Day 37: Motel Selection

Total: 2402 miles - oh, my!! almost 2500 miles!!

Cyclist's Observation: When you look at asphalt all day, the view never changes.

Several of you have expressed an interest in our accommodations on the road. You must remember that we have stayed in such exclusive places as the Motel Hilton and Shaw's Motel, the place with the Monet print. We only discovered later it was not an original. Bill and I rarely have shared our criteria for selection of motels with anyone because the competition is so keen for our exclusive rooms. This will provide an unusual insight into our process. The first criteria is that the motel must have a legible sign that says "motel." Secondly, it must say "open" and then an indication of available rooms. No cars in the parking lot is always a good sign. Next Bill and I have a few tricks we learned from HGTV and the Fine Living channels. And we couldn't ignore all the hints we picked up from Martha Stewart. Feng Shui of the space is essential. For us this means we have adequate space for the bikes. We will normally visit the room to determine if it has been cleaned after the last guests and to determine if any other living things are in the room. Now it's time to look at the finer details. Do they have a towel for each of us? Does the shower have hot water within the first 10 minutes and does it last for more than three minutes? The soap doesn't need to be wrapped, but it must be big enough for two showers. We have also learned about "thread count" for the linens. So when we pull back the covers on the bed we try to count as many threads as possible. This usually doesn't take too long. Finally, at least one 25 watt bulb must be connected to a light switch in the room. Please feel free to use these hints for your own motel selection in the future because they have served Bill and I well for the last several weeks.

Today we left the Gila Bend Space Age Motel at 5 am. A bite to eat and we were on the road by 5:30 am. We traveled 88 miles at 12.6 mph against 10 to 20 mph headwinds. We have applied all of our selection criteria and have another nice room in Wellton, Arizona. Tomorrow we move a short distance to Yuma and are looking forward to staying with Jerry and Laurie Finzer.

We are the Old Land Cruisers exploring fine living on the road.