When it comes to planning, I don’t do much.

I often travel with my sister, who is as into to-do lists as I am. She called me the day before we left on a trip last month. “Are you packed?”

“As much as you are.”

Which was code for, “I haven’t even done my laundry yet.”

We had decided to visit family in Wyoming.

I actually booked a motel room for us ten days ahead of time at the Arrowhead Motel. I had several emails confirming the reservation. All from the Arrowhead Motel.

I was ready to order the “New Great Planner” award for myself as we started out for Sundance.

As we neared the town, my sister (who was driving) asked for directions to the motel. So I just punched “Arrowhead motel, Sundance” into my maps app.

Um, no Arrowhead Motel in Sundance.

I didn’t panic. I had at least five emails from Arrowhead Motel, so it must exist.

But did I dig into those emails? No, because I had a better plan. (As the New Great Planner).

Our brother had told me he and his wife were staying at the Bear Lodge Motel, which was right beside our motel. So I just needed to search for Bear Lodge Motel. That’d be faster than rummaging through all those emails.

I typed in Bear Lodge Motel, and the map found it. “Take a right at the stop sign,” I told my sister. “We need to go about a mile.”

Sure enough,  a mile east we spotted a big bear sign on the corner with a sign Bearlodge right by a building about the size of a three-car garage.

Sundance was a small town, but really? That was a pretty small motel.

“That’s the Bearlodge Ranger District,” my sister said. Not nicely, either.

Whoosh. My planning award flew right out the window.

I hadn’t looked up the population yet (that’s more planning than I’d do) but learned it was a town of 1,143, small enough to accommodate driving up and down every street.

“Every street, huh?” My sister didn’t say that nicely, either.

I had a smart retort loaded into my response tray, but then I spotted a sign. Bear Lodge Motel. And right behind it was a building.

The size of a car wash. In fact, it was a car wash.

The Bear Lodge Car Wash?

A block later, we spotted a big sign for Bear Lodge Motel and a little sign beside it for Arrowhead Motel.

What did I learn? That Wyoming small towns seem to like names like “Bear Lodge” and “Arrowhead.”

Did I learn to plan better next time?

Of course not.