Waffle Houses we'd seen the night before and settled for McDonald's for breakfast.  I promptly spilled my coffee all over myself and the whole table .  McDonald's coffee is HOT! 

By the time we reached the SBT Leadership Conference, some of us were truly "dazed and confused".  Two of us ladies ended up in a children's Sunday school leadership class (not the workshop we really wanted to be in, but whatever).  When the leader asked us to toss a ball back and forth and answer these two questions, "What is the last meaningful conversation you've had with a child?" and "Why are you here?"; we both went completely blank and I spent the rest of the class seriously trying to recall the answer to at least one of those questions! 

My dh and another of our men came out of the meeting with the leader of the Southern Baptist Association of Christian Schools just seriously considering starting a school!  The gentleman joined us for lunch, and I'm afraid my rather lame attempt to answer even the simplest questions in my dazed state, may hinder that one just a bit!  They are possibly going to attend a Christian School 101 workshop...  I keep thinking, "We are homeschoolers"..... HIS ways are not ours, right???

The trip home was fairly uneventful.  I think we were too exhausted for anything else. 

Well, I could tell you lots more about our weekend; but you've probably abandoned this for something a little less strange by now.  If not, stay tuned and I'll actually post some of the highlights of my favorite class later !

Ick

12:16 PM, Wednesday, September 12, 2007 .. Posted by YPAmy5

Oh dear, the hotel- words fail me. I wouldn't have slept a wink either.
Glad that was the worst of it.
Amy W