Following Hole in the Wall

we wanted to do laundry in Grants, NM.  Could not find an open laundromat, so we drove on to Gallup.  That town has 9 listed laundromats.  We drove to most of them, but they were all jammed with people.  Some had lots of machines, but if they were not already running with clothes in them, then they had signs taped on them saying “Out of Service”.  It was pretty hot outside, so we got a motel room and waited for evening.  We figured the crowds would disperse later on.  Obviously we showered and washed our hair at the motel, then headed back to the laundromat.  Still incredibly crowded and busy, so we decided to be there before they opened in the morning to be first inside.  They opened at 7am.  We got there at 6:30, grabbed some food at the McDonalds across the street, and ate it parked in front of the laundromat.  Amazingly, we were not the first ones there.  Others were already waiting ahead of us.  When the guy unlocked the door everyone rushed inside and started stuffing clothes into machines.  We had a LOT of laundry, including a sleeping bag I had spilled coffee on and two little throw rugs.  I filled 6 double load machines and one regular size.  Then used 4 multi-load dryers.  People streamed into that place the whole time we were there and were still coming in when we finally left.  Seemed like no one in Gallup had washer/dryers at home.  By the way, this place had a popcorn machine like at a movie theatre.  The guy started making and selling fresh popcorn at 7 am.