The rental lesson of last August seems to need expanding, to cover all situations where I rent the car in one airport and drop it off in another. This lesson cost only $1078. At today’s airfares, it may be cheaper to fly.

A similar rip-off on a smaller scale is hotel laundry valet service. A 3-week stay can run up a tab in hundreds of dollars in valet laundry. When I changed hotels on Friday, the new hotel didn’t launder underwear or socks, and even worse, they promised my clothes back in two days rather than one. This was unacceptable, so I called the Holiday Inn Longview and asked who their laundry service was.

I took four hotel laundry bags to Village Cleaners in Longview. They took same-day service until 2pm. I picked my clothes up after work the same day. My jeans were not pressed into oblivion but hung nicely with my shirts. There were no plastic tags on each shirt, sock, etc., to rip off. When I looked at the bill, my first thought was that they only charged me for the first bag. I knew it would be cheaper, but not this cheap. Taking laundry to cleaners in Lafayette was still $35-50 for large loads. Village Cleaners charged my laundry at 75 cents a pound, and I had ten pounds of clothes. I had never heard of laundry pricing by weight before.

Total bill with tax: $8.12

So, Halliburton lurkers who visit Kilgore: do not let any hotel do your laundry. I had a good experience with these guys, and I wish I had known them a lot sooner.