Tonight Dory, Lana, and I were talking about the current health problem
and how it is connected with China. And for some reason that triggered a
moment of deja vu for me. When my mom was still alive, Dory and I used
to drive to Alabama to spend Christmas and New Years with her and my
family. On our last trip we really hit a lot of bad weather - snow from
Flagstaff, Arizona, to Amarillo, Texas - thick ice on the roads from
Amarillo all across Oklahoma to the Arkansas border - and heavy rain
from there through Memphis before getting good driving weather as we
entered Alabama.
When we left Orange County, California, the weather was good and I thought we would make it home to Alabama in no more that five days. Instead, for several days, due to snow and ice, we could only drive about 15 mph the whole day. So by Christmas day when I expected to be in Alabama - we were somewhere on Route 40 between Amarillo and Oklahoma City. At 5:00 PM, with one inch of ice on the highway, I decided to stop for the evening in a small town named Clinton, Oklahoma.
While we were driving Dory had told me that her real estate office in Orange County, Dory Gray Investments, had sold a Holiday Inn in a small town in Oklahoma - but she could not remember the name of the town.
So about 5:00 PM, as it was getting to be dusk, I pulled off the freeway in Clinton, Oklahoma, hoping to find a decent motel and a place to eat dinner on Christmas day. We found a motel, but their coffee shop was closed on Christmas day. The manager told us that there was a hotel just down the road, the Park Hotel, which was still serving dinner. Off we go in search of the Park Hotel. When we found it, I commented that it looked like a Holiday Inn - but it was the Park Hotel. Probably just similar architecture. It still did not ring a bell for Dory or me.
And sure enough their restaurant was open. Besides Dory and me, there was only one other customer - so the owner, a Chinese gentleman, came over to chat with us. He introduced himself and asked where we lived. Dory told him, "Orange County, California." The man was excited, "My wife and I are from Orange County." Dory shook his hand and said, "I am Dory Gray and this is my husband, Bill."
"From Dory Gray Investments?" the man asked excitedly. "Yes," Dory told him, "that is my real estate company."
"We bought our hotel through your office," he happily declared.
Then he really got excited and turned to call his wife, "Honey, this is Dory Gray!"
Wow, I felt like I was traveling with a celebrity.
Imagine the odds of that happening. To be forced off the freeway in a very small town in the middle of Oklahoma - and to stumble upon this hotel which Dory's office had sold. Personally I choose to think that was God's way of cheering us up - when, instead of being home in Alabama with family for Christmas - we were stuck in the middle of nowhere on Christmas day. We did not make it home for Christmas, but we had a very pleasant Christmas day dinner and a good conversation with the Chinese couple who owned the hotel.
God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,
Bill
When we left Orange County, California, the weather was good and I thought we would make it home to Alabama in no more that five days. Instead, for several days, due to snow and ice, we could only drive about 15 mph the whole day. So by Christmas day when I expected to be in Alabama - we were somewhere on Route 40 between Amarillo and Oklahoma City. At 5:00 PM, with one inch of ice on the highway, I decided to stop for the evening in a small town named Clinton, Oklahoma.
While we were driving Dory had told me that her real estate office in Orange County, Dory Gray Investments, had sold a Holiday Inn in a small town in Oklahoma - but she could not remember the name of the town.
So about 5:00 PM, as it was getting to be dusk, I pulled off the freeway in Clinton, Oklahoma, hoping to find a decent motel and a place to eat dinner on Christmas day. We found a motel, but their coffee shop was closed on Christmas day. The manager told us that there was a hotel just down the road, the Park Hotel, which was still serving dinner. Off we go in search of the Park Hotel. When we found it, I commented that it looked like a Holiday Inn - but it was the Park Hotel. Probably just similar architecture. It still did not ring a bell for Dory or me.
And sure enough their restaurant was open. Besides Dory and me, there was only one other customer - so the owner, a Chinese gentleman, came over to chat with us. He introduced himself and asked where we lived. Dory told him, "Orange County, California." The man was excited, "My wife and I are from Orange County." Dory shook his hand and said, "I am Dory Gray and this is my husband, Bill."
"From Dory Gray Investments?" the man asked excitedly. "Yes," Dory told him, "that is my real estate company."
"We bought our hotel through your office," he happily declared.
Then he really got excited and turned to call his wife, "Honey, this is Dory Gray!"
Wow, I felt like I was traveling with a celebrity.
Imagine the odds of that happening. To be forced off the freeway in a very small town in the middle of Oklahoma - and to stumble upon this hotel which Dory's office had sold. Personally I choose to think that was God's way of cheering us up - when, instead of being home in Alabama with family for Christmas - we were stuck in the middle of nowhere on Christmas day. We did not make it home for Christmas, but we had a very pleasant Christmas day dinner and a good conversation with the Chinese couple who owned the hotel.
God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,
Bill
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