Our January Trip to Louisiana....Part 6(The End)

Part 1 of our trip is HERE.
Part 2 of our trip is HERE.
Part 3 of our trip is HERE.
Part 4 of our trip is HERE.
Part 5 of our trip is HERE.


So Hubs and I had planned to stay in Shreveport the day after the wedding but really there was nothing we wanted to see(touristy type stuff)as we have been here many, many times before and daughter and her now hubby had plans(to stay at the Casino/Hotel next door to the Aquarium and just relax *wink wink nudge nudge* for the day in their room).
So we decided not to stay the extra day and to head back to PA on Sunday which in hindsight turned out to be the right move. ;-)

Before we left Louisiana and hit the road we met daughter and son in-law at their hotel and treated them to the casino/hotel Champagne Brunch.
Very expensive(what isn't to me?lol)but nice to sit down with just the two of them.
And I had 3 glasses of Mimosas which put me in a fine mood...hey, I wasn't driving! ;-)

After the brunch we said our goodbyes and headed East.
I slept in the car(Hubs says SNORED!)until we hit the state line into Mississippi.

We stopped to potty at the rest area.

Can you see the dead tree trunks in front of the rest area building that have been carved into native birds of the area?  I thought that was quite interesting!
Then it was back in the car through MS into AL only stopping for coffee(for Hubs)or gas(for the car).

We knew we couldn't make the drive home comfortably in two days so I had made arrangements to stop overnight somewhere in Alabama after the first leg of the drive home.  Anne in the Kitchen had offered us lodging at her house for the night so it was a good excuse to see her again, so I said YES!
Since we got a late start that day(between noon and 1pm)we rolled into Anne's house a bit later than planned but still within the window of dinner time. Yay!

Anne pulled out all the stops for dinner and don't let her tell you she didn't!  There was chicken, greens, green beans, pickled something or other, cheese, bread, and probably 4 more dishes for dinner.  Then there were two desserts! My brain was mush by this time in the trip(and after 3 Mimosas for breakfast that day)so forgive me if I can't remember what we ate.  It was a lovely though. 8-)

Then we sat for hours in the den/living room and gabbed like we hadn't seen each other for years(and actually it had been years-since May 2017 to be exact when we first met Anne in person).

We headed upstairs for bed in one of the many guest rooms Anne's house has.  Let me tell you her house is deceptively modest looking from the street but inside is a labyrinth.....it just goes on and on, room after room and we didn't even get to see the whole thing!  Plus next time I'll be visiting during the hot weather and bringing my swimsuit to use the in-ground pool out back and scare the little children in the neighborhood with that sight. *wink wink*

I was sound asleep in no time and before long it was time to wake, dress, grab a bite for breakfst and head back out on the road.  And I was so out of it by this time I forgot to take any photos until we were almost out of Anne's front door.

Here we are with Anne's Greeter/Butler, Senor Wences?



No, that's not right but all I can think of is the Ernie Kovacs'"Nairobi Trio" routine otherwise.............


I'm sure Anne will pop in and tell me the monkey's name again. lolz
So a quick goodbye and we were off down the road again.

We had an 8 hour drive to our motel stop that evening in Roanoke Virginia.
We got in around 7 pm and after checking in and throwing the luggage in the room we changed and made a mad dash to the indoor pool there before they closed it for the evening.  We had a nice swim and didn't even go get dinner, just ate some snacks we had brought on the trip in our room and watched a little tv.

I don't think there were more than 5 other people staying in that motel that night.
The reason being is that a big snowstorm was heading in sometime late the next morning and moving east across the Eastern seaboard states.
So we went to sleep early so we could be up at dark thirty to leave and try to beat the storm.

But I took a shower first.  See the cute toiletries holder they made out of one of the washclothes?

And this was sitting on the edge of the bathtub on top of a bar of soap and a bath towel........

So we left a wake-up call for 5:30 am, got up, dressed and packed the car up.  Then we tried to get something from the free motel breakfast but the employee was still setting up and she wouldn't let us in the breakfast room.  So I explained to her how far we had to go and we were trying to beat this storm and couldn't wait and she relented and let us take from whatever she had put out already.
We made a couple of sandwiches on biscuits, took a banana or two and drinks, then jumped into the car(which we had gassed up the night before near the motel)and took off up I-81.

