Heading home - day two

Gracie was raring to go early this morning.  At least I think it was early. My fitbit said it was 5:30, the clock alarm said 6:30 and the microwave said 7:30.  Who to believe?  My stay at the LaQuinta in Tucumcari was nice.  Everything was very clean and up to date. The lamp had portals for USB cords and an extra plug.  When you travel with a cpap it's always harrowing to dig around under the bed to find the outlet.  I really don't want to look under there.  Oh...the beds had wooden sides down to the floor so no cats were able to hide, another plus.

Upon exiting there was a gas station, which was my first stop. Then a block away as I was to turn to follow my route there was a McDonald's.  So breakfast was taken care of as both my tank and the cars were gassed up....on so many levels.

The drive started out smooth and was pleasant.  The cats didn't make so much as a peep. I breezed through New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma and before I knew it I was in Kansas.

I had been grumbling earlier about all the road work signs that dropped the speed limit from 75 to 65 when there weren't any workers there...I got over that later in the trip.

My first potty stop was too early for lunch so I just grabbed three chocolate chip cookies at Subway. I thought about getting a sandwich for later but didn't.  It's always good to heed those intuitions.  More later.

As lunch time rolled around I found another Subway, this is my lucky day!  I entered and there was only one lady ahead of me but there were several sandwiches in production.  Very slow production.  I started my order and the young kid said the other man would take care of my toppings and then he disappeared into the back.

I watched my toasted sandwich cooling off and realized the other lady hadn't gotten her order yet either.  They were working on a take out order that had been called in.  This guy was working off a printed list of sandwiches with ingredients and was clearly struggling to get it right.  I waited for a bit and when the lady coming in to get the order corrected him on one of the sandwiches and he started over I asked if it was going to be a long wait.  He shook his head yes.  I told him I couldn't wait that long as I had cats in the car and another five hours of driving ahead of me and put my chips back.  It would have been so simple if the other guy would have finished the orders for people standing there first and gotten us on our way.  It would have also been helpful if he'd have been there to read the list to the guy placing the toppings on the sandwiches.  Not efficient at all.

It's not like I'm going to starve.  I could live off my body fat for months. But it was frustrating to have an unneeded delay.  Oh well, I did get to use the restroom.  So back on the road.

When I needed to stop for gas I grabbed a bag of potato chips and ate some of them.  Topped that off with one of the bananas traveling with me that were getting a bit old looking.

Things went pretty smooth until I reached Topeka when the 70 mph came down to 10 mph as we all merged into a single lane on 70.  But I live in Carriage Manor where the speed limit is 10 mph so no big deal. I made note not to grumble any more about having to slow to 65 during work zones with no people.

I finally got to my La Quinta in Missouri, just north of Kansas City.  Drove 620 miles today in 10 hours.  A long day and I'm tired.  And being exhausted is a good thing or I'd probably be looking for a different motel.

The first thing I noticed was the smell.  Like the kind of scent used to cover up smokers since all LaQuinta are non-smoking rooms.  It's also the smell I associate with spraying for cockroaches.  I'm hoping it's the smoke smell, but the cats are busy checking every corner and I hope they don't find anything.

The ladies at the counter were very heavily made up with eye shadow from the 60's.  Maybe they rent rooms by the hour here?  There is no pool and no breakfast due to Covid-19. Not sure I'd have stayed for that anyway. 

There's lots of stains and spots on the bedspread but the sheets look clean.  The chair by the desk I wouldn't sit on if you paid me.  It looks like something picked up at the "Boutique".  For non-Carriage Manor residents I'll explain.  The "Boutique" is what we call the area outside of the dumpster in our resort where things are placed that might have some value to others.  I'm pretty sure this chair would have been refused and chucked into the dumpster at some point.  There's no fridge, coffee maker or microwave like at the last one.  Hell, there's not even a soap dish for after you open the little bar of soap.  I haven't done a Yelp review in a long time,but I'll be doing one on this place.

But it's only for a night and tomorrow I head straight up 35 for seven hours to get home.   

Long Live the Queen