Storage Wars!
The trip home from New Hampshire to Nashville hasn’t gone quite as expected. The Buster’s schooks from Thursday, which I had assumed were purely food-selection-induced, were apparently not just food-selection-induced.
Buds hollered out, “Ginnie, pull over!” as we were zipping down the interstate on the start of the drive home.
“Do you mean on the side of the road, or at the next exit?”
“I mean now!” said my frantic-sounding spouse.
You don’t want to know the rest.
Rather than pushing on to Massadoah, and possibly infecting the potential partners that were being hosted this weekend, we stopped at a hotel in Hagerstown, MD.
After switching to a room with 2 beds instead of just one, dumping Buds into one of those beds, and making Monkey a pallet on the floor, the crew and I headed to the restaurant in the lobby. Having eaten at many of these restaurants when I was traveling giving seminars, I know you are never quite sure what you are going to get. We had a lovely surprise.
Ms. Heather, our server, was really kind and helpful with all of us. A tipped over glass of ice water had her zipping in with, “It’s just water. Happens all the time.” Other than not being ready to refill Monkey’s water glass the minute it was empty, she was fantastic. (The spaghetti was a little spicy. Monkey was sweating.)
The food was good, and the children’s menu was filled with solid options, not just Kraft from a box.
I was also proud of Monkey’s continuing march toward becoming a young lady. She quickly realized the kids’ menu was for 10 and under, so she returned that menu to the hostess and requested an adult menu, as well as being mindful of napkin use and table etiquette. I love watching as she makes her choices about who she wants to be.
After dinner, we popped up to check on Buds, then headed to the pool. It was toasty warm, another welcome surprise. Everyone had a great time splashing and swimming.
A little after 9, we headed back to the room to settle in for the night.
We flipped through the channels to see if there were any “late night” options that appealed to all of us, and we stumbled across “Storage Wars! Texas Style.” What a hit with us, and a hoot to watch. Seeing these professionals bid on abandoned storage units, without being able to look at what the random boxes and bags actually held, was great. Much like our family is always making up stories, Bubba and Ron, Jenny, Mary and Moe, and Victor, all made up stories about who had abandoned the unit, and what that might mean about what was inside.
Based upon one action figure in an open box, and several closed cardboard boxes, one of which was labeled, “Toys/Action Figures,” Victor spun, “This must have been a nerd who collected action figures.” This led to Victor’s disappointment at finding only 6 or 7 action figures in a box, but lots of random papers and children’s garage-sale-ready toys. Apparently people don’t always accurately label their boxes in their storage unit. Loss of $550 dollars.
“This looks like some retired dude who was a hoarder.” Bubba and Ron based this upon huge piles of stuff, with a wooden, beat up Coca-Cola crate and a few pieces of visible, older furniture. This self-spun tale led to Bubba and Ron finding a civil war pistol worth $25,000. Win of $24,050.
The likable folks (Bubba and Ron and their easy friendliness reminded me of my brother George.) and the treasure hunting aspect of this show made it an interesting end to our evening.
Here’s to hoping the rest of the drive is more the like the finding of the civil war pistol.
