We have not had the pleasure of a day at the laundromat since our time living in the shack in Ringgold. I didn’t write about it at the time but the reason we ended up buying a used washer and dryer was because of one scary night where we had to share the laundromat with a gentleman who was obviously on drugs. He was washing his hands and various coins in one of the machines, he brought in one piece of laundry at a time and slowly lowered each piece in to a machine. We got out of there that night even before the clothes were dry. As a side note that laundromat was destroyed by the Tornado that hit Ringgold in April.

So due to our recent circumstances and the fact that I had run out of clean tighty whiteys, it was with some trepidation that we headed to do laundry this morning.

The first thing I had forgotten about was how expensive it was. We had brought $18 worth of quarters to do our 5 loads and it wasn’t enough.

The thing I had not forgotten about was all the wonderful people you get the opportunity to interact with. I had also forgotten that Laila is a magnet for the weird. She needs to quit smiling at everybody as it just draws them in like moths to a light. So we got to meet the nice homeless guy who asked Laila for money and later if she had the time. There were at least 5 Hispanic gentleman that were all about 4 foot tall. I felt like I was in the Jockey’s locker room at the horse track. There were also some other nice gentleman who I thought spoke no English but were very good at staring at the missus.

It was only after we lefty that my bride informed me one of the men did speak enough English to ask her if we were married and to tell her she was so pretty.

So I walked out with clean underwear and Laila is the Queen of the laundromat.

Next weekend we may go hang out at the Greyhound bus station to see if we can make any new friends there.