Robert Burkett

 RAINBOW COTTAGES

We owned the motel for about 8 years. I would say we had a few adventures during this time. I believe I said my friend Milt (Mike from now on) moved to Steamboat after we arrived, but sometime before that we tried an experiment renting ski equipment from the motel. Seems like a good idea doesn't it? During this time we had an older couple, Polly and Bill, who had a room reserved during ski season. I think they drove from Texas, or at least they had a car when they showed up at our place!. I'm pretty sure they were hesitating about the stay as Polly stayed in the car and Bill was sent to look at the room. This was after our remodel of the rooms so the beds and carpet were new. Our place was old but we kept it very clean and we had new linens. After Bill's examination, the couple decided to stay. We invited them into our home and after some discussion, Bill and Polly decided to take advantage of our ski equipment rental. The equipment was in the only place convenient to the office, our furnace room.. I took shoe sizes and ski length and proceeded to get the equipment. Now it was dark in the furnace room and it was my first rental, so I was a little nervous. I think our daughters Renee  and Julie were charged with entertaining our guests while I retrieved everything. We managed to get two sets of skis and boots and all was well, right? The next day after skiing the couple stopped by and Bill said he had a little problem. It  turns out the boots I rented him had 2 left feet! Oh well, I tried. This couple came back for several years  (I did no more rentals for them)! They even took our children skiing a few times. Sadly we heard one of them had passed away so we lost touch. After the first year we saved the little house for them each time they came, a very happy memory for us.

We had some interesting people stay with us, especially in the off season. At that time the town was almost exclusively a winter resort so we rented by the week in the summer months. We tried to take a break at the end of ski season (known as mud season) but we tried to keep what business we could. One of the first years we did so, we arranged for a local lady to watch the place. I don't remember where we went but when we came back she had rented a couple of rooms. It turns out one of the renters was a paranoid schizophrenic from the middle eastern US. He had a job when he arrived but they let him go because he was confrontational. He did not leave however; he stayed to harass us. One day we heard a loud noise and he was screaming and carrying on and managed to break a window. We went to check on him and it turns out he was tossing a pistol around, a 357 magnum. Well I'm not that brave, so we didn't confront him. The next day I went to the police and explained what happened. The chief said I should get him on the street and the would then confront him! That is called FAT CHANCE! Anyway he eventually pulled out and left some of his belongings, along with a note that we should store them for him. Note, he skipped on  rent when he left. We had called and talked to his grandmother and of course she said he was not dangerous and he had walked away from a mental institution. He was a graduate of a major university but illness knows no limitations. He called us a few days later and wanted us to bail him out of jail in New Mexico. He was arrested for defrauding and Inn Keeper! That was the last we heard from him for several months and the he showed up wanting a room! We managed to get out of that and gave him his belongings but for a while he would show up ever so often (too often for me). He was enamored with our daughter Renee and wanted her to go camp with him in the woods, imagine that! He finally disappeared from our life I am glad to say. We felt sorry for him but were also terrified he might harm us or our children (think Renee).

We also had the judge's son stay a while, another troubled individual. He had a collection of snakes, the largest of which was a 10 foot boa constrictor, which of course managed to get loose in the room. We managed to get rid of him but delicately as we didn't want trouble with the judge. We NEVER went into the room while he stayed. Don't know what happened to the snake. I hate snakes.

We had a couple rent out our largest unit one summer. He was a wife beater as it turned out. His wife ran over to the house one evening and said he had threatened to kill her. I was at the church at the time and one of the children ran up to get me. When I got home she was passed out on the floor and our son Tony was sitting on the stairs with a 22 rifle across his lap. It seems her husband (boyfriend?) had been chasing her when she passed out and he said something like, "Ah, she's Ok, She's just fakin' it." Somehow we managed to get it under control and helped her get a bus ticket and away from him. On top of everything it turns out they had a dog that had 6 or so puppies in the unit. The smell was enough to gag a person! We had to remove all the carpet and fumigate the place. My friend Mike and I worked several days on that project. We lost a week's rent as well. Oh well, on to the next issue! More later.