As soon as I woke up, I tried to find an open tire shop. Every tire shop in the area was closed for the Memorial Day holiday so I booked another night at the Holiday Inn. This time I was able to use my points which was not allowed on the first night because they were sold out. I went out to the front desk and explained that I had booked another room because I wanted to move out of the accessible room in case it was needed. I asked if I could just stay there until the new room was ready because I knew they’d been sold out. She told me I could have a late checkout at 1 but I couldn’t get the new room until three. So I went back and packed up. I ate the leftover half of yesterday’s sandwich and worked on my bullet journal a bit.

When it was time to leave I dropped all of my stuff off in the MINI and got a Lyft to the casino. I figured if I had to kill 2 hours that might be a fun place to do it. The Lyft driver, Diane, used to work at the casino. In fact she worked there for 18 years but when the pandemic hit, they laid off 100 people. Apparently, they pulled the names from a hat. Diane was very bitter and really who could blame her? She told me that she was one of two Lyft drivers in town and neither one of them would be working later but that the casino had a free shuttle that would drop me off at the hotel.

As I went in I noticed the sign said the shuttle started running at 5. It’s actually pretty hard to spend 4 hours in a casino and still have a home and a car! I got the players club card and she loaded $5 on it for me. I walked the circumference of the casino a few times and stopped and played random penny games. Penny games don’t actually exist. You have to bet on multiple lines and you can bet different amounts. The quarter slots were actually cheaper!

By the time five o’clock rolled around I was more than ready to go and down to six cents. I asked the security guard where I was supposed to go to catch the shuttle. He glared at me and said, “there is no shuttle.” I told him I was told there would be a shuttle. He barked into his walkie talkie “Maxie, have we got a shuttle tonight?” Maxie replied, “no.” He looked at me and said, “there is no shuttle.” I cheerily replied, “Thank you!” and walked over to the snack bar to try to find a ride.

I remembered the hotel had that limo parked outside my window so I called the front desk. They were delighted to hear from me and told me the limo would be around in about 10 minutes.

When I got back they had my key ready and the front desk guy from last night was there. He asked me if Brent had looked at my tire and I confessed that I hadn’t asked him. I told him the blowout was pretty severe and even if he could plug it I thought the tire was compromised. The limo driver came in to chat with us and suggested Belle Tire or Royal Tire might have tires and asked if I’d called them. I told him I had but everyone was closed today. We all sighed heavily and then I trundled up to my new room.

I ordered in a grinder, which was one of the best I’ve ever had TBH. I sat on the balcony admiring the view and enjoying my grinder and worrying about how I was going to work tomorrow, get a new tire, and find the time to drive home to Chicago.