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BISMARCK, ND - MOTEL 6
(Traveling
with someone, not my choice but theirs)
Old style building, new style
rooms.
Basic small Motel 6 room with a bed shoved against each wall and
<> two feet between the beds.
But it fills my basics of hot water,
clean room and quiet … quiet was the issue. It wasn't the heater, that
kicked on and off with almost no sound … but why does a motel that sells
'sleep,' have their trash picked up at 5 AM when people are still sleeping (or
trying too)? Wouldn't sometime AFTER check-out be a better time? BEEP …
BEEP … BEEP.
The room was 'pre-heated,' something rare in low and
mid-ranged motels. And the heater was quiet, kicked on and off all night (as
far as I know) without loud noise.
HINT: this motel has two buildings, get
a room in the middle / facing the other building and you shouldn't hear either
the Interstate or the trash truck.
BISMARCK, ND - Kroll's Diner
(The photo showing a silver building like the one on their website is not from
the Bismarck location)
Best ever.
The person I was traveling
with had 'ulterior motives' for eating here tonight, and said the food was
good. It had been a long day on the road and I wasn't up for a sandwich so I
ordered a breakfast item instead. I had the …
Cheesy Lovers' Bacon
Skillet 8.59 Bacon, onions, green peppers, blended with hash browns, topped
with American cheese and shredded Cheddar cheese
Best hash browns I have
ever had … now I just need to figure out how to cook them like that myself
:
MOTEL 6 - BUTTE, MT
(Traveling with someone, not my
choice but theirs)
This motel was the reverse of the Motel 6 last night,
this one is a new style building (doors entering to a hall) but old style
rooms.
This one was built as a Motel 6, so even though it's newer, the
rooms aren't any bigger. Still has the tube TV over the closet area, and a
diagonal bathroom, with a tub (not just a shower).
Check in/out was
pleasant, no issues
Only food nearby is fast food at/near the truckstop,
plenty of truck parking at the truckstop.
FEDERAL WAY, WA - SUPER 8
This was not the motel I was looking for when I took this exit, nor was it
the area I thought I was going to be in. But with two big rigs running together
I was ready to get off the road … now.
(Looking now at the aerial map
of the other motel, the Super 8 was the right choice)
Lots of big rig
parking and food choices next door and others within walking distance.
They were down to three 'smoking' rooms, so I will call ahead next time.
Neither of us thought the smoking room was 'bad,' but the next night the other
person commented they could still smell the smoke on their night clothes. I had
noticed the hall had a pretty strong odor,even though it looked like there were
only 4-6 rooms on one end of the hall that were smoking.
No problems with
the room, it is an older motel, it still has wood seats instead of the $.50
plastic ones most places use nowadays. The 'closet' seemed to be an
afterthought, about two foot wide next to the head of the bed, between the bed
and the wall.
Breakfast was the basics.
Clean, quiet and hot water
are my basics, I have a number of runs this way in the next few months, I'll be
back.
Time Out Ale House - FEDERAL WAY, WA
"This is the
place to come for …
… pull tabs. No comments on their website
about them, but it looked like the whole wall behind the <> 20 foot bar
was pull tabs. Guess I should have looked closer to see if they were new or
used.
When arriving at this place, first all I saw of their sign was 'Time
Out,' and thought it was a child care center … :
I had a French Dip
and salad were both good. Service was good. The person I was with had soup and
salad, no complaints.
Alaska Lodge - SEATEC AIRPORT, WA
French Dip comes with both chips and potato salad. Bun was more of a sourdough,
but very fresh. Meat was red (instead of well done) and served cold. Because of
the type of bread, one large cup of au jus was not enough but the sandwich was
good enough that I ate the rest without instead of asking for more. Great
potato salad. 'Airport priced.'
BILLINGS, MT - HOWARD JOHNSON
I'll still give it a 5.
They say they have an airport shuttle, but we
ended up paying for our own taxi (an extra $15 out of my pocket), then they
billed and credited my account twice before getting it right the 3rd time.
Through it all the desk clerks were always pleasant.
BUT, if you don't
need a shuttle or don't need to use a corporate price, you should haven't any
issues.
This looks like the Howard Johnson of old, the ones that used to
compete with the Holiday Inn … Great place, nice rooms, good breakfast,
'full service' motel. Didn't use the indoor pool, but did notice it had a large
waterslide.
This stay I had no vehicle, taxied in and out … so I'll
need to check if they have big rig parking before I can say if I'll be back
soon.
BISMARCK, ND - COMFORT INN
A few days ago when we got
in town at 9PM and the Comfort Inn was full, tonight we are in about the same
time and they have three rooms left (and we only need one). Price is a little
more than we had thought, because the rooms are all 'pool-side.' They cautioned
us that it might be noisy, but it was already 9 and the pool closes at 10 so we
didn't see how that would be an issue and it wasn't.
BISMARCK, ND -
COMFORT INN LOUNGE |
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