H-90 Weatherford L H 75 L 56 H H 82 L 62 M H 90 L 68
L-67 C H 93 L 74
Bear update: The Bear says Fatty And The Merry Bear Cheated In The Cow-Callling Contest Party. TR says, “Everybody knows that I called the most cows.” Moose say, “You can’t call one cow, Bear!” Lou says we will have a Cow Calling Contest Party. We will serve Foods That Cows Like To Eat.
We woke up to sun. Will it last? It lasted, and the temperature in Weatherford climbed to 90.
Tucson 98/76 Brooklyn 78/67
We woke up at 7:30AM. The room was actually pretty bright. It wasn’t dark at all. We got dressed and took the pets for a walk in the parking lot. We went to breakfast down the hall in the front lobby. The TV was blaring away. The person maintaining the buffet wasn’t in evidence. There were two restrooms in the hallway with multiple stalls, the only hotel like this on the whole trip. I filled up the dog’s water dish and jug here. We checked out of room 125 at 10:08AM. Our first pit stop was at exit 94 Greenville. Gary got gas at a Fina Max Mart. We also went next door to McDonalds. Our 2nd pit stop was at exit 70 Rockwall. We took the frontage road to 68 to go under a bridge to a TA Burger King. We got a flat of water, postcards of Dallas, and Gary went to the ATM. We took 30W across a lake to 635, the ring road around Dallas. There was quite a view of the lake with the approach. We were on a rise looking down at it. As we entered Dallas it was 12:01PM at 91 degrees. We saw the President George Bush Turnpike Road. The 3rd pit stop was at exit 1B, the McDonalds at Belch Springs on Elam Road. We had to cross the road to Burger King to eat lunch because of the construction noise at the McDonalds. The 4th pit stop was at 449B, the McDonalds at Arlington for cones. We successfully got around Dallas for the first time ever without getting into a traffic jam. We followed 20W around Fort Worth. The 5th pit stop was at exit 429b Benbrook. We stopped at a Circle K to get Kenny water. Gary called Shapiro. Then we got back on the highway and followed 20W toward Abilene at the great divide coming up in the road. For the first time ever we got around Dallas/Fort Worth without a traffic jam. Maybe it was the time of year since we’ve never done this in August before. In the past it was either April, May, or June — at the latest early July. We pulled up in front of the Weatherford La Quinta where we stayed exactly 2 months ago today, June 20, the summer solstice. But they were redoing bathrooms. They put us on the second floor, but they were doing bathrooms there, too. We checked out and demanded our money back. The hotel smelled of construction.We checked into the Holiday Inn Express into room 222 on the 2nd floor again, breaking our perfect record of first floor rooms in the USA on this return trip.We went to dinner at Chili’s. Gary took the dog out. The Holiday Inn Express isn’t the best place either. You could go blind with the lack of illumination in the room.
We talked to the pool guy at Pool Solutions today. They want $400.00 or $500.00 to drain the pool, refill it, and do a super wash. That was the same thing we had done five years ago. But this time the plaster is perfect. Nobody thinks they should have to go to all that trouble and expense. Besides, where’s the money coming from? I’m down to less than $5000.00 at this point. And I’m thinking of buying a vacuum cleaner from Amazon.com. Kenny decided to pay for the pool repairs. So we contacted Pool Solutions and asked them to send an email contract.
Today when we got up there was a touch of coolness in the air in Sulphur Springs. It was drier. It was also so sunny that if you didn’t wear your sunglasses the glare was too much. Also the black people are being replaced by Mexicans. Dallas seemed to be the transition zone just as I remembered it to be years ago in the 90’s.
Who Will Ever Turn Off The TV At The Breakfast CP At Sulphur Springs? 8/20/12
We’ve been annoyed this summer whenever we go into a McDonalds or Burger King to find a TV somewhere on the wall blaring down at you. It interferes with your conversation, interrupts your thoughts, and makes noise. Also it exposes you to frequent tasteless, offensive footage.
Worse, the big TV’s have invaded CP’s all over the country in the breakfast room. It’s hard to eat without having some inane babble going on over your head.
Most appalling yet, this trend started to appear here and there in Europe this summer. The TV’s seemed to be confined mostly to fast food restaurants. But even the fancy, first-class hotel in downtown Munich that charges $900.00/night had TV in its breakfast room. The QM2 had a TV on the wall in the pub broadcasting sports. Not that I mind a TV in an isolated eatery that I don’t have to enter broadcasting something, but this could be just the beginning. It could become more invasive and enter the Britannia Dining Room or even Todd English on deck 8.
Do I have to start traveling with earplugs?
Who’s Minding The Breakfast Buffet at the La Quinta at Sulphur Springs, Texas? 8/20/12
We got to breakfast about 8:00AM. We couldn’t find but one Danish. We had to go to the front desk to ask them to find the server. Other mornings at other motels it’s teabags or more styrofoam cups, perhaps milk for the cereal. Sometimes you can’t find much of anything at all.
When we were in Germany and Austria this summer the breakfast buffets had all sorts of attendants, sometimes attendants assigned to the task of bringing you hot tea and coffee and whatever other drinks you wanted. Of course the European hotels charged extra per person for breakfast.
If this is the difference between a “free” breakfast in the U.S. and a paid one in Europe, maybe the Americans should consider charging you extra. Either that or they ought to assign someone the task of staying in the breakfast room to attend to the buffet during the entire meal — and pay for that person out of the $85.93 I already paid the La Quinta for the night.
Who’s Minding The Breakfast Buffet at the La Quinta at Sulphur Springs, Texas? 8/20/12
We got to breakfast about 8:00AM. We couldn’t find but one Danish. We had to go to the front desk to ask them to find the server. Other mornings at other motels it’s teabags or more styrofoam cups, perhaps milk for the cereal. Sometimes you can’t find much of anything at all.
When we were in Germany and Austria this summer the breakfast buffets had all sorts of attendants, sometimes attendants assigned to the task of bringing you hot tea and coffee and whatever other drinks you wanted. Of course the European hotels charged extra per person for breakfast.
If this is the difference between a “free” breakfast in the U.S. and a paid one in Europe, maybe the Americans should consider charging you extra. Either that or they ought to assign someone the task of staying in the breakfast room to attend to the buffet during the entire meal — and pay for that person out of the $85.93 I already paid the La Quinta for the night.
Postcard:
We drove from Sulphur Springs at the edge of East Texas, around Dallas-Fort Worth, and checked into the Holiday Inn Express in Weatherford. This is the first time we ever drove around Dallas without a traffic jam.
Dog/Cat Report:
Sabaka insisted on his treats this morning in the car. I carry them in the glove compartment.
Putlitz didn’t get to ride in his stroller this evening. We were up on the second floor.
Still no contract . . .
What next?
Monday, August 20, ’12
1)Max A Mart Greenville gas cash $15.00
2)Travel Center Rockwall water flat and postcards Bear Cash $8.24
3)Burger King Belch Springs lunch Bear Cash $17.43
4)McDonalds Arlington cones Bear Cash $3.96
5)Circle K Benbrook flat of water Bear Cash $4.49
6)Holiday Inn Express Weatherford room 222 cash $139.29
7)Chilis Weatherford dinner Bear Cash $68.32
_______________________________________
TOT: $256.73