Road trip from Fairbanks Alaska to Arkansas

Glaciers

Glaciers

Alaska Land of the Midnight Sun
Rick said:
Nope, that one was in Redlands, CA. It was the dirtiest, nastiest place I had ever seen. Plastic tub was cracked and flooded the bathroom and out into the room. Bed sheets must not have been changed in years and had wet spots from the last "guests". But hey, it did have light switches.
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Now that’s nasty! If I would have run into that I would never darken their doorway again either.
Our experience has been mostly good but the accommodations are very basic, heated, dry, and cheap.
What I have noticed is that Nevada is the grimiest state as far as accommodations go. Reserved a motorhome in Vegas one time and when we arrived it sounded a lot like your motel 6 experience Rick. We had to wait a couple of hours while they cleaned it to our satisfaction. Nasty state.
 
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popper

Well-Known Member
Sounds like the motels in Austin when daughter was going to school there. And the puking kids in the hallways. Still, the Como in Richardson (very well known local place) wasn't too good. That old 'castle' motel in Amarillo was pretty bad too, trucker place with the nasty stuff on TV. Most motels anymore are owned by those from 3rd world countries who's motive is just $. I get to stop in Montgomery Al next week, hope the place is still decent. Then Clinton on the way back if I make it that far. Blood is thicker than water. She says I can rest today as the grunge kept me up a lot last nite. But she wants the yard fertilized today before the rain and her moving 40# bags doesn't work too well.
 
fiver

fiver

Well-Known Member
i'd take a motel 6 over the broken-8 we lived in for 9 months up in Dickinson N.D.

they called it an 8 we called it the broken 8 because they were physically carrying the broken furniture across the street from the motel 6 when we showed up the first day.
i fixed a lot of stuff in 'my room' over those months.

anyway John.
if you ain't happy with C.W.
Layton is the RV capitol of Utah, you'll be able to find something within 30 miles easily.
 
RicinYakima

RicinYakima

High Steppes of Eastern Washington
If an East Indian is at the desk, I turn around and walk out. As an independent of any chain, all were terrible. Erase if you wish moderator, but when working out of town, I'd drive 100 miles not to have to stay in that kind of operation.
 
Glaciers

Glaciers

Alaska Land of the Midnight Sun
Well we got our first looks at or new used Retro trailer. Little more used than I was lead on to believe. But had to test everything thing out and refrigerator, water system, stove, solar charging system, everything worked great, except the furnace. Got the shop here at Camping World to check it out. I figured it was really going to be simple or expensive. 5 minutes later the shop tech found a stuck contact in the thermostat. Furnace works great.
But, setting up the equalizer hitch was another issue. The original owner who happened to come by about an hour after we started checking out the little unit. So we got some first hand information about the trailer.
Well he had had stuffed to batteries in where there there really wasn’t room. Cutting the up right part of the angle iron to fit the second battery in at right angle to the first.
So the frame clamps for the spring bars would not work. Changed it back to a single battery placement gave plenty of room. But had to fix the mounting angle iron. Happened to have two pieces of aluminum angle with me for a different purpose, but the 1 & 1/2 inch angle got cobbled in to straighten and strengthen the mess. Had to straighten out the cabling as well.
That took a lot longer than I wanted of course.
Finally got finished up and in bed, unpacked enough to get the bedding out and hit the rack by 10:30.

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Sits pretty level, but ready to get the new tires from Les Schwab a couple miles away first thing in the morning. Change oil and filter on the Tundra and check the tork on the truck wheels. Need to dial in the brake controller first.
So I’m hoping to be out of here by early afternoon.
I just can’t seem to get an early start no matter what.
Both of us are tired but Karyn is really enjoying the trip. Road trip!! And not a small one either.
She’s having a good time so far, and that’s great.
 
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Petrol & Powder

Well-Known Member
I’ve stayed in them all, good and bad, cheap, and pricy.

When it comes to motel/hotel rooms, the quality is not always commensurate with the price. I’ve stayed in some inexpensive rooms that were good value for the money and I’ve been in high priced rooms that were not worth it.

My standards are straight forward: It needs to be clean. It needs to be quiet. The basics must work (shower, toilet, sink, heat, A/C, lights, etc.), it needs to be reasonably secure (locks work). And it needs to be in the right location.

