For the majority of our adventure, I haven’t bothered to blog about our lodging. With the exception of the nights we spent in our awesome teepee, we were mostly in serviceable hotels and motels not in need of mention. We also mostly had an easy time of finding places to stay. This night (9/14/14 – the halfway mark of our trip) it was a little trickier.

We checked out some of the B&B’s in Abilene, but unfortunately they were all sold out for the night. There were a few other places nearby, but looking for something more interesting, Sriram decided to check Airbnb and see if we could find anything. He found a place in Chapman, KS – about a 35 minute drive away – the Windmill Inn B&B.

Stepping up onto the porch we rang the bell and waited. While we waited to be greeted by a human, a cute kitten wandered up onto the porch. It cozied up to my leg (as cats always seem wont to do) and I took a picture, while silently cursing the fact that we didn’t think to ask about cats (I also never remember to request no tomatoes on my salads, but I digress).

As we rang the bell again another kitten joined the first. And then another, and another. Suddenly I was surrounded by kittens, or balls of death as I like to think of them (due to my severe allergies). As they circled around me, I began to feel a bit like the little girl on the island at the beginning of Jurassic Park: The Lost World. You know, the one who stumbles across the little dinosaur and is suddenly overrun as they try to get her snack?

I stood on the porch hoping the owners would understand when I had to cancel our reservation; except after four or five rings, they still hadn’t answered the door. Sriram finally gave them a call to see what was up. Turned out they were in Oklahoma on vacation and due to a glitch, the dates weren’t blocked out on their website. It might have been annoying if I hadn’t been so relieved. We observed a few minutes of kitty hijinks (because despite my allergies, they sure were cute!) before we drove back to Abilene and found a room at the Holiday Inn Express. A shame, we were too late for the family style chicken fry at the nearby Brookville Hotel that a friend recommended. Maybe next time.

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From August 12 – October 15, 2014 my husband and I traveled the northern United States in my Honda Civic. Cross Country Civic was started (and will eventually be completed) to document our cross country adventure. All comments and questions welcome and appreciated.