A day trip to South Bend or Irish I'd done my homework

During our recent vacation, Linda and I traveled to northern Indiana for two purposes.
I wanted to visit my cousins who live near Potato Creek State Park near North Liberty and to check out the old home town, Niles, Mich.
The proposed weekend trip turned into a day trip.
We scheduled the trip for the same weekend as the Notre Dame-University of Southern California game at South Bend. More on that later.
There were lessons to be learned from visiting one's home town.
For instance, in 30 years, trees really grow big and beautiful.
On Jan. 11, 1966, I attended the new Ballard Jr. High School for the first time -- my first time and the first day of school at Ballard.
The building looked really big and the trees were very scrawny -- making the building look even more intimidating.
Thirty-nine years later, the trees look beautiful and the building much less formidable. It is now an elementary school. Instead of being filled with angst-filled, hormone-driven teens, it is now inhabited by cute little elementary students.
Another lesson: don't assume your small home town always stays the same or always changes.
Our church still has the same name and obviously has the same corny atmosphere -- the sign reads "If your looking for a sign for God to go to church, this is it".
But the good old grocery store -- Westside Super -- is gone and in its place stands a video store.
I wish I would have gone online to check out motel availability and prices. We stopped at the same motel in South Bend we stayed at several years ago (yes, the motel is still there). Without blinking, the woman at the desk asked, "Do you have a reservation?"
I knew I was in trouble.
"No. I need a room for two people for one night," I said.
"$199" she said without blinking.
"I mean for just two people."
"$199." This time, she could not look me in the eye while saying it.
"For just one night."
"That's right, $199."
We tried another motel; this one in Niles, about 11 miles north of Notre Dame.
This time the man behind the desk apologized.
"I'm sorry," he said. "We have just one room left. $219."
It wasn't his problem, but our weekend turned into a day trip.
Oh, we did spend the night at our daughter's apartment in West Lafayette. But I do wish I had done my homework online before leaving home.
As the actor, Karl Malden, might say: "The Internet. Don't leave home without it."
Good advice.