Summer 2007 Road Trip: One girl. One car. Over 8,000 miles.

I’ve now officially stayed at 6 hotels/motels in Tulsa, OK.  Some good, some bad, some yucky.

Here are the reviews:

Embassy Suites, Tulsa - Clean, large rooms, awesome beds, expensive but la roulette anglaisejeux de casino sans telechargementbonus casino 770t?l?charger un casino gratuitesjeux la rouletteslots casinosjeux casino machines a soussites de poker onlinele jeu vid?o pokeronline poker rankingpoker sur le netpoker en ligne argentjouer o poker en lignetable de poker en lignepoker machine gratuiteslogiciel texas holdemtelecharger poker texas holdemplay seven card stud onlinet?l?charger un poker gratuitesjouer aux pokerjeu world pokerregles poker texastexas holdem frjeu video poker gratuitesjeu de texas holdem gratuitesstrip pokertournoi de pokerjeux online poker tourjeux 7 card studprofessional poker tourjeux seven card stud gratuitesjeu de poker en lignetriche poker onlinela r?gle du pokerjeu video pokerpoker school onlinepoker texas gratuitesune r?gle du jeu de pokerla r?gle du texas holdemjouer streap pokertelecharger poker 3djeux world pokerle poker gratuites fran?aisjeu poker omaha gratuitestournoi de poker casinoregles texas holdemtexas holdem casinojeu video de pokerle poker gratuites sans t?l?chargementpoker tracker gratuites worth every penny.  No breakfast room service though.

Hilton, Southern Hills, Tulsa - Clean, nice rooms.  However, throughout my stay, they were doing construction on the hotel and it woke me up at 8am in the loud form of drilling.  So, after a few days, I switched to…

Marriott, Tulsa - Hotel itself is extremely nice.  Rooms, OK.  The beds are so soft, so they are really comfy to fall asleep in, but the mattresses will hurt your back because of how soft they are.  (You sink in).  Bathroom sink was tiny.  Room service was just OK. - took 45 minutes to get anything.  Maid service, sub-par at best.

Studio Plus, Tulsa - A nice, functional and un-fancy room with a kitchenette.  I would have stayed there until my apartment was ready (over a week) but there was an overwhelming smell of curry in the room that would NOT go away!  My clothes began smelling of it.  I complained, they sprayed fabreeze and other stuff but it didn’t work.  Finallly, I decided it was time to move on yet again…

Econo Lodge, Tulsa - Room was clean and cool.  There was a whirlpool bathtub in my room.  Management was super-nice and gave me a discount.  However… there was a sharp sticker/burr thing in my bed the first night.  I was suprised, thinking it was a fluke, and threw it to the floor.  By morning, I felt a second one near the middle of the bed.  Then the second night, I felt ANOTHER sticker thingie!  Plus the bedsheets made me itch like crazy!!  Two nights in that place and I was OUT OF THERE!

Doubletree Downtown Tulsa - Super-comfy beds and super-clean sheets (heavenly sleep), good room service, awesome room, awesome rates… so far, so good… so far, the best hotel I’ve stayed in in Tulsa, Oklahoma…

Oh, and on behalf of my sister, who is staying in a total dump of a motel, here is a review for you all from her:

Value Place, Tulsa, OK

- Dump.  Horrible service and staff (they roll their eyes at you and are rude), they do not clean your rooms or change bedding, only 1 roll of toilet paper is allowed per week,  scary drunk and high people everywhere, the hallways and rooms smell of an odd, sour odor, beds are hard as rocks and itch like crazy… ew.

I left New Hampshire again today.  This road trip is already promising to be a bit more challenging.

Quick rundown of my day:

• I got a speeding ticket in Upstate New York !!!!!!!  I was honest when I told the policeman that I didn’t know what the speed limit was.  He said in reply: “Well, it’s not 82, which is what you were going!”  I definitely deserved the ticket.
• I saw no less than 15 people pulled over today, receiving tickets. Apparently the highway patrol is cracking down in NY state for speeding.
• I am now the not-so-proud owner of 4 speeding tickets from 4 different states in a 5-year period.  2 1/2 of those years, I didn’t even drive!  I know, that’s really awful.
• I feel like crap
• This hotel doesn’t have room service
• The valet parking service here taught me how to parallel park (long story)
• I got flirted with/honked at by several truck drivers today (more than 5)
• I ran into a major downpour today that reduced driving visibility to… zilch.

