The Bates Motel

I, of course, am exaggerating just a bit. But this place in Murdo, South Dakota made me feel like we were visiting The Bates Motel.

Driving home from Oregon we reached out last stop. We saw a billboard for Country Inn with a pool open until midnight and rooms starting at $36. Suspicious from the start, we decided to check out the "uniquely decorated rooms" anyway.

We were greeted in the Lobby/somebody's living room, by a man with black fluffy hair and a perfectly matching mustache. He was polite! But still gave me the Willies. He gave us a virtual tour of the rooms on a display-board of Polaroids and then took us to see the pool. It was heated to 90 degrees because "Mother says anything below 90 isn't suitable for humans."

Our uniquely decorated room had two Queen beds, a bit of 1970's Asian theme  decor, bright red shaggy carpet and a glossy black toilet seat shaped like a sea shell. The biggest perk of all was Mood Music piped into every room.

Thank God Josh loves me enough to just trust my Willies and drive six more blocks and spend an extra $30 at Best Western.


You can see our friendly Tour Guide in the lovely brochure I brought home as a souvenir of the time we survived a visit to The Bates Motel.