Part 182 - Old Washer Woman

After securing a room, I walked over to the Chevron station and inquired about hiker packages.  The station attendant pointed to a walk-in freezer in the back of the building and told me to look through the boxes until I found mine.  The freezer was not in use and there were more than a hundred boxes in it; it took some time to move boxes around, but I finally located mine.

On the way back to my motel room, I noticed a food wagon made from an RV trailer selling food, and around the trailer, sitting at picnic tables or resting in camp chairs, were a half-dozen hikers either eating or resting.  I inquired about the menu and Laptop and Trout assured me that, although the food was different, it was good; they both said they had had an oriental meal seasoned with mild curry.  After eating a familiar breakfast meal of pancakes, eggs, and bacon at the Summit Inn Pancake Haus, I returned to the trailer, which was called the Aardvark, and ordered another dinner of rice, chicken and curry.

From a hiker on the trail, I heard that Yabba Dabba Dude had medication for Giardia. While waiting for my food at the Aardvark, I found him, Hot Wings, and their two dogs sitting at a table on the backside of the food trailer.  I approached Yabba Dabba and inquired if he had Giardia pills and, if so, would he be willing to sell me one.  He said he did, and that he would bring one to my motel room later this evening – at no charge

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As with most motels, my room was located in a long corridor that gave access to all the rooms.  At the end of the corridor was the laundry room, and after checking it out I discovered that it had one coin-operated washer and one coin-operated dryer.  The washer was in use and I guesstimated that it would be fifteen minutes or so before it would be available.

I returned in fifteen minutes with my clothes and found the washer had finished its cycle, but the clothes were still in the washer.  What to do?  What to do?  Should I wait for the owner to come and remove the clothes and put them in the dryer?  That could be a long time if the owner was not conscientious about time.  I decided to take action rather than waiting to find out.  I returned to my room and retrieved a clean towel, then back in the laundry room, I placed the towel on the floor and removed the clothes from the washer and placed them on the towel.

  

Now the washer was available for the next batch of clothes.  I put my clothes in the washer, along with the packet of laundry soap, deposited eight quarters in the coin slots, closed the lid, and returned to my room.

Later, when I returned to check on the status of my clothes, I found the owner of the clothes I had placed on the floor.  To say she was not happy would be an understatement.  She was fuming and had some choice words to say to me.  Not to be derogatory, but she had the appearance and size of a woman who wrestled alligators in the swamps of Louisiana.  I probably shouldn’t have done what I did with her clothes, but at least I kept them clean by putting them on a towel instead of just dumping them on the concrete floor of the laundry room.  

I let her rant, and then she stormed off.  Moments later, the manager showed up; she didn’t have much to say and I apologized to her for my actions.  But secretly I was thinking, at least I didn’t have to wait and wonder when the owner would return to remove the clothes from the washer.