Good morning - some nice stories in here, but I have to ask - could you please bring this back on topic? Thank you.
What?! These are ROAD trip related stories, although I guess we’ve strayed from the original topic. Myself, its hard to justify $80 - $100 + for a night when all I need is a clean bed to sleep in and a hot shower. Especially since I don’t really believe in reservations. For one thing, if the weather is bad or there’s some family emergency, I won’t go; also, when I’m on a road trip, I don’t really know how far I’m going to want to drive in a given day; reservations pin you down to being at a set point on a given day. When you walk into a hotel lobby ‘cold’ at 9 o’clock at night they really hose it to ya.
Whereas by comparison, you can usually camp in a state park for $20 - $30 a night, sometimes cheaper for ‘primitive’ camping, and there’s usually a building with hot showers and flush toilets. Of course, nowadays, if you have a motorhome / tow vehicle you lose the money you saved on the hotel in fuel costs.
P…S.- The state park campground is an even better value if you have a family, usually 4 - 6 people can stay at one campsite for the same fee.
P.P.S.- If you’ve ever seen one of those tv newsmagazine shows where they go into a hotel room with a “blacklight”, you can understand why some of us prefer to sleep on our own bedding.
Hi Ed, I see your point, and I don’t butt in when discussions evolve from the original post into something that remains broadly car-related. (It happens all the time, and it’s what makes the forum great.) With this one, the discussion turned more toward the actual camping and the accommodations on the road trips in question. I don’t like to be heavy-handed, so I prefer to give people a heads up first. Thanks.
I believe Motel 6 is automotive-related
In decades past, when my family took long trips in the US, we often stayed a night at Motel 6. Because my folks didn’t have a lot of money to throw around.
And of course, we rented a car, since it doesn’t make economic sense to fly/ship your car over, for just a few weeks.
One time, they were out of whatever car my dad had reserved, so they upgraded him to a Volvo 760 instead, and didn’t charge him for the upgrade. I seem to remember it was black on black, with leather interior. It’s so long ago, I don’t even remember if was real leather or pleather. But I know for sure it had an enormous size trunk. Swallowed all the suitcases and wanted more
I know I tend to be one that wanders off-topic, and I apologize. I’ve been reading these forums (off & on) for so long I feel like I kinda know some of these people, or know their screen personas, although I only started actually posting recently. I enjoy reading a good, intelligent discussion. Perhaps we could get a Topic Index category for “Off Topic” discussions, I bet it would draw a lot of ‘views’ and by extension, advertising revenue, perhaps?
Edit to Add: Yeah, didn’t they originally call it Motel 6 because it was $6 a night? Boy those were the days!
Back to auto advertising: Back in the 1950s, there was a television show,“You Bet Your Life” with Groucho Marx as the host. The show was sponsored by. DeSoto/Plymouth. Old Groucho urged us to visit our local DeSoto/Plymouth dealer and he said tell them Groucho sent you. Did DeSoto and Plymouth fail because Groucho didn’t send enough customers?
I have alwayz, wondered if celebrities drove the make of automobile that sponsored them
Did Groucho drive a DeSoto or Plymouth? Did Ed Sullivan drive a Lincoln or Mercury? I did read years ago that Dinah Shore and her husband, George Montgomery did have a fleet of four Chevrolets. I would be angry with a celebrity who didn’t drive the make of automobile that sponsored him or her.
" its hard to justify $80 - $100 + for a night when all I need is a clean bed to sleep in "
Oh Ed, I just can’t resist. That’s sometimes what you have to pay for a clean bed. I used to get good discounts at good motels. When we were building our cabin I’d get a good rate at Hampton Inn or some place in Brookings, SD. One weekend though everything was booked and since the wife wasn’t going to be there, I booked a room at the “Sonshine Inn”. Yeah you got it. Well the wife did show up and it was the only time that she actually slept in her clothes at a motel. Not exactly a five star so beware if you need a room in Brookings. I don’t do that anymore. I’d rather sleep in the car where I know the bugs and bacteria.
I seem to have been a born skeptic. I never really believed the personal endorsements of celebrities. From Chevrolets to Winstons they all appear to be midway barkers whose opinion is scripted. And NASCAR is the greatest scam on automobile endorsements ever thrown at the American public. There is virtually nothing stock in those STOCK cars but long ago when NASCAR was just getting started someone observed that what won on Sunday sold on Monday. I can’t imagine that is true today.
“it was the only time that she actually slept in her clothes at a motel.”
Quite a few years ago, because I didn’t think that my rental Ford Tempo would make it any further that night, I stayed in the only motel that still had rooms available on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington. The sway-backed bed was so disreputable-looking that I slept in my clothes. The shower was so filthy that I opted to leave the next morning w/o bathing, rather than contract a fungal disease on my feet.
The only motel scarier than that place was The Bates Motel.
Db, that is correct.
I used to commute a long way and in winter storms I’d stay at a Motel 6 rather than try to drive home. Every time I stopped there, the desk clerk asked “do you drive a truck?”. Finally one day I asked why. Turns out that they have a parking lot out back for big rigs, and they try to save the rooms along the back wall for the truckers, so they can look out the window and check their rigs.
Camping is for young folks… or at least healthy folks. When I take a road trip I like some creature comfort. The ol’ bod will no longer tolerate tents and cots.
Seein’ as how the post is replete with road tripping, winter commuting, and big rigs, I’m begging Carolyn’s acceptance. {
I was told that Carolyn was quite liberal regarding rules to wealthy, good looking young men who threw her a few compliments. She told me I was a 3 time looser and to save my breath but you can give it a try.
Well, if that were the case I’d be screwed… but IMHO Carolyn is a good lady, so I’ll count on her generosity instead… and I’ll beg. {
I am wondering if it might be possible to get a grant, possibly from the NHTSA, to fund us regulars on this board for a big get-together. We could come up with solutions to all the world’s problems. Carolyn could take notes and forward our solutions to all the world leaders.
I second that motion and nominate @Triedaq as Master of the Tappet Wrench.
Did you get that down Carolyn? And how many foreign languages do you speak Fluently?
Duly noted, Rod. Shockingly, I haven’t learned how to translate Korean spam yet. I took four years of Latin in high school and I’ve had eight years to pick up some NYC Spanglish, so you might have to ask Docnick for your language help. 
If the NHTSA also insists on keeping the discussion transportation-related, I hereby volunteer to moderate, as long as I get one of those spiffy earpieces they get at the UN.
How about compliments from poor, overweight, not good looking middle-aged men . . . ?
“You’re the best, and we appreciate your hard work, and keeping us in line!”
:heartbreak:
OK, I’m game. Anything to get out of the house for a while.
I guess people used to camp out of "Aztec"s,didnt the “Aztec” ad campaign,show some kind of camping experience?There are still cutthroat ads that annoy the devil out of Me,A Guy came to Church yesterday in His 30 yr old Dodge pickup(ol truck looked pretty good)Dodge used to drop similar trucks to His out of the air
One truck ad that I did like was an ad for the Dodge pickup probably back in the 1970s. The ad said that it was a man’s truck. It showed that the engine was easily serciced and a couple of other features I have forgotten. However, the one thing in the ad that really appealed to me was the picture of the club cab model with children riding along and the ad said something like a real man doesn’t want to get away from his kids–he likes the space to take them with him.
I just saw a very funny truck commercial…Kind of a dig against Fords new Aluminum truck…