We started in Arkansas, drove to Tulsa, OK. Flew from Tulsa, OK to Atlanta, Georgia and then on to Sacramento, CA. We’ve always felt like California was our home, and we were finally back home. The cool part of the trip was that on the flight from Atlanta to Sacto there were screens in the back of the seats in front of us. Bill and I spent hours playing a trivia game on those screens with other passengers. The funny part of the trip was, I noticed on those same screens you could click flight information and see a map of where your plane was. I noticed after hours of traveling we were still very close to Oklahoma. It didn’t make sense, we had been flying for hours and we were close to where we started? I then noticed on the map Georgia was on the east coast, and I was shocked. You probably know now, I never did well in Geography. I thought Georgia was next to Arkansas. So, we went to the Central part of the US, then to the east coast and on to the west. We are a bit tired, but having a good time!
At least they should change the name to discomfort Inn. Bill and I were on a road trip down Highway 1 on the West Coast yesterday and it was time to find a Hotel. We knew three things:
1. The hotel had to have wifi so that we could get some blog posts done and some files uploaded to a web server
2. The hotel had to have smoking rooms because Bill smokes
3. The hotel room should cost less than $140 for one night
So, we stopped at a Comfort Inn in Marina, CA. We ask the front desk lady about wifi and she assures us they have it and it’s free. They also have smoking rooms and the price was only about $80 per night. This was cool, we gave them our money.
But wait, the wifi wouldn’t connect on either our laptop or PDA. Now, since we own a computer consulting company and setup wifi hotspots for resorts we knew that the problem was in their equipment not ours. We called the front desk, but the girl couldn’t help. She just told us that sometimes at night people on the top floor can’t connect and they have to bring their laptops downstairs, as if there was something about the sun going down that made the wifi stop working on the top floor. We then found an 800 number for tech support and called. Of course that woman made us jump through hoops with changing settings and ignored us when we pointed out that it worked earlier that day elsewhere. All they could suggest was for us to come downstairs and use their computer. I let them know I had many files I needed to upload and I couldn’t do that on their computer for multiple reasons. They never solved the problem, but we chose to stay because it was late. Later that night we found that neither bed had fitted sheets, only flat sheets lying on top of the mattress. The next morning we found we had no big towels, only three hand towels and one wash cloth.
We should have seen the early warning sign when we checked in…..a man at the front desk that acted like he ran the hotel called to order a pizza. The pizza guy answers the phone and the hotel manager/owner says, “Uhhhhh, I don’t usually get pizza so I don’t know how many toppings people like, how many do they like?” Later when we came downstairs we hear the end of the same conversation from the manager to the pizza guy, “I thought since you made a lot of pizzas you would know.” It looks like stupidity runs the Comfort Inn in Marina, California! And it looks like Comfort Inn is creating itself as the brand that’s only comfortable until the sun goes down.
We arrived in Sacramento late Tuesday night and the first stop was the greatly missed Adalberto’s for two Super Burritos. Then Bill & I drove on our favorite road, Sir Francis Drake Blvd., to Stinson Beach. We are always taken by the beauty of Marin County. There are no loud signs on the road and everyone manages to get to where they need to go. While watching the signs on the road I realized I’ve went numb in Mt. Home by looking at the horrendous signs. When in Mt. Home, AR I can’t stand to look when I drive anymore, it’s just too ugly. I wish people there cared more about how their business signs impact the beauty of the town, but I think it’s just all about them having the biggest and loudest sign on the road. I’m always filled with joy in California when I see that they have left trees in between highways and in parking lots. It’s more about preserving the natural beauty in California, and ironically in The Natural State it’s more about letting people destroy the beauty however they please.
