Any Port In A Storm

Last night the temperature plummeted after sundown. I have a habit of putting the mundane on hold whenever faced with something more interesting. Like the beaches of Pensacola. Suddenly it dawned on me that, once again, I had no idea where to drop anchor and since I don't have a generator, I would need an electrical outlet. My response to this dilemma was to eat dinner. There are two kinds of people. People who live to eat and people who eat to live. Generally speaking, I'm the latter but last night I was starving and that took precedence over heat. Until I ate. Then I was able to focus on the inequity of one small dog and one fat cat keeping me warm all night. When I was young I would rather have frozen to death or broken down and rented a hotel room than to ask for a favor. Well, I'm not young any more and now I wonder what I was thinking all those years. False pride? Fear of rejection? Dunno. I went straight to the manager of Cracker Barrel at Exit 7 on I-10 West and asked him to let me plug into the electrical outlet behind the restaurant. "No problem, just don't burn the place down!", he said. Think I should buy stock in Cracker Barrel? Today my body cried out for a long, hot shower. That's one thing I can't get at a restaurant. I looked up truck stops on the internet and found one near Exit 10, I-10, Fleet Travel Center. They have showers. I called the manager and asked how much it costs to stay there all night and use their electric. "Nothing." This is too good to be true. "How much for a shower?" "Seven dollars." Ah, there's the rub! You know how grungy you are when you don't hesitate to pay seven dollars for a shower. So I'm outside the shower stall, letting the water run until it's hot, and suddenly I realize I'm going to have to take off my shoes and walk into this shower barefooted. Well. It LOOKS clean. It SMELLS clean. But is it REALLY clean? I kept my socks ON and had one of the best showers of my life! Letting hot water run over my shoulders long after the road grime had circled the drain, I never spent 7 dollars any better! Tomorrow morning at 9 I have a telephone meeting with my Cincinnati partner and my Minneapolis partner. How seriously do you think they'd take anything I have to say if they had a snapshot of me standing in a truck stop shower in my white socks? And with that thought, good night, world! (Don't look for a photo next to this commentary.)