Damage Report, Epilogue

The events of this morning led to an entirely unproductive afternoon but a unexpectedly pleasant evening. It just goes to show that even bad days can turn out, well … less bad.

The incident at the campground forced my hand as to my activities for the rest of the day. The original plan was to spend a second night at the campground and explore Stettler during the day – although, I’m not really sure how much there really is to see in Stettler since their biggest tourist attraction (the Alberta Prairie Railway Excursion) is designed to take you away from Stettler!

My sudden lack of a tental (yeah, not a word) home meant that staying at the campground was no longer an option. I needed a new place to stay and so I consulted the all knowing internet. As usual with the internet, I found some answers but none that were particularly pleasing.

There’s a Super 8 motel in Stettler but, remarkably, they wanted $128 for the night (including taxes). For one night. Super 8. In Stettler. Clearly that wasn’t going to happen. Instead I called up one of the local motels – one that isn’t part of the online booking racket. The first one I called was the Plains Motor Inn. I didn’t call a second. I’m not sure if a second actually existed. At any rate (pun intended), rooms at the Plains Motor Inn were $75 which seemed significantly more appropriate. No, it didn’t offer a continental breakfast like Super 8. Then again, I’ve been to Super 8 and I’m quite confident their continental breakfast isn’t worth $50.

The Plains Motor Inn was conveniently located less than a kilometre from where I was currently working at the Recreation Centre. I had stopped at the Rec Centre to report the incident with my tent and stayed when I discovered they had WiFi. It took only a few minutes to arrive at the Plains Motor Inn.

At the motel, I was greeted by Taewon (the General Manager of the motel). He was great. Very friendly. And very curious about my trip. At one point he asked me who was sponsoring me and sadly I had to tell him no one. Well, I mentioned that Subway SHOULD be sponsoring me but that I’m still waiting on that one. I then asked him if he wanted to sponsor me. He laughed, of course, but then proceeded to take $5 off my room rate. My first official sponsor!! It was all very exciting.

I made my way to my discounted … I mean “sponsored” room to bring an end to this not so pleasant day. However, there would be at least a little good news before the day’s end.

Leave it to the Warm Showers community to turn a day’s fortune around. I received a favourable reply from John in Calgary indicating he could offer accommodation for Thursday night. When I informed him of today’s tental (still not a word) events he was incredibly generous. He even offered to bring a tent to me to use on my way to Calgary. Plus, he’s now hosting me for two nights. As for the tent delivery, that won’t be necessary as Anna in Red Deer (another Warm Showers host) has also come to my rescue despite my very last minute request.

Earlier in the day when Ron and I were at the campsite ranting about the inconsiderate individuals responsible for the demise of my tent, he noted how people are getting worse. More selfish. Less accountable. Less pleasant to be around. And yes, there are selfish, unreliable, inconsiderate people out there – and some of them wrecked my tent this morning. On the flip side, I’m not about to let those people ruin my trip nor will I waste my time thinking about them. They’re not worth it. Instead, I’ll focus on more deserving people like Ron, Taewon, John and Anna. That sounds like a lot of good people to me and they’re the ones that have made this day memorable.