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STOCKADE - OTTOWA KS
Been here a
couple of times before and I'm back so that should say something about the
place.
I order my steak and then go and fill up a plate with other food.
(Sorry, it was a week ago and a dozen restaurants ago) I don't remember what
items I ate, but it was all good. I seemed to be one of the few that didn't
know the help, so they must have a lot of repeat customers. It was around 6 PM
on a Saturday and the place was full, as fast as a table would empty and get
cleared someone else would sit down.
I do remember that the place was well
staffed, besides the guy doing the steaks, there were a couple more keeping an
eye on the other meats. And there always seemed to be someone re-filling
something.
(Just read my prior review after writing the above, doesn't
look like much has changed … I did have steak this time, med-well.)
DAYS INN - WICHITA KS
This was not the cheapest
place I was going to check tonight, but when I walked in and asked their price,
I realized I was missing stuff from my wallet. Tonight's clerk is the reason I
stayed here. I knew I would have issues where ever I went and this clerk was
more than willing to work with me.
Nooooooo problems with the room, it
covers my basics of quiet, clean and hot water. Couldn't find anything wrong
here, I'd put it on the top end of the Days Inn's I've stayed at.
I did
take a quick walk through the breakfast area, it was you basic.
BUCKS - SWEETWATER TX
Not much choice in TX on a Sunday for
eating out, Bucks is one of my few choices.
It doesn't look like much from
the outside, not much more from the inside. I am not much for steaks so one of
my few choices is a BBQ sandwich. The waitress takes my order and tells me I
can go and get my food. It is sitting smorgasbord style in the other room. I
see the sides (unlimited) and then look to see what's under the warmers, that's
when another waitress asked what I needed.
Turns out a chef comes out and
prepares my sandwich in front of me, do I want it sliced or chopped? I say
chopped and he does. I was expecting something scooped out of a bucket, not cut
off a slab. I had to add my BBQ, which is a good thing as I don't like it
'hot.' This wasn't, but I still only put on a little.
Good food, I do not
go away hungry.
Other than not asking me if I had been there before and
did I know the routine, the staff was quick, pleasant and helpful.
COUNTRY HEARTH - SWEETWATER
I've never stayed at this chain
before, all the billboards I've seen show prices out of my league.
I'm
actually staying in Sweetwater because the prices in Midland are even higher.
Knowing that, this motel is in my price range. Everything at the motel checks
out OK, but I am expecting more from this chain (Maybe I shouldn't ?)
Two
minor issues, 1st the dead-bolt latch was busted off, (Something that only
takes only two screws to replace) that made me wonder how worthless dead-bolts
are … I ended up bracing the chair in front of it. 2nd issue was that
every time I woke up during the night, whichever part of my body was faced down
was sweating, like there was plastic between me and the mattress (I forgot to
look when I got up … and the waking up often is something I always do,
even at home. It was not related to this motel)
I was going to give this
mttel a three … until I saw the breakfast in the AM. Wow … the
breakfast is what bumps this motel to a four.
Even though I don't eat
breakfast (anywhere), it impressed me.
>>>>
I had
actually accepted this trip before the MI one so I had plenty of time to check
for motels and routes and … any way home.
Saturday - February
23, 2013
No reason to get going too early, I could do this trip in two
days instead of three if I left at 4AM on Sunday. But I hate pushing it that
hard so three days it is. And it gives me time to stop at Stroud's in Kansas
City, but once I look at their menu online I'm not so sure. $15 for chicken?
(I'm writing this a week later)
Not too much memorable in MN
or IA. By the time I get to MO the remains of the storm is showing. Some places
in MO or KS had gotten 18 inches a couple of days ago. And I find that MO (and
KS) only plow the travel lanes, or most of it anyway. You can't always see the
solid lines and instead of plowing the 'merge lanes,' they just plow so the
traffic dumps right into the travel lane. Almost hit a couple of people before
I decided to just not drive in the right lane in Kansas City.
