Dubois - Holiday Inn Express

As I have mentioned earlier I am one of the unfortunate ones who can’t sleep well into the afternoon or stay in bed after waking up. I got up before six in the morning. There was not much room in the suite to move around without hitting things in the semi darkness, waking up the fortunate ones who were asleep and bear their curses/abuses and as a result I was in the reception lounge of the Holiday Inn Express by 6 am. The complimentary breakfast buffet was ready but it was too early for breakfast. There were some comfortable sofas in the lounge and also few copies of USA Today and I spent about half an hour going through the newspaper. Then I went out of the hotel for a walk. Dubois must be a convenient place for a night halt. There were plenty of cars and trucks parked around the gas station in front of the hotel.



Even the hotel parking space was full. I went out onto the freeway hoping to walk some distance and look around. But there was some road work going on and part of the road was barricaded. The vehicles were whizzing past in the remaining space. Since I did not have any intention of getting a firsthand experience of a US hospital or a morgue, I turned back and spent my time looking at the cars parked in front of the hotel. There were cars from many states and I found one interesting feature in the registration plates. Every registration plate had some interesting or important feature of the particular state, mentioned on the number plates. Camera was in my pocket and so here are some examples.















While I was involved in this activity, I saw one or two car owners glancing suspiciously at me and I decided to get back to the room before someone called the police. Dhruva was ready for breakfast and we went into the breakfast room. There was a good breakfast spread – cinnamon rolls, muffins, white and wheat bread, bananas, boiled eggs, omlette, scrambled eggs, sausages, raisin bran, Cheerios, butter and jam, tea, coffee, milk and juice. By the time we finished breakfast and went back to the room, others were stirring in the bed. While they got ready, I occupied myself making a note of everything that I saw since the time we left home and that explains the full list of breakfast items. By nine thirty everyone had had their bath and breakfast and we were ready to proceed. We loaded the car, Vishwa filled gas and we left Dubois by 10 AM.