I’ve stayed in old motels (rooms accessed directly from building exterior) that were decent places but those are getting rare in the U.S.A. Many of those establishments are nearing the end of their life and the ones that are left have old infrastructure. They cannot justify high prices for rooms, and they cannot maintain & operate them well on the low income generated by the low room rates. They are in a catch-22 situation and just existing until they are sold off for re-development or simply go out of business.

Hotels (rooms accessed by interior hallways) have a lifespan too and some are better than others.

Hotels are clearly the current business model in the lodging industry. Nobody is buying 4 acres of land in the right location and putting 30 rooms on it when they could buy 3 acres and put 100 rooms on it. The up-front capital costs are higher, but the long-term return is much better; particularly if you don’t stay at full occupancy.
 
Rick

Rick

Moderator
Staff member
Starting to look like ya might get lucky for the eclipse. The 10 day weather guess has rain for the day before and the day after with only a 15% chance of rain and 22% cloud cover at the time of the eclipse. Of course, they have plenty of time to make several brand new guess's before then.
 
Ian

Ian

Notorious member
The Motel Sucks on I-25 in Albuquerque, NM is actually very upscale, newish, and clean, FYI. They also have a relatively big parking lot, though it's slopey.
 
smokeywolf

smokeywolf

Well-Known Member
Only stayed in a Motel 6 once. It was 1974 and this one was only a couple of years old and plain but pleasant. Have had good experiences with La Quinta and Marriott Residence Inn. Marriott included kitchenette, breakfast, and dogs welcome). Have had very poor experiences with Extended Stay America and Sheraton. Queen Mary was a disappointment, but not horrible.
 
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Rick

Rick

Moderator
Staff member
smokeywolf said:
Only stayed in a Motel 6 once. It was 1974 and this one was only a couple of years old and plain but pleasant. Have had good experiences with La Quinta and Marriott Residence Inn. Marriott included kitchenette, breakfast and dogs welcome). Have had very poor experiences with Extended Stay America and Sheraton. Queen Mary was a disappointment, but not horrible.
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You must have been there before the bed bug infestation.
 
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popper

Well-Known Member
Tried sleeping on the top of my 76 Dodge van once. FIL tried sleeping inside on the bench seat. Nope - parking lot lights don't go off. Next trip we stayed in a real run-down motel in Stockton Mo., fishing was decent. Tried another time, had a flat on his boat trailer - bumper jack slipped and he caught hand between fender and tire. Don't know how I got the boat lifted enough. Took him to Nevada Hosp and had to run around to find a doc. When wife and I moved to Dallas (just got married - almost broke - small 6 ft. U-Haul with our life's possessions) stayed in another rundown motel off I35 in N. Ok. (near Blackwell?) Roof of part of the place was falling in. People were real nice though, put us in a safe room. Nothing else around for miles.
 
JonB

JonB

Halcyon member
I was heading home on a motorcycle trip in late 80s. I had a falling out with the friends I was riding with, so we split up in WY. They went back to MN via ND, and I went through SD. It was the week before the official start of the Sturgis motorcycle rally. So everyone going there early from the east was headin' west. I was going east...BUT all the campgrounds were filled, motels filled, wayside rest filled, so much so that there were cars filling the entrance and exit ramps (Chamberlain SD). I pulled in anyway, as I could hardly stay awake, it was like 1am. I see on biker dude park on the grass near a picnic table shelter, and he was sleeping on the picnic table. I did the same, about 100 feet away from him. Room service sucked, State troopers kicked us both out of there around 5am.
 
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Glaciers

Glaciers

Alaska Land of the Midnight Sun
Well the best plans fail with the first shot fired.
So ready to hook up and do the brake controller adjustments. No trailer brakes. Still at Camping World by the way. Anyway shop sends a guy out and he finds a problem with the brake away switch. Fixes it and still nothing.
So talked to the shop Forman and he says go get your new tires then after lunch he would get a guy on it. I was ready for a new controller, bight the bullet. But the previous owners had spliced in a trailer seven way plug and cord. Seven crimp connections. Replaced it with new and wired straight away into the brake away box. Problem solved. So we made it 2&1/2 miles to Walmart. Stocked up on stuff and heading out in the morning. I hope early.
 
Missionary

Missionary

Well-Known Member
This is looking like an epic road trip. Does make a feller want to be real aware of all that can go bananas even before starting the engine and pointing the nose in the right direction.
 
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