Our visit in Cedar Hill came to an end, all meetings are
over and we have the truck and the trailer and are once again on the road. This
first part of our journey is the longest of all of them, a total of 1300 miles
but this year we arranged to have 5 days to get there instead of the 3 they
gave us last year.
The Courtyard Marriot in Midlothian, Texas was a fantastic
place to stay and we would highly recommend it. The rooms are fabulous, the bed
was so comfortable, the shower was amazing and the price was outstanding.
Sunday’s drive was over 350 miles, we made it to Little
Rock, Arkansas where we stayed at a Comfort Inn by the airport. It wasn’t too
bad but in comparison to our first stay it’s small and cramped and it’s priced
much higher…go figure. But, the staff is very accommodating and not too much awful
noise from the planes.
We say that finding hotels even with the extensive research
we do is like “A box of chocolates”, you never know what you’re going to get
until you get there and our second day on the road was a perfect example.
The plan was to visit Graceland and then stay at a nearby
hotel, but when we arrived at 9:30am at Graceland there was a 3 hour wait so we
were just going to see if we could check in early but the neighborhood was
awful, so we chose to move on and make it a longer driving day instead.
We drove a total of over 360 miles and made it to
Goodlettsville, Tennessee to a very comfortable Country Inn. It was nice and
roomy, a bit on the worn side, old carpet and upholstery but the staff was
great and so were the free cookies that Jerry took full advantage of and had
more than his share.
Next day was an easier drive, only 130 miles since we had a
few errands to run and clean up a few things on the truck and trailer. We
stayed at the Baymont Inn in Elizabethtown, Kentucky which was not the best
choice either, a bit on the worn side, the staff was accommodating but the air
conditioner was a joke and so was the shower. The air would not turn off and
the shower was so small but it was for only one night so we muddled through.
Next day we did 250 miles and stayed at the Mardi Gras
Casino & Resort in Cross Lanes, WV and had a play day. They were very accommodating
and allowed us to check in early without any whining. Too many times when we
show up around 1pm they whine and make it as if it’s such a nuisance since check
in time is not usually until 3pm, but if they have an available clean room what
is the big deal? We loved that the entire facility was NO smoking, including
the casino. We played a little and unfortunately most of the restaurants were
closed or did not open until much later in the evening so we instead got some
sandwiches from the Deli and went back to our room to eat them.
Our next day drive was only 170 miles to Morgantown, WV at
Candlewood Suites. Now this is the type of place we love staying at and hoped
there were more like this in our travels, especially the weekend stays. This
hotel is very new, the rooms are huge and well planned for convenience with ALL
the amenities, full fridge, sink, microwave, stove top, extra comfortable
chair, large shower and bathroom area, and of course a wonderful bed and ALL of
this for only $79 per night…OMG!
Then on Friday just a little under 100 miles we arrived and
dropped off the trailer, got our hotel and got some rest. The hotel was good
this year and was only about 3 miles from the event. We stayed at the
Doubletree by Hilton and they upgraded us to a King instead of the Queen that
was originally booked. The room was huge with a LOT of wasted space, the shower
area lacked the space that was wasted elsewhere. There were no extras, no
fridge, no microwave, but we did have a coffee pot, a couch and 3 chairs and a
LOT of open space.
Our first show in Monroeville, Pennsylvania was a success, sort of. What
we mean by that is even though we did not make our goal there were
circumstances behind it that were out of our control but we did not have
terrible weather as we did last year and the workers were fantastic.
Sunday was spent mostly relaxing and unwinding from the 18-hour
work day on Saturday and just a few hours of paperwork.
Now the good news is for the next few weeks we do not have
many miles to put on in between events so we can take our time in areas and do
some fun things while we travel to our next location.
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