L&M Trip--Day 6--Looking for My Mother, Looking for a place to stay for the night

Day 6

We stayed with Uncle and Aunt till about noon. Then we headed back to central Connecticut. At this point, the day turned bad or at least funky. My mother had taken a fall a few weeks ago and now has a compressed disk which was giving her a lot of pain. I had not originally thought about stopping to see anyone, but thought it might behoove me to stop to see her. Tried her land line; tried her cell. No answer. This made me rather nervous. I then called my sister, who thought that she might be at the Senior Center which is a normal haunt for her. Drove to her apartment building. No answer. She has a friend with whom she is out quite often. My only problem is that I did not know her last name.

Stopped at the local Walmart where my niece works. It is near my mother’s apartment. Got good directions to the Senior Center. Drove there. Wondered around. No one knew my mother. She usually goes for lunch, but the lunch room was closed and locked. The other people there apparently don’t go for lunch, but for later in the afternoon activities. Now what! Went back to her apartment building and rang her bell again. No answer. Rang the office. No answer.

Sitting in the parking lot trying to figure out what to do next when Lynne saw a car pull up in front of the door. I looked back. It was her friend. Charged to the car. My mother has NEVER had bed hair, NEVER. She got out of the car with bed hair. I knew something was wrong. She had gone to the hospital for a procedure on her back which kind of glues the disk together and was still a tad groggy. When she realized I was there, she dismissed her friend. Lynne and I helped up to her apartment. She seemed happy to see us. Sat in the living room for a short while, and she wanted to retire to bed. She wanted us to stay for a while. As it turns out, she was supposed to have someone with her for the first twenty-four hours. She had lied to them at the hospital and said she had someone. Lynne and I offered to stay locally, but she said no.

After some more time, she said less than tactfully, “You people can leave now.” I cracked up. She is very stubborn and independent…almost 91. And I guess very tired by now by this time of the day.

We left with the idea we would stay at a motel for the night. No evergreens scheduled. We drove all the way to Fishkill, New York. Ended up at Extended Stay America—horrible night. Stupid dog barked next dog half the night. This is one of the worst places I have eveeeeeeer stayed. Rugs in corridors were stained, no shampoo or other regular amenity-type products. And the plate from the microwave was on the counter, with burned on crusty gunk. And that stupid dog. Sounded like a puppy or Chihuahua, probably in a cage as the sound did not move. Bark, bark, bark. Bark, bark, bark. For hours. At one point, other larger dogs (German shepherds—not caged…the sound moved all over) who joined in the fray of confusion and noise. Apparently, several people complained, because we could hear people slamming doors, etc. And eventually everything was quiet. I think they were tossed out. AND IT WAS OVERPRICED—very expensive. Again, Irene was the cause of our current problem. Because so many trucks and linemen were in the area, using all available rooms, they would not give AAA or AARP discounts. THE PLACE WAS OVERPRICED (guess I already mentioned that)!

Not our best day!

I will never stay in one of these places again.