We kept an eye on the weather on our phone and stopped once for gas, coffee(for Hubs)and cruised on NorthEast ahead of the snow.
We got within 2 hours of home, around Carlyle PA when I noticed that one of the tires on the rental car was loosing air.  I showed Hubs and we stopped at a gas station right off the interstate to fill it back up.
Another 5 miles down the road it started loosing air again and at a faster rate.
There was a fair amount of yelling and panicking as I tried to find a tire place before the tire went flat.  There was another stop to put more air in the tire at a Sheetz and as we got to the tire place I noticed an Enterprise Car rental business right across the street from the tire place.
So Hubs turned in there and went in.

Now you would think that since we had a rental from Enterprise they'd just exchange our car for a working one there and we'd be on our way.
No.
Hubs comes back out and said they told him to find a tire place that had a relationship with Enterprise, have it changed and have the tire place bill Enterprise.
WTF?!?

That's the rental car we started with with the going flat back tire.  You can see the tire place we tired behind the car and trees, in the distance.

So we go across the street to the tire place and no they are backed up and can't get to our tire for hours(meaning we'll be stuck in this snowstorm)plus they don't even have a relationship with Enterprise).

I was so angry(with Hubs and Enterprise)I told him to drive back across the street and demand they give us another rental NOW, considering the weather and we were under a deadline!
I know he just went in there the first time and of course they weren't going to offer a new rental unless he asked and I just know he didn't ask. ugh.

The only available car they had was a minivan and here is my view of the Enterprise entrance from inside that car...which means Hubs got them to give us a new car to finish the last 2 hours of our halfway across the country trip and I didn't have to go in and go all "Sluggy on a rampage" on them.
lolz

So we took off after being delayed almost 2 hours between 3 stops to refill the tire and the driving back and forth to get a working vehicle again.  By the time we left Enterprise I looked and the old rental car's tire was totally flat.

We got within 45 minutes of home and felt safe enough ahead of the bad weather to stop at an Arby's off the interstate to grab a sandwich and drink each and eat it in the parking lot sitting in the minivan since we hadn't eaten since 6 am.
More gas off the interstate there and then back on the highway to home.

We got in around 3 pm, our 6 hour drive took 8.5 hours.  After unpacking the rental minivan we took a nap.
I woke up 2 hours later to find an 1+ of snow on the ground so we got home in the nick of time, missing the storm.
By the next day the storm was past so we could drop the rental back at Enterprise and go pick-up the doggies from the kennel and take them home.

This last day was the only aggravating and anxiety filled part of this otherwise lovely trip.  It would have been nice to not have to travel in January up North through various mountain chains but it's over with now and I'm only going to remember the good times of this trip going forward.  8-)))

THE END


  Sluggy

Our January Trip to Louisiana-Part 1

I don't know what possessed our daughter to decide to get married in early January(probably because the venue they wanted was available then).
But she did, so Hubs and I had to take a trip to Louisiana for her wedding.
Traveling here in Pennsylvania in January is a crap shoot no matter if you drive or fly due to the unpredictability of the weather.  The train is really not an option since we'd have to drive 2 hours to Harrisburg and pay for parking for 2 weeks for that.

We priced out the options and driving a rental car/gas/hotel/food/dog boarding was almost half the price of flying to LA/hotel/car rental/gas/food/dog boarding.   Plus we had things the Daughter had left here to bring to her so the car made the most sense.

So we rented a full sized car from Enterprise, dropped off the puppies at our local family run boarding place on the 30th and left at dark o'thirty on December 31st....yes, New Year's Eve Day.
We'd be ringing in the New Year somewhere in podunk Tennessee which was fine by me as we aren't NYE party people.

The first day we didn't stop unless absolutely necessary....for food, coffee for Hubs,, potty breaks and to stretch our legs.

Except for one stop in Carlisle PA at the Lindt Outlet for a small bag of chocolate. ;-)

Our first stop for food(besides the biscuits we ate in the car for breakfast from Mickey D's near home)was at Cook-Out in Harrisonburg VA.  I texted eldest son's GF a pic and told her to guess where we were(she went to college at James Madison U nearby).

And I found 2 pennies there of course! lolz

We stopped again at a gas station/convenience store(for gas, potty and Hub's coffee) further down I-81 in Dublin, VA...............

And I found another nice shiny penny right at the counter/register for my collection.

We pulled into the Quality Inn around 6 ish that evening in Bull's Gap TN.  We had stayed here on a previous trip but it had a new name now(same chain but a different level of "quality", thus a different name).

We quickly weighed our dinner options....Taco Bell across the street, McDonald's next door or the truck stop convenience store sandwiches(as there wasn't a restaurant attached to this one).  So we drove South a couple miles down the road away from the motel(we already knew there was a bar North of the motel and a Mexican restaurant we ate at in which probably wasn't there any longer).

Me at the bar in April 2014......

And a quick Google says the restaurant was gone in 2019.