I kicked
back and forth for all morning if I should stop at Stroud's, I finally decide
yes, it'll be my big meal for the day. The snow makes it worse, but getting to
Strouds is a narrow road, not something I'm going to try with a full sized
truck so that much I learned. The other thing I learned is, when you serve good
food, people are willing to wait. It's 4 PM on a Saturday (they open at 2PM),
and there is already an hour wait. Bummer!
I try to leave but some guy
wants to talk … tick … tock. It crosses my mind that I either better
get going or get my name on that list. I go. Disappointed.
Not much
traffic, it's Saturday 'rush hour.' But now I need to find food, I didn't eat
anything (much) this AM because I wanted to be able to stuff myself. I don't
see anything that perks my interest so I settle for where I've been before
… the stockade Steakhouse in Ottawa, KS.
>>>>
Now I have another two hours to go, I could, maybe should have stopped
in Emporia but that was not the plan. The Budget Host I stay at has a sign for
$32 and tonight's sign for the Motel 6 is $29. But I put another hour behind me
and stop in Wichita.
Sunday - February 24, 2013
Coming in
last night I was wondering how cold it was going to get, temps dropped down to
23 degrees in some of the low spots, but back around freezing this AM. Back out
onto the toll road.
I cross my only scale for this trip coming into
OK, it's new for me. They were still building it when I was here two years ago.
I pull on the scale and the light stays green, about the time I think I've
cleared and start accelerating, it changes to red. I hit the breaks hard enough
to rock the scale, I'm so far I can no longer see the 'stop here on red' sign.
After what seems like a minute, I get the green.
Before getting to OK,
when I was leaving the final toll booth in KS, a truck driver in another lane
was staring at me as I pulled out (I was only 'looking' at him.) But I remember
the truck and it later passed me, I wasn't in any hurry on this trip. And when
we get near the scale this trucker is in the passing lane … I don't see
any 'Pre-Pass' signs but maybe I missed them and he blows past the scale. Two
miles down the road there is an exit and the cops have this trucker sitting on
the side of the road … guess it wasn't a 'Pre-pass' site. Not too often I
see someone get what they have coming.
I know there is a Love's down
here somewhere, I've checked it out before I left so I can earn 'perk points'
all the way. This Love's has it's tire repair shop across the street from the
truckstop, (maybe to keep others from building) :
The Love's in
Guthrie, OK now has CNG, good to know …
Oklahoma City … then
on to Lawton where I expect to do my final fuel. They only have 'shelf food,'
so I go next door to Burger King. Two state patrols at Love's, they were gone
when I got done at BK and didn't see them again.
My mapping says to
take US-281, so I exit when I see the sign. After a few miles of back roads, I
am back on I-44 … guess I should have looked closer, oh well, I avoided
some tolls by doing so. And saw some sights.
Now the fun begins, I
write down the roads and towns where I turn between here and Abilene. Off the
beaten path. It would have been more fun, but last night I found I was not only
missing things from my wallet, but also missing my drugs. So today I am focused
on finding an open drug store and not taking pictures. I do need to look for
one small town that has a Sinclair station all painted freshly with a ?? model
T tanker.
Crossed the 'Brazos,' a few times today, but not at Waco.
But it did get the song stuck in my head. Also saw a few signs for 'Trail of
Forts.' Passed Ft Sill in Lawton, saw the guys all lined up in formation.
Lots of other interesting things, at the time, but too soon forgotten.
But Sunday in TX is not a business day. I finally find a Walmart on
the Interstate but without a prescription I am out of luck. I try a hospital
but it will be $400 plus the cost of the doctor with no guarantee that I'll get
the prescription … maybe I need to switch my meds to Walgreen's, Kmart or
Walmart, something with nationwide network. (It's a week later and I'm still
here, so missing a dose or two didn't kill me)
Monday - February
25, 2013
I said I'd be at my drop by 9 AM so I'm rolling by 7 AM.
I do see two motels posting lower rates than I paid. One 'used to be'
a Motel 6 and the other used to be a Days Inn. Maybe next time … but when
a motel can't meet Motel 6 standards I'm not too likely to stay there.
About 50 miles out of Midland I notice how dark it is ahead, I plan on asking
my drop if there is a fire or it's just a sandstorm … LOL … a few
miles later I find out it is SNOW.
