Road Rash: Sweet Dreams!

I’ve always been envious of people who could sleep while lying next to an Atlanta freeway. I’m not one of them. I have enough trouble sleeping well at home, and strange accommodations usually exacerbate the problem when traveling. The pillow is too hard or soft, the air conditioner rattles, the room is either hot or cold, the traffic is loud, the signs outside are bright, or the guy next door is laughing like a straight-jacketed lunatic while watching a sitcom rerun at two in the morning.

And if none of the above are an issue, I sometimes can’t turn off my brain long enough to sleep because I had three cups of high-test java with dinner. Another common scenario involves having an annoying snippet of a song repeat endlessly in my head, in simulated stereo (of course) because I have two ears. Try listening to “I got the moo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oves like Jagger” a few thousand times and you’ll understand what I mean.

My wife and I thought we’d solved the travel accommodation dilemma long ago when we discovered the bed and breakfast while on a tour in Michigan. We stayed at a wonderful place, and that impromptu stop was the highlight of our trip. The Victorian décor, crisp white linens, lakeside setting, and sumptuous breakfast were all perfect, as were our hosts.