We had a difficult time at the hotel in Sturgis, Michigan. When I checked us in yesterday, I could see that they were doing some remodeling. I asked the desk clerk when the work would end that day and start tomorrow. She told me that it would end by 5 or 6 and start the next morning at 9. That sounded reasonable, but as it turned out, we were awakened at five after eight this morning by a terribly loud drilling noise right outside our room. I called the front desk twice to get them to stop it. The first time the desk clerk said that he would take care of it; the second time he said there was nothing he could do about it. I asked to speak to a manager, but no manager was on the premises and wouldn't be for thirty minutes.

Phil and I got up and ready for the day since there would be no more quiet for sleeping and went for breakfast. When we were ready to check out, still no manager was there. The clerk was not empowered to do anything for us, so I asked him to call his manager and ask for the room to be comped. They definitely did not deliver satisfactory service this time telling me that the noise would start later than it actually did. If she had been honest and told me it started at 8, I would not have been happy, but I would have known what to expect and to ask for a room on the other end of the hotel. The clerk did call the manager and arranged for the room to be comped. I asked him to have that manager contact me by phone or email. She called about an hour later and blamed the problem on a subcontractor who did not go by the rules. I don't know if she just decided to lie about the time to make it easier at the moment yesterday or not. It was handled okay in the end.

On our drive today, we passed between Cleveland and Canton, Ohio. At home, we had talked about stopping at either the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame or the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Today we were more interested in musical legends than sports figures so we drove up to Cleveland. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is on the edge of downtown right on Lake Erie. As well as enjoying the displays in the museum, we liked the lakefront and city views.

We drove on to Clarion, Pennsylvania for the night and had a good dinner at the Clarion River Brewing Company. Phil asked our waiter about some of the beers, but he said that he was just twenty years old so he couldn’t know much about them. He did offer to get the bartender to help who came right away and had some great suggestions and was really friendly and helpful.

This is the sixth Hampton we’ve stayed at this trip. This one has to be better than last night.