I've made notes of the exit number,
I've Googled the address and looked at Google 360 so I (think I) know what I am
looking for. I'm too busy looking at a used RV in their neighbor's lot to see
their building, I have to make a U-turn.
They don't bother to look at
the truck, just sign and offer me a ride. It's about 10 miles to the airport, I
chat with the person who is giving me a ride about how Midland is booming again
and then they want to know why I'm driving to DFW when flights are only $40 on
Southwest … I have a few minutes of hope until I go to the counter and
"$190." 9 I told them I would stick with my car rental.
I've got 9
hours to drive 4 hours so I've been wondering / looking at what I might do with
the extra hours, an attraction, a park.
I get in my car and make a
couple of phone calls, as I'm talking I realize that the fuel gauge is down an
1/8th of tank. So I go back to the counter and they ask how far I've driven it
already (It's been 15+ minutes since I signed out) I told them from the end of
their lot to the door, I don't talk on the phone when I'm driving so I had
calls to make. They ended up putting in almost 3 gallons … $10 worth.
Right now I just want to get going so I get on I-20 heading east. The
weather isn't bad here, (I-40 is closed by Amarillo,) so I decide to exit the
interstate. I grabbed a map at Avis I took, use the magnifying glass to read
the roads and cities … write them big enough so I can read them.
A quick sandwich at Sonic, this one wasn't bad, as I knew that might be the
last fast food I see until Dallas. 'Red-out' conditions some places, it wasn't
snowing a whole lot, just enough to make the dirt stick to the car. The windows
crunched when I rolled them up and down.
Missed taking a picture of a
'water level' sign, it was a sign in the dip by a 'water over the road' sign,
so you knew how deep the water on the road was. Did take a few other pictures,
but mostly saw a whole lot of nothing.
I had just kind of eyeballed
the map, it didn't look that far out of route, but once I got past the four
hour mark and hadn't seen a 'Dallas' sign yet, I started wondering how far out
I was. I could have been in Dallas at 1 PM via the freeway, now it's 3 PM
before I see a sign that says 'Dallas 70 miles.' I'm thinking I'm good, and I
lucked out in where I crossed the freeway or I likely would have gone the wrong
direction.
Now I'm in Dallas, how far could the airport be? (I have a
'general idea' of where it is) I keep driving until I see airport signs, then I
fuel … I only used six gallons, so that extra three would have been really
noticed.
After fueling the traffic comes to a stop … again. Lots
of road construction. I'm now closing in on that hour before my flight. Opps, I
forgot that this is one of those airports where the car rental lots are 'miles'
from the airport, I get parked and have to wait for the shuttle … tick
… tock … tick
OK, most airports have trimmed the checkin
time to 45 minutes before your flight … I hope this is one of them as I'm
inside the hour now. The shuttle drops us off a couple of blocks from the
departures. I'm walking so fast that the calves of my legs are tightening up. I
don't see my airline so I ask, the first person doesn't know but someone else
overhears me … another block.
I get there and no line, no one
… actually there is someone, the area just looked empty, I get checked in
40 minutes before my flight, now off to security.
I finally get to my
gate three minutes before they start to board. NOT something I will try again
anytime soon.
Once on the flight, the captain says "For those of you
who pay attention to our procedures, you will notice we are doing things
differently today. Our ?? isn't working properly so we will start one engine at
the gate, and then once we are backed away from the building we will use the
power from the 1st engine to start the 2nd engine."
? ? ? ))) so in
flight, if an engine stalls we have no way to re-start them ? (((
A
half hour later the captain comes on again and says one of the instruments
isn't work, so they are 'crossing their fingers' and giving it a few more
minutes.
??? ))) SORRY, 'CROSSING MY FINGERS' IS NOT WHAT I WANT AS
'PLAN A' IN A FLIGHT (((
… once everything got going, we did not
have any problems but it was on my mind the whole flight.
On the
flight my seatmate notices me looking at old photo's of things I've moved
… he has units to be moved so we talk for a while … |
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