On the Downswing-Heading Home

The Freedom to Do Whatever...

One of the results of having to change our plans because of the weather was that all of a sudden we could go anywhere and do anything.  That freedom was both exciting and daunting because it is a great big county out there.

We were headed to Albuquerque, my birthplace, because we had decided to try and get back to our original destination of the Grand Canyon. While having a delightfully healthy lunch at Panera my husband confessed what I had already suspected.  He was not feeling well.  For him to admit that he felt bad enough to want to see a doctor meant that he felt really bad, so we decided to head home. Our route took us to Fort Sumner; a location we had visited before and which was only to be a place to rest our heads.  Since we were not going to camp we drove until later than usual and researched motels on our phones using one of the popular travel sites.

One motel in particular caught our eye...The Coronado.  Billed as being ripe with old world charm, inexpensive and with very high ratings (4.7 out of 5) it seemed like a sure thing.  As inexpensive as camping but with TV and character! What could be wrong with that picture? Read on, fellow travel lovers and the picture will become clear.

The building dates from 1948 and I have to suspect that the rooms have not been updated since then. The heater was partially dismantled, the ceiling fan needed a shave,  the mirror had been wiped with a dirty cloth and the bed was both hard and bumpy!  We brought in our sleeping bags, sheets and pillows and cushioned the bed with them. The room had the added perk of a well used flyswatter which was very thoughtful as we shared the real estate with at least (now deceased) 10 flies.  Two more were incarcerated in the bathroom! Ahh, the bathroom!

The bathroom walls were very dirty, the sink was utterly gritty with grit, the shower faucets were corroded, the shower curtain really needed laundering (or perhaps discarding and getting a new one!), the carpeting was mercifully dark and of mottled color but the stains were still very visible.

There was a microwave, a coffee brewer (replete with homemade packets of ground coffee), satellite TV and WiFi. Under the circumstances the WiFi seemed so incongruous.  This motel was an anomaly, a warp in the fabric of time had allowed it to stay frozen in the past and yet, it had WiFi! Since my husband was not feeling well and it was later than we usually stopped for the night we bit the bullet and never walked barefoot on the carpet.  We took turn killing flies and congratulating each other on each successful conquest of every pesky little diptera.  My father, an entomologist, used to always say that flies were actually very good for humans; in the right population ratio.  When there are the correct number of flies in proportion to humans they provide just the right quantity of germs to keep our immune systems working properly.  Too few and we are susceptible to infection from any little thing, too many and they overwhelm us and make us sick. I am willing to give the Coronado a vote of confidence that they are doing their part at keeping us all healthy by keeping a 1948 population of flies active and buzzing!

Now, the owner of this establishment is a very nice old man named Tito who is also very proud of being born and raised in Fort Sumner, New Mexico and I am very uncomfortable about writing this negative a post about what I assume is his livelihood and life's work. The only reason I am doing this is because the real issue that worries me is the outstanding reviews the Coronado has on the travel website (which I will not name) and the fear that some unsuspecting family with children will be seduced by the reviews and the promise of low price to possibly put their family at risk.  We travel without children and our decision to stick it out was merely a matter of feeling like anything we confronted could be washed off, but if a traveler is with kids there are some issues which may be dangerous.  Like the heater.

Anyway, if you are in Fort Sumner following the footsteps of Billy the Kid who happened to take a bullet there rather than biting it as we did, think twice about the balance between value and comfort.

Good luck!

We're not giving up...just rescheduling the Grand Canyon!