So we landed at another convenience store/gas station with a Subway attached to it for dinner.
I had my usual Subway order though at that late hour I should have only gotten a half sub.  I had to sit up way too late that evening in a tired state to digest that sucker so I did actually ring in the new year at midnight.
yay me!

We wandered through the convenience store part after eating and before fueling up so we were ready to hit the road first thing in the A.M. and I found this under a rack of keychains....

So back at the motel, I sat on the sofa in the room and perused a free local newspaper we got from the lobby.  Love this front page story they had.......

Can you tell nothing much(bad/newsworthy)ever happens in this place? lolz

Oh!  There was also a Food City ad in the paper..........

I'm always interested in food stores we don't have here and to see what other folks pay for groceries.
Belinda over at "My Frugal Workshop" has mentioned she shops at this chain sometimes.

I figured we'd have a hard time getting to sleep since it was Dec. 31st and there might be a fair amount of partying folks staying at motels(especially since this exit had a truck stop and 2 motels)but this place is pretty much in the middle of nowhere TN so those fears were for naught.

While I was waiting for my dinner to digest I took a shower instead of in the morning.
This was the situation I found in the bathroom.......

The clip holding the shower head was broken.........

And when you turned on the shower head the cord jumped around like a snake from the force of the water flowing through it, soaking the walls and the floor.  It was tricky maneuvering things....you had to close the nozzle thingy if you needed two hands to soap up or do your shampoo, then bend down, pick up the shower head and open the nozzle again so the "water snake" was controled.
Fun times people, fun times....
We reported what needed to be repaired when we checked out so management could address the problem.

But things took a bizarre turn the next morning at the complimentary breakfast and how!

We went down to the lobby and the breakfast area and chose a table to eat at.
Hubs went over to the coffee/tea station in the background of this photo below to make his first cup of coffee for the day....

I proceeded into the breakfast alcove where the food was laid out in the very back of this photo............

Sorry it's fuzzy but I had to blow up a stock photo from the motel's website as I didn't DARE take any photos as you will understand why in a moment.

You can see the food stations and we sat to eat at the table closet to the food alcove.
The only other person in the lobby/breakfast area was the motel clerk at the front desk.
It was nice and peaceful....until.

As I finished making a plate of food and made my way to the table, Hubs came over with his coffee and said there's a full cup of coffee over on the drink station with about 12 stirrers in it and nobody around.  Strange.

As I began eating I noticed a woman shuffling in to the breakfast area toward the food alcove.  She looked a hot mess(who doesn't at 8 am?)....hair all stringy and she was wearing fuzzy pj pants and a t-shirt.  She had a strange gait to her walk like she suffered from CP or had some kind of spine injury.

Then she started staggering and swaying like a drunk(still drinking since last night maybe?) and loudly talking to someone who wasn't there like a crack head or someone off their meds so of course at this point I stopped eating and just watched her. lolz

She went from the display case of breads/muffins to the hot food chafing dishes to the juice machine to the tabletop fridge with eggs/cream cheese/yogurts in it to the bowl of fruit, asking her imaginary  friend what they thought and what they should chose to eat.
During this touching everything episode she spontaneously would stop, raise her arms and begin dancing and singing around the alcove for a few seconds before going back to asking her "friend" what they thought was a good idea to eat for breakfast.

Then she spied the waffle maker!
She began to pick up/handle all the equipment for making waffles....the big plastic fork/spork in the utensil holder for getting your hot waffle out of the machine, the can of generic Pam spray, the waffle maker itself and the little machine that dispenses waffle batter.
It's like she was from another planet and had never seen anything like all this.  Then I watched in disbelief as she took the big fork/sprok out of the utensil holder, moved the holder under the waffle batter dispenser and began dispensing batter into it.
Wtf?!lolz

Obviously the motel clerk had also been watching her somewhat bizarre behavior because he rushed over to stop the waffle batter flow before it overfilled the holder.
He tried to assist crazy crack head lady, by getting a small cup which you actually put your batter in to  pour it into the waffle maker and showing her what to do.
Crack head obviously had the attention span of a gnat because 3 seconds into his showing/explaining she danced/staggered off, praising Jesus at the top of her lungs out of the lobby.
The clerk was heard to say, "I guess I'm making a waffle now."

I think my mouth was hanging open as the clerk's eyes met mine.  He shook his head, picking up the half waffle batter filled utensil holder to remove and clean it and as he passed me said, "And it's not even 9 am.....sigh".

Now Hubs and I aren't rocket scientists but we feel that A-this clerk sees this sort of thing on a regular basis in his job there and B-that abandoned coffee with 12 stirrers in it was definitely the work of Crazy Crack Head lady.

