H-78 RAIN L H 71 L 55 H H 73 L 62 RAIN M H 87 L 67
L-65 C H 95 L 76
Bear update: The Bear says I Threw Off My Sweater At The Lake Party. TR says, “Fatty cheated at the hog calling contest.” Moose say, “You’re a hog, Bear!” Lou says we will have a Hogs By The Lake Party. We will serve Food From The Cecilianhof.
We woke up to clouds. Will they last? I thought we were past this! We woke up to pouring rain and showers. It was worse than that morning at Little Rock when we thought we weren’t going anywhere that day.
Tucson 97/75 Brooklyn 82/68
We woke up at 7:30AM. It was cloudy outside. There were puddles in the parking lot. Then it started to rain again. We got dressed and went downstairs to the CP in the lobby for breakfast. We were the only people there right after 8:30AM. I snapped a photo that reminded me of Sir Samuels on the ship. There was a modern artwork in the background right above the cushiony seat at the Holiday Inn Express. Gary had to get a cart to put the luggage on to get it to his car under the overhang. This is ridiculous! I had to put the cat in his carrier under the overhang, too. We checked out of room 222 at 10:33AM. We began to inch along the highway in the pouring rain that was far worse than anything we had yet encountered at any point of the trip --- even in Europe! We even turned on the defrost. Our 1st pit stop was at exit 397 Valero at Brock. Gary got gas. The 2nd pit stop was at exit 386 at the Shell/Subway at Santos. I got $100.00 at the ATM. The 3rd pit stop was at exit 370 Texaco at the Bar B Q Travel Plaza. The 4th pit stop was the McDonalds at Eastland for lunch at exit 343. It was still raining. I’d even changed my shoes. A lady greeted us as we came in the restaurant, “Look at that parade of umbrellas!” I wondered what she’d think of our Queen Mary black rain ponchos. We looked up the weather radar. The QM2 in Southampton has better weather right now! It looks sunny, though it’s much later in the day. No doubt they just had a shore excursion. I called the pool people back in Tucson and told them to wait until we got back. 0Our 5th pit stop was at exit 332 at an Alon Allsup’s store. For the first time all day since we woke up the rain seemed to stop. Even when we got back on t he highway it didn’t seem to be raining. The 6th pit stop was supposed to be exit 319 Little Putt’s Cafe and The Fillin Station. We almost stopped there, but The Fillin Station had a sign that said, “Restrooms for customers only.” So we continued on with still no rain. The 6th pit stop turned out to be the Dairy Queen at Baird. We had ice cream, and it started to rain again. We skipped the rest area because it was raining. Gary got lost trying to find Cat Claw Drive in Abilene. We stopped at Petsmart. We got PPP, Halloween costumes, and a dog toy. We checked into room 102 of the La Quinta Abilene Mall with the Texas boot planter outside the front door. I recognize the back entrance near the pool and where we used to park. This is the La Quinta with the parquet wood floor in the entrance way and the bathroom. We’re the first room on the left, the closest to the door. We went to dinner at the Olive Garden down the street and bought Sabaka dinner at Chick Fil A.
Today we spent the most we did any day since Pittsburgh.
The big sky is back.
La Quinta in Weatherford Ought To Be Shut Down 8/21/12
We arrived at the La Quinta in Weatherford at 2:59PM. We expected to get three keys and check into our ground floor room that we had reserved. Gary came back and said there’s a problem. None of the first floor rooms are available due to construction. All the bathtubs have been redone. We would have to have a second floor room. But no sooner did we get the pets upstairs than we discovered that all along the hallway rooms were open. They, too, had had their bathtubs redone. You could smell it, too. We demanded our money back and checked out right away, wasting a whole hour in the process before we moved on to the Holiday Inn Express Weatherford on the opposite side of the road. The La Quinta had not bothered to notify us in advance that their whole hotel was under reconstruction. They had lied to us at the front desk by claiming that only the first floor was under reconstruction. The hotel wasn’t fit for human habitation. We are going to call the La Quinta 800 number as well as the local better business bureau.
Postcard:
Today we drove from Weatherford to Abilene. We were last here on June 19, the day before the summer solstice. It’s not as hot. All day a we drove here it was raining. It cleared up by late afternoon. the big sky is back. It looks western.
Dog/Cat Report:
The dog was subdued most of today because it was raining when we were driving. He didn’t get out at as many stops.
Ditto with the cat. But the cat liked the stop at Petsmart right before we arrived at the La Quinta hotel in Abilene.
Still no contract . . .
What next?
Tuesday, August 21, ’12 (The last time we were in Abilene was June 19)
1)The Brock Junction Weatherford gas cash $30.00
2)McDonalds Eastland lunch Bear Cash $24.16
3)Dairy Queen Baird sundaes Bear Cash $6.46
4)Petsmart Abilene Bear Cash $46.35
5)La Quinta Abilene Mall room 102 cash $119.03
6)Olive Garden Abilene dinner Bear Cash $68.52
7)Chick Fil A Abilene dog’s dinner Bear Cash $3.09
8)laundry $3.00
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TOT: $300.61