I will be leaving on yet another road trip next week - possibly on August 15th.

More details later… also, the Branson photos (and my camera) were finally found when I cleaned my apartment yesterday.  I will be posting them soon!

I have a bad case of post-travel depression. I want to travel forever.

There are several things I noticed and learned on my five cross-country road trips.  Yep- I’ve now completed five of them.  I will share these pearls of wisdom with you now:

• Get Triple A if you don’t have it. Not only do you get discounts at pretty much every hotel, but you will be covered if you break down!
• Not once was I asked for proof of having Triple-A when asking about the hotel discounts. They just gave it to me. No proof or card needed.
• So yeah, if you don’t have Triple A, you can pretend to have it at hotels, get discounted room rates, and nobody (except you and your conscience) will be the wiser.
• There is a community of travelers out there that you will know nothing about unless you go on a road trip. You see this community of people when you are at rest stops, tourist traps, and generally on the road. They are mostly a very friendly and intriguing breed of human.
• When you are driving alone, remember - you aren’t really alone. Every single vehicle you come across has at least one living/breathing human in it. Even that annoying big rig 18-wheeler that accidentally cut you off.
• People from Florida must really like to go on road trips. I spotted more Florida license plates - in every single state I went through - than any other state license plate!
• On my entire road trip, I didn’t see any other New Hampshire plates except when I was in the Northeast. Yet, I saw California, Florida, Missouri and even Alaska plates in almost every state! (Georgia and Texas were also pretty popular).
• For the most part, people in Ohio seem to drive pretty darn slow. Of course, I saw more speed traps and highway patrol cars in Ohio than anywhere else.
• You can (and I did) easily hit speeds of 100mph on I-40 between California and Arizona. I don’t recommend it, however.
• The absolute easiest way to cross the continental divide (rockies) in the USA is on I-40 through Arizona and New Mexico. You will go up just over 7000 feet in altitude, but you will barely notice. There are no scary sharp hairpin turns or drop-offs.
• The lowest place to cross the continental divide is on I-90/94 in Montana, but the roads twist and turn quite a bit. The highest altitude is just over 6000 feet. However, there are no scary sharp hairpin turns or drop-offs.
• The highest and scariest place to cross the continental divide/rockies (in my opinion) in the USA is I-70/76 through Colorado. You will go over 11,000 feet in altitude, not to mention there are a lot of twists and turns and breathtaking scenery.
• Another halfway decent route over the rockies is I-80 through Wyoming. It’s a loooong road, and Wyoming tends to be very windy (thus lowering gas mileage) but it’s not too bad. You will go just over 7000 or 7500 feet in altitude.
• There is a stretch of I-15 somewhere in Utah or Nevada that is about 80+ miles long with no exits and no services. I vaguely recall from one of my last road trips seeing a sign that said “no services for next 85 miles” or something.
• Utah and Colorado are the most physically beautiful and breathtaking states I’ve seen yet. Of course, New Hampshire in the fall is astoundingly gorgeous as well.
• Rest-stop bathrooms in California (both North and South) are the dirtiest and most disgusting I have yet to see.
• They are doing construction in every single state with an interstate running through it. They were doing construction in the exact same place in some areas that they were 5 years ago when I went through on my road trip (and nothing has changed!!!!)
• Driving through Upstate New York in the left lane is quite a challenge. First, you will need to go at least 80mph. Second, you will need to stay within 3 feet of the car’s bumper in front of you, or else you will rudely get cut off. Third, if someone gets about 1 foot from your back bumper, that is your cue to get over - regardless of if there is room to get over or if you are already tailgating the person in front of you. If you do not get over, be prepared to be given the finger, as well as having expletives hurled at you through the window. And yes, this happened to me, although I think the guy was giving me the finger because I turned my windshield wipers on when he was about 2 inches from my back bumper.

That’s all for now!