Chitown

I made it back from Chicago last night in one piece. The flight home was mostly uneventful. I sat next to this straight couple. The guy happened to work for a company that supplies gear to police and fire personnel. I own a pair of their boots. He was already dozing by the time I sat down but the wife was a total chatty Katy. I did come away with a nice gift certificate for free gear though!

I had a good time in Chicago. Everyone seemed dramatically surprised I wasn’t staying the whole weekend for IML. ^[1]International Mr. Leather Well, I didn’t go for IML, I went to see the boy. I actually booked time off so I could go, but since I have yet to replace the roomie, I couldn’t really justify spending the money. Well, free airfare and a very inexpensive hotel room made it worth while. ^[2]God love my friends for hooking a brother up! The entire trip cost me less than 400 bucks.

I did hit a snag when I arrived at the B&B. First, there was no one to meet me. I had to go two doors down to a bar for my keys. Not the end of the world, B&B’s typically don’t have staff running onsite 24/7. The bartender was polite enough but kept getting customers and I stood there for about 15 minutes just waiting. Then, the outside door key to the hotel didn’t work. The final straw was when he opened the door to my room. The room was so tiny the rickety full-size bed totally dominated the space. Even worse, the room was smack in the middle of the living area, shared a wall with the office, and the bathroom was two doors down the hallway. Oh no no no, uh-huh, no sir, no-ma’am, no siree-bob, this would not do! I visualized my plans of some quality quiet time with the boy going down the toilet.

At this point, I can feel my temper start to rise. I take a few breaths to calm down. Its probably a character flaw but I am quick(er) to anger when something I pay for is not to my liking, especially when I feel swindled. And I definitely felt swindled. I was promised a queen or king bed with a bathroom inside the room. I was also specifically told the room was secluded and sizable. I managed to swallow my anger long enough to politely ask to have the innkeeper call me as ‘soon as she was free‘. He clearly got the message. My phone rang within 10 minutes, she was on her way back to the inn to meet me.

By the time she arrives, I’ve ticked off everything wrong with the room and was fully prepared to check out and go hunting for another hotel. She starts off with “well, I can’t always guarantee accommodations when you book thru a 3rd-party“. I’m thinking to myself, “3rd-party? How the hell was I supposed to know it was a 3rd-party? The guy said it was a ‘sister hotel’ and was intimate with the specs“. I’m literally close to boiling at this point. I don’t know if she was just being nice or could see the seething storm building on my features but she quickly offered to try and accommodate me. I’d already taken the opportunity to peruse the rest of the inn and wasn’t overly unhappy. It was pretty much as promised except for the god-awful room. Anyway, she finally gets into the computer and says there are two rooms left, one on the 3rd floor next to the kitchen and the suite. I immediately said, ‘show me the suite‘. It was “garden level” which means below ground for those not into the lingo. The room was horribly decorated in Cubs colors but was very spacious, had a king size bed, included a bathroom, and was definitely secluded. I didn’t need to see the other room, I took it. To her credit, she ate the cost difference minus a $50.00 service charge. Problem solved. I felt my anger evaporating as I quickly settled in.

The boy arrived an hour later. I’m sure I don’t need to fill-in the details from there. *eg* The deal was I got Thur/Fri with him and then he spent Sat/Sun with his friends at IML. Besides being a very sweet man, his eagerness to please was very intoxicating. The twist here is I didn’t feel the need to use that to my advantage. Just the contrary, I mixed my natural aggression, a lot of tenderness, and a little teasing together for a mixture he just could not seem to resist. heh heh heh Yeah, I’m having fun with it and so is he.

Sadly, the two days flew by and before I knew it, it was time to go our separate ways. My flight Saturday wasn’t until late so I took the opportunity to take in some of IML. Chris (my buddy Wildcuddler from twitter) was there so we hung out, had lunch and surfed the waves of men at the leather mart. It was good to see him and hang out. He did his best to get me to stay longer. I was tempted but that would cost significantly more than I wanted to spend.

After lunch, I had to make my way to the airport and head for home. The trip was totally worthwhile and I had a great time even if it was short.