An AirBnB gone wrong, way wrong

We had plans for a Florida adventure, but hadn’t quite packed yet when our boy (in North Carolina) asked if we wanted to meet somewhere near Chattanooga on our way down. 

Then we heard that a big snowstorm was headed toward Kansas, and we’d be dealing with that across a couple states as we drove.  So, we threw whatever we could remember to take into the camper and snuck out before the roads got bad.

We found a “riverfront log cabin” online and made plans to meet our son.  

Well, the first glimpse of the rundown neighborhood didn’t scare us too much, but maybe it should’ve?  

The cabin itself was clean, had a place for the dogs to run, a view of the river, and a nice trail to walk on, so basically, it suited our purposes so I am not going to complain too much.  For a spur of the moment find, and a bonus night with our son, we took what we could get.

But the place was weird and slightly creepy.

Like, why are there so many bolts on the door that had been repaired with duct tape?

And the disturbingly dark and dismal artwork.

These paintings could possibly have been cool in another setting, but man, they implied a sense of doom here.

The listing noted that there was a great showers with plenty of hot water.  He neglected to say that the on demand hot water heater was the size of a laptop, and would go from boiling hot to icy cold in about one minute flat.  If you could play a game of hopscotch in the shower, you could manage to dart in and out to catch the seconds when the temps were just right.

The owner also mentioned that we shouldn’t go in the “attic”.  Don’t worry, mister, I was not tempted.

I was very, very concerned about that branch though…..

Was it a perch?

And for what?!?!?  

Did I mention that this perch was over the bed?  Did something LIVE in that attic and crawl out onto the branch to hang over us as we slept?

I can see this place as a fisherman’s camp, maybe.  My husband didn’t think it was nearly as bad as I thought it was.  (He is wrong, it was bad.)

The view was nice, but the riverbank was full of trash plus some unnerving abandoned homeless camps, so I was not all that comfortable going out at night to take the dogs out.  And the porch had a motion detector light that only was set off coming up, not going down the steps. The side without a railing had a big drop off that you could not see in the blackness of night.

And did anyone live in that hornet’s nest?

That said, we had a great afternoon with our boy, and a wonderful hike on Lookout Mountain.

We had planned to stay two nights but just couldn’t. Plus it was going to rain and I could not picture myself stuck in that storage shed, I mean cabin, with four muddy dogs in a thunderstorm.

So we drove to Jax and the Guncles took us in. And while I always love staying with the Guncles, I appreciated their beautiful home and welcome even more than than ever!