The motel in Fort Davis was nicer, but the choices narrow considerably in Sanderson, the one and only town in Terrell County, the first county in Texas West of the Pecos River. I thought I'd give this one a try since the owners seem to be headed in the right direction and even provide a decent WiFi service. This is the Outback Oasis Motel on the West side of town, near the Desert Air. Some members of the Corvette Club from somewhere else took the room around mine last night. The regulars appear to be the usual motley crew that a surveyor fit right into: some guys with ATVs on trailers with US Govt plates and the construction crews who grill dinner in the evening instead of settling for enchiladas at the Dairy King.
There was a seedy little motel up north (Jet, OK, maybe?) that we use to frequent when I did highway work. It too had "window unit" A/C. I would leave the unit on low in the AM when I left out, wanting to keep the room cool to fend off the heat of the evening when we would be returning. A hot room in July meant we all lined up in the chairs and drank warm beer until the rooms cooled off so you could shower.
The owner, Mr. Nguyen (or Tran, or whatever his name was..) would let himself in the room after we left and turn off the A/C. I finally said something to him one day. His reply was "You no here, you no need cold air." I told him I liked my deodorant and toothpaste to stay cool during the day.
He said, "You give them to me, I keep in fridge for you during the day." I declined...
The little bars of soap he supplied were Ivory, but his wife could cut up a large bar into 8 small slabs. They were actually so well cut you had to look at them real close to tell. She could fold them up in pretty tissue paper with Vietnamese dragons and stuff on it.
The folks who run the Outback Oasis are snake enthusiasts who moved to West Texas from Kansas. Terrell County does have some exotically-colored King Snakes that Kansas doesn't. I doubt they'd want the Cascabeles that I passed today as I was staking some lines for fencing.
paden cash, post: 417925, member: 20 wrote: There was a seedy little motel up north (Jet, OK, maybe?) that we use to frequent when I did highway work. It too had "window unit" A/C. I would leave the unit on low in the AM when I left out, wanting to keep the room cool to fend off the heat of the evening when we would be returning. A hot room in July meant we all lined up in the chairs and drank warm beer until the rooms cooled off so you could shower.
The owner, Mr. Nguyen (or Tran, or whatever his name was..) would let himself in the room after we left and turn off the A/C.
The element to that entering consistently into the motel market is that 15-watt bulbs appear to be the standard recommended by the Association of Motel and Hotel Owners of America. If I had to work in motel rooms more often, I'd bring my own light bulbs (and take them with me when I left).
Kent McMillan, post: 417930, member: 3 wrote: The element to that entering consistently into the motel market is that 15-watt bulbs appear to be the standard recommended by the Association of Motel and Hotel Owners of America. If I had to work in motel rooms more often, I'd bring my own light bulbs (and take them with me when I left).
No kidding. I guess Tom Bodett's new slogan for Motel 6 should be, "We'll leave the (15w) light on.." 😉
Kent McMillan, post: 417929, member: 3 wrote: The folks who run the Outback Oasis are snake enthusiasts who moved to West Texas from Kansas. Terrell County does have some exotically-colored King Snakes that Kansas doesn't. I doubt they'd want the Cascabeles that I passed today as I was staking some lines for fencing.
Wasn't the Sweetwater Rattlesnake Round-up today?
can't believe I missed it....
paden cash, post: 417936, member: 20 wrote: Wasn't the Sweetwater Rattlesnake Round-up today?
can't believe I missed it....
Don't worry, there are plenty left in Terrell County. The last one I saw today had some real attitude. He was in a striking coil even though I wasn't within eight feet of him and had a rattle that sounded like bottles hitting a shredder - loud and odd.
paden cash, post: 417934, member: 20 wrote: No kidding. I guess Tom Bodett's new slogan for Motel 6 should be, "We'll leave the (15w) light on.." 😉
I wonder if leaving the lights on was a strategy to hide/scatter the roaches. : )
I did some traveling around OK and KS in the eighties,stayed in jr college, college and university towns.
Most of the budget motels were operated by mom&poop subcontinental folks. Many a time checking in at the end of the day at the registration counter, there would be the aromas of a curry wafting into the lobby. I always requested room service for dinner but was always denied. : (
Robert Hill, post: 417954, member: 378 wrote: I wonder if leaving the lights on was a strategy to hide/scatter the roaches. : )
That's good! SWMBO agrees. She is not a roach aficionado
Won't work in Florida. The roaches here have a "stand your ground" attitude, and are not bothered by lights. 😉
FL/GA PLS., post: 417958, member: 379 wrote: That's good! SWMBO agrees. She is not a roach aficionado
Won't work in Florida. The roaches here have a "stand your ground" attitude, and are not bothered by lights. 😉
You ain't lying. By the time I was 6 or 7 I was completely calloused to the existential crisis that usually accompanies cockroaches like some kind of carry-on luggage.
