Driving from Nashville to Ashville (theres a song title right there) We decided it was time to pull in, mistake #1! Presented with a choice of three motels we were seduced by the name of this one. I entered the reception lobby and was too cowardly to run straight out, furnished and last cleaned sometime during Nixons presidency, I saw my hand reach for the buzzer, darn, too late I summoned the innkeeper. After long enough to read the numerous posters about additional charges applied to third party bookings, A pleasant enough chap appeared and confirmed that a room was indeed available at a walk in cost of some $65, a tad pricey, but again, my cowardly nature let me down and we went for it. He informed me that a Hot breakfast would be provided in the restaurant between 6 and 9 and off I went to the allocated room with the family.
Upon entering the room and marvelling at the creative use of bare wiring as a christmas decoration just above the door, reassured that we would not be kept awake by the bedside lamps, nor indeed woken up too early by the alarm (as both of these items were dead) we evicted the cockroach (see footnote) and the 3 of us made the best use of the 2 disposable cups, we made ourselves at home, assuming home is a place in the projects, in 1963, and upon realising the excellent quality of the woodwork around the door, jammed one of the chairs against it, put the chain on, locked the door and closed, well nearly closed, the curtains. The beds are high quality items with good solid matresses, they must be to have lasted this long, however tired you are when you check in, you'll not be as tired as the beds.
We slept, our sleep interrupted only occasionally, say every 40 minutes, by the muffler-free redneck pickups racing along the main road, and in the morning we rose early, not to make an early start, just to get out of there while we still could.
We walked over to the restaurant to find some instant oatmeal, a toaster, some random bread and a restaurant that looked like it might have seen busier times, chairs stacked up, step ladders under ominous stains and the three of us turning right round to get out.
Dirty, damp, disgusting and above all else, annoying. Annoying because the chap I checked in with is obviously an intelligent guy, we had a short conversation, he's travelled, he, and his family are well educated so why? Why on earth would anyone think this is acceptible in 2015. My comments about the room are not an exaggeration, I wish they were, cracked tiles, grubby walls and ceiling, forget security, a CRT television from the 80's is the only modern thing in there - My wife informs me that it wasn't a cockroach it was a stinkbug (whatever that might be) - we slung out, well it didn't fly, it bounced and it ran off - whatever it was, it wasn't welcome and there was no evidence of any means to dissuade them.
We were tempted to leave the bathroom light on all night, purely for reassurance, unfortunately the fan in the ceiling (caked in dust) made a noise that drowned out both the redneck racers and the noisy air-con heater that seemed to be stuck on hot - darned hot! Actually It was loud enough to drown out anything you can imagine, apart from that niggling voice that says "run, run whilst you can"
IF this is America's best Value offering, then I would hate to go downmarket.
GB
US