As you could probably guess, we drive around quite a bit for this job.
And when you’re on the road that much, you start to notice lots of little things. So a while back, we were driving north on I-93, just after merging from I-89, and happened to notice what appeared to be a funny phrase on the Days Inn sign. Not the typical thing about hot breakfast or cable that you expect to see on a hotel highway sign.
Driving 55 miles per hour – and yes we always drive the exact speed limit – we didn’t quite catch it all. The next time we thought to look, it had changed. And it appeared to be in the form of a question. It went something like: I am flat and sharp, but cannot hurt you, what am I?
The answer: A musical note, which after looking in the rearview mirror, we realized appears on the back of the sign.
And every week, there’s a new trivia question on the board. Engineer Chuck Gallant is in charge of coming up with the questions and changing out the sign. He’s a huge Batman and Joker fan, so putting riddles on the board just seemed to make sense.
When Deb Holman took over as general manager in November 2015 after Steve Duprey bought the Days Inn, she noticed the sign was kind of overlooked.
“What they had up there was boring,” Holman said.
Sometimes it was about continental breakfast, which would get people to stop in looking for a free meal – even though it was just meant for people staying at the hotel – and free wifi.
“So I said, why don’t we have some fun with it,” Holman said.
She did some research online and had a few discussions with Gallant and others, and they decided to use it for trivia/riddles. It seemed like the perfect direction to take a highway sign that many people see every day.
“I thought let’s put up some fun stuff,” Gallant said.
So every Saturday, Gallant pokes around Pintrest or just Googles riddles, and settles on a selection for the week. He grabs the necessary letters and a ladder. It takes about 20 minutes to swap out the sign.
“I look for interesting riddles, tough riddles that aren’t easy,” Gallant said.
If there’s something big in the area, he’ll look for a riddle or question to match. Last year, with the Nascar races in town, the sign asked for the name of Dale Earnhardt Jr’s cats. FYI, it’s Buddy and Tux.
The only hard part with the sign is that you either have to be good at reading in the rearview mirror, or have a passenger who can read. Otherwise, you have to remember to look for the answer on your next trip south in the highway.
Regardless, Holman just wanted something fun to get people to notice.
“People have called and said, ‘I solved the riddle, do I get a prize?’ ” Holman said.
That would be a big ol’ no, but it sure makes you think for a few minutes, especially if you don’t catch the answer on the other side.
As for the amenities that used to be on the sign?
“We still have free wifi, it’s just not on the sign,” Holman said.