Once found myself strapped to a backboard in the ER at Canaveral hospital after getting caught in between a dispute between a Plymouth reliant and a telephone pole. Canaveral is a nice hospital- nice enough, at least, that my fastidious mother chose to have her youngest child and a couple of surgeries there. Anyways, I'm strapped to this backboard in the early a.m. hours and none of the caffeinated nurses seemed too friendly, and the lights were up awful bright, so I just decided to try and find some regularity in the patterns in the ceiling. That ended up turning into a cockroach traffic study. My dataset probably could have been better, but by the time they fished the last pieces of glass out of my arm and determined no part of my spine was too worse for wear, I needed to pee pretty badly. Decided at that point I'd analyze the data and come back later if I needed to. Guess I found something else to distract me, never made it back to that hospital.
Although it's been quite a few years (since my last bachelor pad) I too studied the behavior of la cucaracha cocina domesticus. The one amazing thing I discovered was their ability to transport themselves right before they get smashed. Many times I would attempt to smash them with my hand (or whatever I was holding) only to lift up my hand and find absolutely no evidence of their demise.
Cockroaches have their version of the Enterprise circling our planet and their cockroach "Scotty" has the ability to always beam them up at the very last moment.
[MEDIA=youtube]G5fFgSF3OIA[/MEDIA]
The filters in air control system of motels and hotels and resorts must be the least maintained item on whatever list may exist and is the first thing I check after entering.
I had rather sleep in my truck if I've got to share my room with bugs and the strong stench of bug spray.
A Harris, post: 418080, member: 81 wrote: ..I had rather sleep in my truck if I've got to share my room with bugs and the strong stench of bug spray.
At one point in my career I lived in cheap motels so often I had to buy a bottle of Pine-Sol when I got home just to be able to fall asleep.
Funny (maybe) motel story:
I checked into a sleezy motel in Coushatta, LA one hot and humid afternoon. I called my wife from the office and told her I would be in room 8. I got the key and found the A/C in room 8 had leaked its condensate all over the rug. I went back to the office and told the girl I wanted a different room. She put me in room 9. I stowed my gear in 9, showered and headed out for the 'choke-and-puke' diner across the highway for some dinner.
Apparently the girl running the place was in room 8 cleaning up the mess and the phone in there rang. She answered and it was my wife. My wife went ballistic because she called "her husband's room" and a girl answered. I have no idea how the conversation went, but I can imagine...
I came back from dinner and the girl at the desk told me "you'd best call home"...
I don't think my wife ever believed the truth about the situation. After listening to her scream and cry for an hour over the phone I finally hung up and got some rest. She was a high strung filly prone to erratic (she threw stuff all the time) behavior. I eventually gave her the house and her car. I can only hope she's still out there making some other man's life miserable.
ahhh...sweet memories...sigh..
paden cash, post: 418113, member: 20 wrote: Funny (maybe) motel story:
I checked into a sleezy motel in Coushatta, LA one hot and humid afternoon.
Is this one of those engineering firm stories or were you in LA for sensible purposes ?
Kent McMillan, post: 418115, member: 3 wrote: Is this one of those engineering firm stories or were you in LA for sensible purposes ?
It was an engineering co. I worked for at the time. I believe that was a staking project for 40 miles of buried toll cable from Coushatta to Shreveport. That was some fun work. BellSouth would purchase blanket easements and we'd actually "field engineer" the route as we burned diesel. Then we'd as-built the line and vacate the blanket easements in favor of strip easements.
I never could get over the fact you could buy a drink or a beer at a drive-through down there. The weather sucked in the summer but the people and the food were great. It took almost a year for me to be able to understand some of them. The best way to imitate a Cajun accent is to first stick half a tin of Skoal in your cheek. 😉
paden cash, post: 418119, member: 20 wrote: It was an engineering co. I worked for at the time. I believe that was a staking project for 40 miles of buried toll cable from Coushatta to Shreveport. That was some fun work. BellSouth would purchase blanket easements and we'd actually "field engineer" the route as we burned diesel.
Okay, so this involved crossing state lines with intent to commit engineering? You've obviously lived a charmed life.
Worst accommodations of all time were in Campo, Colorado. We were worn out and desperate for anything better than two people on the bench seat of a 1961 Chevy half ton pickup. They said they were remodeling the room and it really wasn't supposed to be used. My dad told them we would take it anyway. Most people would have refused simply because all the fixtures had been removed from the bathroom. No big problem for a couple of hicks from the sticks.
The second worst accommodations were in a nearly new Ramada Inn in Ames, Iowa. The stench of fresh paint and new carpets releasing toxic fumes was enough to kill mammals weighing less than five pounds. Large mammals had symptoms that might go away after three or four consecutive days of exposure to huge quantities of fresh air.
Swankiest accommodations included a complimentary suite at the Waldorf-Astoria in the heart of Manhattan. There was a baby grand in the living room.
I remember a motel that was in either Lafayette or Lake Charles where the couple in the room that backed up to mine were some real mattress athletes. I wish I had their energy. The bed banged the walls endlessly (and the female participant was a "moaner"). I finally called the front desk....
The squeaky springs quit suddenly and I could hear the phone ringing through the walls! I could also hear the manager...it was his apartment where the noise was coming from! I was polite and asked if he could quiet down the 'couple' that was through the walls. He said he'd "talk to them"...
The audio-porn stopped. The guy that was bunking with me said they must have moved to the couch. He could hear them by putting his ear to the wall in the bathroom...so I just turned up the volume on the Gunsmoke episode I was watching. 😉
