We left Maine late Friday morning, with the goal of reaching central New York. We stopped near Portland to eat brunch at IHOP, eating a ridiculous amount of food including a stack of “cinnamon roll” French toast. That certainly held us until our late supper.

We drove until about 7:00 or so, reaching Syracuse. We got off the highway to look for a motel, and the first one we saw was called the John Milton. Milton is a famous English author, and so it seemed as if we should stay there. It did not hurt that it was only $42 a night. It was a bit run-down, but it was clean, and was located next to a Dunkin Donuts and a Denny’s. We did smile at the notice that people who did not pay their bill on a daily basis would be asked to leave, no matter how long they had been in residence. That is not a sign we had seen before in Hiltons or even Motel 6 chains. The front desk also had a sign that said something to the effect of “Poor customer service will be remembered long after the joy of a cheap price is forgotten.” The odd thing was, the sign was pointed at the customers, when I would have expected it to be a reminder to the people behind the desk.

We ate supper at the Denny’s, and grabbed dessert at Dunkin Donuts. We got back to the room around 9:00, and went to bed. I slept fitfully, and was up before 5:00. Mer had to use the bathroom, so I used the opportunity to urge us to get on the road. She acquiesced, although a bit grumpily.

We got home about noon, and used Saturday and Sunday to get caught up on house things, like laundry and paying bills and such. One unfortunate occurrence was I found out our hot water heater was leaking, and so I put a call in to get a plumber to come out and replace it (which he did on Monday evening). It put a slight damper (ha!) on the vacation, but we had a great time in Maine. The kitties were all safe, and it was good to sleep in my own bed again and not be rooting around in a suitcase for clean clothes.