In our trips in and out of the motel when leaving that morning we never saw CCH lady again and we suspected that she wandered in from either the Motel 8 next door to our motel or the truck stop next door to the Motel 8 and decided to help herself to some waffle batter and coffee stirrers before the motel clerk thwarted her plan.

That was just one of the more bizarre people/motel experiences we've had in a long time.

We finally got on the road and out of there by 9 am.
We planned to stop in I think it was downtown Chattanooga  TN for lunch at a local joint but that plan was thwarted when we got there it was closed(New Year's Day holiday)plus there was little parking to be had, had they been open.  So we drove another hour and stopped in Fort Payne Alabama for gas and a latish lunch.

I opened the car door to use the bathroom inside and lookie what was waiting to be found at the gas pump?

A worse for the wear penny.

Then we hit a place called "Western Sizzlin'" for lunch.
Sort of a combination of a "meat and 3" sit down restaurant ubiquitous in the lower South and what Western Sizzlin's were back in the old days-order of cheap cut of steak(or chicken), a potato, a piece of Texas toast or rolls and an all-eat-cared-to-eat salad bar.  You could order the steak still but they had a massive full food buffet instead of just a salad bar.

And they had a lunch Senior special of $8 for the buffet so that is what we got..........

I highly recommend their teriyaki chicken, as well as the green beans, mustard greens, and the grilled squash and onions.  Besides all the fattening heavy carb foods some of the food was questionable(like a basket of deep fried potato skins just sitting out at room temp for who knows how long over on the salad bar).
We ate pretty well/healthy(avoiding carbs other than I had 1 roll and part of a pork chop)which I didn't finish as you can see.

A father and son(an older teen)sat down across from us while we were eating.  The father who looked like he had not seen his feet in many years(not that I am judging him!)came back with a heaping plate of mac and cheese with 5 rolls on top of that.  He went back for deep fried meats(chicken and pork)for another heaping plate with another 4 rolls in top of that plate before we were finished, paid and left.  There were also 3 cups of Mountain Dew(the color of which is undeniable)brought and emptied by this guy while we were there.
The teen ate about the same in similar quantities but he was rail thin.....at least for now. ;-)

We got back on the road after paying our under $18 bill!!! and made tracks for lower Alabama.
We were going to be staying with friends Lorraine and Chris for two sleeps as Lorraine was on Christmas vacation under the following Monday.

Lorraine had cooked a lovely dinner of Lasagna and Salad with Rolls.  We ate, the guys had some beers too and we chatted until well past Lorraine's bedtime of 8 pm. lolz
Hubs and I snuggled into Lorraine's office/guest room and fell dead asleep quickly wondering what fun was in store for us that next day.
Hopefully no Crack Head Ladies.......

Sluggy

The Good, Bad & Ugly Lately at Chez Sluggy

It's been a real mix of things here lately at Chez Sluggy.
Here's a rundown of the past few weeks.

* UGLY  Hubs had to go down to Louisiana and was gone 8 days.  Even though he stayed in the house while there it meant 2 nights of motel charges(1 on each of the way down and the way back), plus lots of money spent on gas and meals.  I did have a few fast food/casual dining gift cards he used and he made breakfast and some coffee at the house so it could have been worse than the $1100+/- it cost OOP for this trip.

* GOOD and BAD The reason for Hubs trip was to access the condition of the house there, clean a bit, fire our old realtor and interview for a new realtor and field some independent offers we got on the property, so that was good.
None of the independent offers turned up a sale so we signed a new contract once he got home and we got an offer with the new agent on the house last week.  Unfortunately, the financing for the people wanting the house fell through so we didn't sell the house. 8-(  But we have gotten a lot more traffic with this new realtor and that paired with a lower(more realistic)price may eventually get us a sale.  Sooner rather than later is my preference. ;-)

*  UGLY We have had 2 snowstorms in 2 weeks since Hubs has come back(plus 1  that arrived while he was gone), so I am blaming them all on him. lolz  And another Nor'Eastern is slated to hit mid week this week, which makes #4 though we aren't suppose to see much accumulation on that one, but still, it's the end of March for gosh sakes.....enough is ENOUGH!
March 2nd.....

I took Chester out before storm #2 hit(4 days after #1 hit and there was melt)and saw that we had had some deer activity in the yard.................

These tracks are much too large to be Chester's.
Then I spied at the top of the middle of this shot a strangely squared shaped track set apart from the other tracks.

A playing card buried in the snow. 
I guess our resident deer enjoy a game of Black Jack every now and again while traipsing through our development.  ;-)

March 7th.....

