“Is this it? Wow! Look at the parking lot. Car tags from all over … New York, Ohio, Texas. I don’t see one from our neck of the woods.”

My chauffeur and hubs, Mike answered, “I think so. This parking lot is a little tight.”

As we tried to maneuver our way into a parking spot, a gentleman whom we assumed to be the proprietor greeted us with a toothy grin.

“Hello folks, I’m Leroy. I think you can back up a little and pull in right by the bushes here. It got a little crowded this afternoon. Come on in, and I’ll give you the tour.”

A family of three nodded at us politely, and we all walked into the B&B together. Leroy gave us our keys, helped us log into the Internet, and showed us where the main event, breakfast, would be served. Turns out Leroy is the cook and wears many hats at the historic B&B, but the owner would meet us at breakfast in the morning.

Our room was quaint and the bed looked comfy so we felt that we had made a good choice when we searched for a cool place to stay. There was one thing, though. The window was up and had a screen on it. Hmmm.

“Mike, I don’t see a thermostat. Do you think that means we don’t have air conditioning? Surely for the price we are paying the rooms are air-conditioned! Why don’t you go find Leroy and ask him how to adjust the thermostat? This is strange.”

“Well, my dear. I hate to tell you, but I just saw Leroy get in his car and drive away.”

“You’ve got to be kidding, He said he would be in the room under the stairwell preparing for breakfast in the morning. You really saw him leave?” I asked, somewhat astonished.

“Yep,” Mike answered. “Saw him driving away. I’m sure it was him.”

I decided to shower and get ready for a stroll around town and maybe a little snack. It took a little while for the water to get hot, but I soon felt the warmth melting away the travel dust.

Things always look better after a nice shower, I thought.

I sighed contentedly, thinking this little vacay would surely turn out to be a pleasant experience after all. Then, I noticed something a little odd. The water was pooling over my feet instead of running freely out the drain. I looked at it wondering if I was imagining it, but upon further investigation I realized that the water was indeed backing up. I cut my shower short so the small lip on the old shower wouldn’t fill and overflow, and began drying my hair.

The water finally drained from the shower and the breaker didn’t blow when I turned on my hair dryer, so things were looking up again. After all, the place was historic, which translates … old. What’s a little inconvenience when it comes to new adventures?

Jan Penton Miller can be reached at lilsisjan@yahoo.com.