Old Friends On the Road
We will begin the Southern Transcontinental Tour in a few days. I am making the drive west with the PAC Tour vans and trailers to San Diego. I have traveled this route along the Route 66 corridor several times every year since 1981. It is always fun to see old friends who run the restaurants and motels along the way.
Tonight we stopped to sleep in Springfield, Missouri at the Redwood Motel. We have been staying there since 1995. Teresa is the owner and is from Poland. She is about 75 years old now. During our Rt. 66 tours she would loan us her car for going shopping in the evening. She became friends with my mom and dad and still asks about them. It has become a tradition to stay at her motel during our drives west because her motel has a big parking lot for our trailers and there is a great Mongolian BBQ buffet next door. The restaurant combination is a strange mix of Texas style Asian food. I like it, but it probably doesn't fit the definition of either food nationality.
A few years ago our PAC Tour crew of Jim, Mike and Nancy were driving one of our vans to the start of a tour. They had started a day behind me and they stayed at the Red Wood Motel their first night. They checked in and parked the van and trailer near their room. A few minutes later police cars surrounded the motel. The Missouri S.W.A.T. police unit forced Mike, Jim and Nancy to get out of their room and go across the street. It turns out the guy in the next room was wanted by the police and was armed with a gun. The police were preparing for a shoot out with the guy.
Mike, Jim and Nancy had left all their clothes in the room. The PAC Tour van was now parked inside the ring of police cars. Jim, Mike and Nancy went to eat across the parking lot at the Mongolian BBQ. They watched from the restaurant as the police stand off went on for several hours. After dinner they walked a few blocks down the street to check into the only other motel in the area. It was a classic no-tell-motel. So imagine two guys and a women without luggage or a vehicle who want to check into a raunchy motel with a rent by the hour reputation. The owner was surprised they wanted to stay all night. He said if they stayed that long they will need extra towels and gave them a big stack.
Jim, Mike and Nancy slept in their clothes that night. Even though Mike and Nancy are married, nothing went on that night with Jim in the room. Sometime after midnight the guy hiding at the Redwood Motel shot himself in the head. By the next morning Jim, Mike and Nancy could get back into the PAC Tour van. The motel owner Teresa gave them a refund for the missed night.
This story about the S.W.A.T team and Jim, Mike and Nancy staying at the no-tell-motel is always told when we stay at the Redwood Motel. Teresa now has several layers of bullet proof glass around her desk in the lobby. The lobby door is usually locked. We stopped to stay there again last week. Teresa has Parkinson’s Disease now and has aged 20 years since I saw her last spring. She has trouble standing and shuffling across the room. I doubt if she will be there next year.
As I travel across the country during PAC Tour events the experience is always different. Some friends are gone by the time I stop to see them during my next trip. Some motels and restaurants are as good as ever. Some have a noticeable drop in their quality. Icons come and go. New icons are formed. Old icons forgotten. Traveling across America is like a river that changes it’s path. A new adventure is around every bend.
END
Tonight we stopped to sleep in Springfield, Missouri at the Redwood Motel. We have been staying there since 1995. Teresa is the owner and is from Poland. She is about 75 years old now. During our Rt. 66 tours she would loan us her car for going shopping in the evening. She became friends with my mom and dad and still asks about them. It has become a tradition to stay at her motel during our drives west because her motel has a big parking lot for our trailers and there is a great Mongolian BBQ buffet next door. The restaurant combination is a strange mix of Texas style Asian food. I like it, but it probably doesn't fit the definition of either food nationality.
A few years ago our PAC Tour crew of Jim, Mike and Nancy were driving one of our vans to the start of a tour. They had started a day behind me and they stayed at the Red Wood Motel their first night. They checked in and parked the van and trailer near their room. A few minutes later police cars surrounded the motel. The Missouri S.W.A.T. police unit forced Mike, Jim and Nancy to get out of their room and go across the street. It turns out the guy in the next room was wanted by the police and was armed with a gun. The police were preparing for a shoot out with the guy.
Mike, Jim and Nancy had left all their clothes in the room. The PAC Tour van was now parked inside the ring of police cars. Jim, Mike and Nancy went to eat across the parking lot at the Mongolian BBQ. They watched from the restaurant as the police stand off went on for several hours. After dinner they walked a few blocks down the street to check into the only other motel in the area. It was a classic no-tell-motel. So imagine two guys and a women without luggage or a vehicle who want to check into a raunchy motel with a rent by the hour reputation. The owner was surprised they wanted to stay all night. He said if they stayed that long they will need extra towels and gave them a big stack.
Jim, Mike and Nancy slept in their clothes that night. Even though Mike and Nancy are married, nothing went on that night with Jim in the room. Sometime after midnight the guy hiding at the Redwood Motel shot himself in the head. By the next morning Jim, Mike and Nancy could get back into the PAC Tour van. The motel owner Teresa gave them a refund for the missed night.
This story about the S.W.A.T team and Jim, Mike and Nancy staying at the no-tell-motel is always told when we stay at the Redwood Motel. Teresa now has several layers of bullet proof glass around her desk in the lobby. The lobby door is usually locked. We stopped to stay there again last week. Teresa has Parkinson’s Disease now and has aged 20 years since I saw her last spring. She has trouble standing and shuffling across the room. I doubt if she will be there next year.
As I travel across the country during PAC Tour events the experience is always different. Some friends are gone by the time I stop to see them during my next trip. Some motels and restaurants are as good as ever. Some have a noticeable drop in their quality. Icons come and go. New icons are formed. Old icons forgotten. Traveling across America is like a river that changes it’s path. A new adventure is around every bend.
END
posted by Lon Haldeman at 8:02 PM
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