Hubs came home between the storms and was in charge of taking Chester out again......

* GOOD On March 8th we finally were all well enough to go out to celebrate College Boy's birthday.

My kids insist on going out to expensive restaurants for their birthdays so this time we went at lunch time and paid lunch menu prices for the expensive Hibachi meal.

This is Daughter's idea of "celebrating".....a punch bowl full of liquor!  It came with 2 straws but she wasn't sharing it!lolz  5 types of liquor and gosh only knows what else was in that drink.  She let me take a sip and all I could taste was alcohol so it was light on the fruit juice.

I passed on the sushi roll made with tuna, salmon and red snapple.....lolol

This hibachi master wasn't as crazy as the one we had back in 2011 for my Daughter's Birthday meal but this chef did have a special water bottle to put out the onion rings volcano........

We mentioned that is was CB's birthday so they thoroughly embarrassed him by banging a gong at the table and we all sang "Happy Birthday" and he blew out his candle on his dish or ice cream........

He finally got his Bday card and his check....

Then he posed for a photo with me before he left in a separate car to go to his internship.

Can you tell from my face I'd had a bit of sake by this time?

* GOOD and UGLY
I already blogged about my Rite-Aid trips............

I hit Weis a week ago Friday for some deals and a Friday Freebie which I talked about already.....

Then  I went back for a few deals on Wednesday and ended up doing a big shop.........

 Among the best deals was 4 more bottle of this organic OS juice for free(sale $2 using $2/1 Qs), 2 boxes of Puffs with lotion for .50¢ box after sale/doubled Qs, 2 more Well Yes! soup for .67¢ each after sale/doubled Qs, a can of coffee for $1.99 after sale/Q.............

4 bags of shredded cheese for $1.37 each after sale/Qs.......

 And I hit a bacon deal.  5 packs of John F Martin bacon(the local good stuff!)for $3 a pack after $3 off Instant Stickers on each.  These will go into the freezer for Summertime BLTs.  8-)))

I also bought a fair number of frozen entrees, ice cream(the kids are going through it at a rapid clip!), some Progresso soups for Daughter's lunch, soda 12 packs(stock-up price), devil dogs, pizza bagels, Power-ade, buffalo chicken bites and breaded mushrooms and chips for snacking for the kids, 2 cans of diamonds for snacking for me, some doggie treats for Chester, 2 packs of discounted meat, 2 boxes of muffin mix that was .50¢ after sale/doubled Qs, cole slaw cabbage mix and 2 bags of salad kits.  I also bought reg. milk, a full price container of sour cream(needed that night for our stroganoff dinner).
When that trip was said and done $241.85 if I had paid full reg. retail for all cost me $115.70 after sales and Qs(most doubled).
I spent a lot more than I planned(can I blame the discounted bacon??lol)but this week's shop should be a lot less.
Oh and since it was PI(e) Day on Wednesday I bought a pie............

Lemon meringue for half price. lolz

* BAD And then I had my slip and fall Thursday which has curtailed any going out and spending $ up to this point. 
Good think I got those frozen & prepared foods since I haven't been up to making meals since Thursday(though I am putting a corned beef into the crock pot today-a day later than planned).
I doubt I'll go to Rite-Aid this week other than for any Rxs as the deals are thin now and for next week too as far as I can tell.  I do need to get to Ollie's(Good Stuff Cheap!)in the next week or so as I have a 10% off discount card that is expiring the end of the month.

And let's end with something good.........

* GOOD  I was contacted out of the blue this past week by a 1st cousin 1 x removed on Ancestry.
Her mother and my paternal grandfather were siblings(making her my father's 1st cousin).  I had no inkling she existed because I never met that Great Aunt and didn't know she and her husband had had any kids!!  I don't think she knew I existed either until she saw the same people on my tree that are on hers. lol  We are emailing back and forth now and are sharing info, stories and photos(though she has a lot more photos of that part of the family than I do).

This is a photo of a photo she sent me of  my father with his parents(the baby in my grandfather's arms)I am guessing was taken in 1932 in upstate New York.  This is the oldest photo I have of my grandparents(as well as of my dad).
I'm looking forward to more photos and stories from my newly found cousin. 8-)))

That's about all to report in lately from Chez Sluggy.

What's been going on lately in your world?


Sluggy

I'm back from vacation.
We had to cut it short by two days.
Why?
Because we bought a house in Louisiana and needed to get home to send $$ to the realtor.

 

 

Who else do you know who goes on a vacation and comes home with a house?

I must be totally out of my mind!!

Sluggy