Strange days are calling.

It has been over 30 years since I stayed at a Motel 6. I swore them off after an ill fated incident in Albuquerque. I had been accepted to architecture school at UNM and took my ex out there to check it out. She said the climate was too dry and ixnayed the whole deal. Should have let her go back home by herself, would have saved myself a lot of grief in the long run but we just never know how these things will turn out.

Anyway it was a horrific hotel. The mattress was covered in blood. Lots of blood. No other rooms, nothing else around. Blood on the floor, too. We dragged the mattress onto the floor , place felt haunted, maybe a suicide, maybe a murder, very bad juju. Lots of other problems. Ended up trying to sleep on towels. Night from hell. Couldn't sleep - got our asses out of there at first light. Promised myself I would never stay there again.

*

Cam decided not to do this show in Santa Barbara with me so I didn't grab our normal room. The only thing under a hundred bucks was Motel 6. I took a big gulp and booked it on Hotels.com.

Hotel is very strange. I hesitate to call it spartan for fear of insulting the greeks. But it is obviously not your parents Motel 6. Feel a bit like a rodent in a lab experiment. This is sort of the stripped down Yugo of the hotel world. Who knew?

Turns out that they had a big image remodel a few years ago, hired the prestigious London firm Priestmangoode to give the place a makeover. Definite european feel, like a dump I once stayed at in Spain. They tore out the carpeting, added bamboo flooring, ditched the floral comforter. No pictures on the wall. Brought it up to date, albeit to a time I don't exactly recognize and might feel slightly queasy living in...

It is really like Malthusian worker housing, sort of like my room at the kibbutz only with hot water. No amenities, no drawers, no kleenex, no shampoo, no tub. No clock. No free wifi. No maid today either, at least when I arrived at 4. When she finally showed up later in the evening I told her to come back tomorrow. Mirror shelf falling off the wall. Hey, it's a motel 6 - supposed to be a shithole, part of the charm.

There are a lot of construction workers staying at this one, cheapest rest around, a mexican guy was complaining of being discriminated against for one reason or another when I checked in. I inquired about the thickness of the towels and they handed me some decent ones. Television is okay.

There is a cabinet under the tv with a hanger rod and Gideon's bible perched on the bottom. wired for a bunch of connections I don't recognize. A side table and a minimal desk. Nowhere to put dirty clothes, no closet, broken thermostat. And this one is supposed to be $199 a night according to the sticker on the bathroom door.

Supposedly the sheets have a higher thread count, I couldn't tell. Bed isn't very comfortable, definitely ain't the Westin. Trendy rust and pumpkin color scheme. Not bad, but a little strange. Must buy shampoo tomorrow.