We left Columbus in the rain for about 20 miles and then it was just windy, so windy we were grateful we weren’t in Maggie since it was rough enough in the Ram. It was a 5 hour drive day and we split the drive because my arms were hurting so bad from jerking on the steering wheel constantly.
We got an early checkin at Drury Inn in Champaign, Illinois so we could soak in the hot tub and we did for a few hours. The jets were strong and it was hot, the pool was heated so it was a perfect cool down but not frigid. The room was cramped, the bed was comfortable, the shower head was a rain one and it was fabulous. We enjoyed free food and drinks for happy hour and a good breakfast too.
Our second day drive began in 16 degree temperatures and never got out of the teens the entire drive, cloudy, no sun and no strong winds, but the last hour there was snow coming down to an almost whiteout situation. We made it to Cambria Hotel in Madison, Wisconsin without too much stress. Our room was spacious with a comfortable bed, a nice sitting area and a nice shower, and we again spent hours in the hot tub that had great soothing jets and the pool was not heated so it was a wakening experience.
We had Chinese delivered and without a doubt it was the best Chinese food ever. We usually order the same thing but this time each item was perfect. We highly recommend Happy WOK and they themselves deliver, not using those terrible 3rd party delivery services. We were HAPPY and very full afterward.
Our final drive day got us to our destination for the weekend. It was still frigidly cold and the snow was coming down and was everywhere, more and more the further north we went.
We stayed at Ramada in Golden Valley, Minnesota. Great welcoming and accommodating customer service. The room was not on the first floor but we took no elevator or stairs, it was a strange setup. The room was spacious with a tiny bathroom, it had a microwave and a big fridge and a fairly comfortable bed. The air conditioning was on the fritz and consistently needed to be reset in order to work. And yes, during the frigid temperatures we need the air in our room, especially to sleep. With all the rooms around us with their heaters on, as well as the main hotels heater, it gets hot even with no artificial heat on at all in our room.
The event was a mess from the beginning, total chaos for us to setup, they changed our booth number so our timing for setup was off. We finally setup on Thursday afternoon after we got our late shipment. Our first day was sooooo slow due to snow all day, predicting over a foot and some areas got that plus, other areas only about 8” which was still more than enough! They should have called the show for Friday at least because what they did was put all our lives in danger because of the drive home during the blizzard and no roads were plowed or salted. Thank goodness I hadn’t forgotten how to drive in the snow, by the time we left the event on Friday there was more than 6” of fresh snow. Took over an hour for a 5 mile drive but we got to our hotel without any incidents besides getting stuck in the hotels parking lot, but that was an easy fix.
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