Hotel Survival

[siguy]

last weekend i got stuck going to Bethlehem, PA for a long weekend of manning a booth at a dog show. my mom screen prints dog drawings onto sweatshirts, and sells them. she needs me along to watch the booth while she walks around chatting with all her old friends (she has been doing this since the 80's)

so anyways, she remembered earlier last week that the show was this past weekend, so i was caught with short notice...so i didn't really have time to plan any thing or grab any books from the library to read... this is my tale of survival.

first we drove for 4 hours in the rented truck. i brushed up on my road navigation skills studying the road atlas. it is hard to figure out where you are going without a compass! even in a car...

we got to the show, set up the booth (lots of heavy lifting) and headed to the hotel we would be residing in for the next several days. i unpacked my things into the drawers. i noticed the tag advertising WIFI service in the room, and cursed myself for forgetting to bring a laptop. no email or bladeforums for Simon :grumpy: it was late, so i headed to bed. OH NO! i forgot my chap stick (i normally put it on right before bed, and i'm fine for the whole next day). guess i would have to improvise...to the PJCB! it works alright, even if it doesn't taste like anything...

then, i brushed my teeth, only to discover that the cheap toothbrush i had in my travel kit was very stiff and made my gums hurt! nothing to do about it now, i would just have to suffer.

Friday:
when i awoke and went to get into the shower, i realized that all we had was the small packet of hand soap the hotel was trying to pass of as shampoo...oh well, it would do for the time being.

when i went to eat breakfast, i realized i had no bowl. i had left my trusty cereal bowl at home. i used a fast food container from the night before...it worked alright but it was no bowl... i also only had a plastic spoon, which was far too small...took way too long to eat my cereal.

i spent about 10 hours sitting, manning the booth. i was going insane. i made lots of gear lists, did lots of math for different tarp sizes, and played with a tape measure imagining various tarp setups.

then i got to go outside for about a half hour walk, and i found a small bit of wilderness.

 

[siguy]

i used my Fiskars slide saw to cut a piece of wood, and then used my Case stockman to roughly whittle it into the general shape of a spoon. time to head back inside...

i spent a long time whittling the spoon, wishing i had brought my gouge with me.

the rest of the day was pretty uneventful. i bought a new cereal bowl (large stainless dog dish-the twin of the one i normally use at home) from one of the other booths.

we spotted a dollar store nearby though, and using the ultimate urban survival tool ($$ ) we were able to get a new soft toothbrush, shampoo and conditioner, and a big spoon. :thumbup:

Saturday:
more of the same. very bored. this night, i had everything pretty well sorted.

at the show, i cut up some plastic bags into strips and braided some cordage out of them. this is good practice for natural fibers, since some are better for twisting and some are better for braiding. the plastic was too slippery for twisting, so i had to braid it. one bag yeilded about 6-7 feet of braided cord. it would have been more if i had been more careful and conservative.

sharpened up the cheap scissors we had in the cashier's stand:

lunch, in between two slices of bread (not the knife ):

i noticed the action of my knife feeling a little bit gritty, so i just dabbed a bit of the peanut butter (all natural! ) into the joints and it smoothed them right out.

on this night, i brought my overnight pack (that i had brought with me) up to the room and unpacked it and repacked it, getting everything more organized and giving myself some more space.

Sunday:
this day we broke the booth down and packed up. lots of road navigation when we took a wrong turn and didn't realize until we were 20 miles down the road. we found a route that would take us to where we were going without too much hassle though, so it worked out.

so overall, i learned alot about my travel kit as well as coming up with all sorts of things to keep myself busy with nothing to do.

 

[BarberFobic1992]

spoon looks nice. i personally hate hotels. they are usually dicusting and the shower heads are usually about 5 feet tall, so after i am cone showering i have to lay down because my back hurts so bad. i dont sleep in the beds either, i usually end up sleeping on top of the bed to avaoid contact with the sheets and pillows. glad to here you survived though.

 

[siguy]

B, i know what you mean about the showers, i'm only an inch or two shorter than you. once i was in a hotel where the shower head was literally at my shoulder! the guest room in my grandma's house has a super low shower head too...i have to stoop to get my head under it...

 

[rroundy]

sounds like a running acount of life on the microcosm.

fun adventure though. seems like good memories are gleaned from the mundane.

hope you enjoyed the time with your mother, while learning and practicing important skillz; you know like bow hunting skills, computer hacking skills, nunchaku skills, girls only like guys with skills. Gosh ! -says in napolean dynamite voice.

anyway; good times.

ryan

 

[steelscout30]

Sounds like an interesting weekend to say the least!

I too can relate to the dismal realm of living known as the "hotel."

 

[StretchNM]

Now this is a tale of survival! Stooping in the shower to get under the showerhead? I thought I was the only one who had to do that! Truly a crime....

Overall, pretty good, though a little scary for me. I would recommend, on the next trip, perhaps a little ferro rod firestarting on the room patio...or the bathroom floor. Maybe a quick tarp setup in the room. A test on a whisper-lite would be cool. Perhaps an account of breaking into the elevator shaft and a little filmage in there. These things tend to "soften up" an ordeal like yours, and makes me much less jittery during the read.

How did Mom fare?

 

[siguy]

she did well, except for when she stressed about getting lost...and sales were ridiculously low, but that was expected.

i should have done some video clips, that could have been funny...didn't think to though...

 

[ROCK6]

she did well, except for when she stressed about getting lost...and sales were ridiculously low, but that was expected.

i should have done some video clips, that could have been funny...didn't think to though...

I've been doing a lot of traveling lately...not by choice of course Last week I was ordered out to Fort Huachuca...never been there before. Well, I landed in Tucson after the sun went down and had a crappy map. I usually pretty good with navigation, but next time, I'll stop and get a better map as it was close to 100 miles to Sierra Vista/Fort Huachuca. Driving in the dark in unfamiliar areas with poor directions definately sucks! You are right though...even when driving my wrist compass always comes in handy:thumbup:

I love that braided plastic cordage...that's just awesome! You should learn something new everyday, or at least hone the skills you already have. Glad you made the most of it Simon!:thumbup:

ROCK6

 

[Lazydog1]

Talking of showers...I hate these modern shower units one finds in these roadside 'hotels'. I'm sure the shower specs were created by little people from 'other' countries. I'm not that big a guy (6' 00") but I find I have to enter the shower side-on, wash the side in the shower, then exit, turn around, re-enter and wash the other side!

 

[StretchNM]

Yes! The spoon and the twisted plastic cordage were excellent!

You should do a thread on making the cordage. Who would've ever thought to use plastic?

Man, that had to have been an exciting dog show to have inspired you like that...

 

[siguy]

stretch, it was pretty simple, but i might do a post in the future. you pretty much just cut the bag into strips and use a three strand braid, adding strands as they run out.

most of the action was on the other side of the building, and it was all just the dog equivelent of "safe queen knives". these weren't dogs that you could get down on the floor and play with or take for a romp in the woods-at least not at the show. they were there to look pretty and not much else. i'm sure they are all great dogs, but these shows feel very stiff with all of the people getting their dogs to look perfect and getting ready to go into competition.

 

[tedwca]

i dont sleep in the beds either, i usually end up sleeping on top of the bed to avaoid contact with the sheets and pillows. glad to here you survived though.

You realize the sheets and pillowcases get changed daily, but the covers rarely get changed, right? The covers are the first thing I rip off when I stay at a hotel. I used to work for a big hotel chain and noticed the covers never got changed, but the sheets always did.

Just sayin...:barf::barf: