Finding hotels on a road trip is easier than it used to be now that we have GooMaps and online reservations. Lemme see. 600 miles from here to Chattanooga on a Friday almost a couple weeks ago and when we got there we had a reservation at this loverly Best Western. It doesn’t look very special in the pic but it was really okay, in some ways my fave of the trip. It was hot out and after walking up to the Roadhouse Up The Hill for dinner, we chilled out a bit with the door open. I love this kind of ambience.

After that super-easy reservation experience and finding out that Best Western had pet-friendly rooms (most hotels probably do nowadays though), we aimed for that chain for the rest of the trip. We managed it except for the next night. We planned to stay in Gainesville so we could take my niece and her SO out to dinner. Unfortunately, it was a FOOTBALL SATURDAY! As a Planet Ann Arbor resident, I am well familiar with FOOTBALL SATURDAYS. Best Western Gainesville? $370? No, I don’t think so. I would pay $50 extra or maybe even a little more but $370? Nope. We did get to Pengie and cBear’s house and they fed us wonderful snacks and a couple adult beverages and we took them out to eat and then we got on down the road, staying in a chain that I am not crazy about although it was okay this time. At least it was not at the end of an airport runway.

Okay, Bradenton, Fla. Technically we could’ve stayed at Uncle Ed’s house. We love him and he has a nice house but FlaMan was gonna be staying there too and there were a couple of dogs and I love them both but… and I was planning to telecommute and we had umpteen bazillion things to do and a new problem seemed to crop up just about every other nano-second or so. Nope. We needed a space of our own to retreat to at the end of the day. I found a fancy new(?) Best Western right in the middle of megalopolis (just off the intersection of Cortez and Tamiami Trail) where most of our business was shaping up to take place. Trailer park, big box stores, U-Haul, Subaru dealer 🐽. Not the most picturesque location but very comfortable and the folks on staff were wonderful. Anyway, this was *not* a trip to the beach. Even if we’d had time to spend even a few hours at the beach, as soon as we parked outside Home Depot upon our arrival, some weather app sent my phone a red tide alert. Okay, eating at the beach is probably not gonna happen. So two nights in that place (Sunday and Monday). Our hotel was mostly empty and prices were very reasonable because Red Tide.

And then. Michael is coming! Michael is coming! We gotta git outta this place if it’s the last thing we ever do-ooo. Girl, there’s a better life for me and you… And FlaMan and Jax Junior… But not until we arrange stable sources of oxygen for our passenger for the trip. It was Tuesday and somehow after many crazy gyrations we (the GG) got the oxygen arranged and we got out around noon and somewhere along the line, I made a somewhat educated guess that if we spent the night in Macon, we might outrun anything Michael had to throw at Georgia. My BFF lives in Atlanta and I knew we would be welcome at her house but that was quite a bit further than we thought we could travel that day and I also didn’t want to saddle her with our passengers. So Macon it was and it was another place where we could walk right outside (first floor because oxygen) and that was good for FlaMan and Jax.

Finally, we drove a long day from Macon, GA to Kettering (Dayton), OH. At one point the GG was kind of thinking about whether we could actually make it all the way to The Planet that night. I nixed that and he agreed. I was thinking through the entire arc of the day, knowing that we were all tired and I had no food at home and if we didn’t get back here until late at night, well… So another Best Western. First floor room with no immediate outdoor access but it worked out. And people loved Jax (dog) and I fell asleep with him snuggling up next to me in bed, which is not something I usually let aminals do.

I have stayed a few times at hotels I couldn’t wait to get out of (yes, last March in East Lansing and a few years ago at the end of the runway next to the Knoxville airport). Mostly, I am mobilized and ready to go when it’s time but we had some good experiences this trip in places that we felt comfortable and at home in. Still glad to be home.

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