Grandma's feather bed, it wasn't!
Back in the days of my youth, 1974 or so, I took an extended camping and "just plain old visiting" trip with some friends. Being short on funds, we splurged on a new tent and decied to camp along the way, instead of staying in motels.
We set out at the end of July from the sunny south...4 people in an old, faded yellow, Fiat station wagon with no air conditioning. We did have a tape player and two tapes though...Loggins & Messina and a John Denver tape. Two days into the trip, the car broke and so did the Loggins & Messina tape. Since the radio did not work, we were forced to listen to John Denver continually.. to this day my skin crawls when I hear.."and the suns coming up and theres cakes on the griddle".
We camped for three nights in a National Forest Park in Tennessee. It rained the entire time but we were not disheartened because we had our new waterproof tent. Unfortunately, we failed to read the instructions,specifically..DO NOT PACK TENT WHEN IT IS WET! And so on the third night we had a rain funnel instead of a tent and our gear was floating around inside. This brings me to the point of the story.
We left everything at the campsite and drove to a small town named Cosby (Tennessee?) my memory fails me now. We pulled into the small "Cosby Camp Joy" motel and it looked like paradise. When we waded into the office and aroused the manager/owner he did not want to rent us two rooms even though he had them available. We were from Mobile, Alabama and the night before, a couple from the same city had stayed in his hotel and stolen the television! After convincing him of our honesty, we rented two rooms. One room had a television the other did not (thanks "Mobile"). One room had hot water but no water pressure, the other room had tons of water pressure but it was all cold. In the midst of all this fun, I discovered I had poison ivy in a peculiar place from one of my trips to Mother Natures outhouse!
Ever since that trip,which I can laugh about now, I have given up camping and instead choose to stay in "out of the way" motels off the beaten path. In the South they can be difficult to find though...you have to look for the large humps under the kudzu.
From: Juli C. Collins
Lil' Abner Motel
I've seen a classic "dive" that may be interesting to visit. It is a seasonal motel called the "Lil' Abner Motel."
It is located near the Natural Bridge State Park and the Danial Boone National Forest in Slade, Kentucky.
The area is absolutely spectacular... mountains, trails, and many fantastic natural features.
The town of Slade is sort of run down, and the Lil' Abner is what you might call "scary"! :) It looks kind of like your classic movie motel where the power goes out and the spooky character comes stalking!! Not to say the place is terrible, the area is just a run down former logging town.
The locals run various quaint stores selling souveniers (sp?) and small restaurants catering to hikers and campers.
Maybe, in your travels, you will visit the area. The best times are late spring, when the foliage is blooming, or in the mid/late fall, when the trees are turning.
Hope you find this of interest, I certainly found your web site so!
From: Chris Mork
Conyers, Georgia
I checked out your site from a referral from the "Page-A-Day Calander" I received for Christmas. Loved your site. Bookmark set. Thought I would contribute my story.
More years ago than I care to admit, my father and I were to go from Nashville, TN to Conyers, GA (about 20 miles east of Atlanta) to pick up a truck that my father had sold. At the time my father worked for the local Ford dealership. We were going to ride down with some friends who happened to be going to Florida and were willing to go a little out of their way. Since we were leaving at their convenience and arriving in Conyers late, we were set to stay in a little motel just down the street from the Ford dealer where we were to pick up the truck.
When we got there, the motel was "fully involved"(fireman's lingo), and we had no place to stay. So went down the street to a "Waffle House" and got a booth. I went to sleep and my father dozed off and on until the breakfast crowd came in and we caught a ride to the dealership with a mechanic that worked there.
From: Barry Felts
Pool Memories
Growing up, my mom and dad pinched pennies till Abe sang. Often my mom would take over the driving (she had no license) and drive all night to avoid spending money on a motel room.
When we got to where we were going - either Myrtle Beach, S.C., or Daytona Beach, Fla. - they would search far away from the beach for the cheapest clean room they could get. I remember the first time they heeded the begging of my brother and me and we stayed at a motel with a pool. It was a traditional style one-story motel laid out in a V with the pool added in the front ``yard.'' They really talked long and hard about this - the room cost all of $18! When my brother and I swam and swam and swam and didn't fight and slept soundly, they decided it was worth it!
If you ever get to Birmingham, Ala., look up the Ranch Motel downtown. Cowboy theme, of course, down to cowboy and Indian tiles in the bathroom! The first night of our honeymoon we spent at a deluxe B'ham hotel, even had room service breakfast the next morning. The second night of our honeymoon was in a different Ranch Motel, this time in Columbus, Ga., vintage 1950s. I killed a roach crawling up the wall with my husband's shoe. Ever since, I haven't let him pick out the evening's lodging.
From: Cathy Wahl
Superstition Grand
One motel u should definitely check out is the Superstition Grand in Apache Junction, AZ. Just east of Phoenix. Supposedly Elvis stayed there in the early sixties. They even have a "suite" named after him, and Ronald Reagan. This place is your classic "MOTEL STYLE"
From: Brent
The Balsams
I remember a bzillion years ago, here in Michigan... My folks piling us kids and a week's worth of food & stuff into the old station wagon and blasting off for the Upper Penninsula. We'd go to a place called "The Balsams" on US2, a few miles west of St. Ignace every summer for as far back as I can remember...
From the road it looked like any other motel - you know what I mean - but if you drove around back, behind the strip of rooms... into the woods... there were about 8 or 9 log cabins to rent; 2 bedroom jobs with kitchens & fridges...
A creek ran through the cabin grounds, where we'd catch crayfish & frogs... and there were little paddleboats to play in where the creek widened out near the back of the lot & turned and ran across the resort grounds.
There was a house across the creek from where we stayed, W-a-a-y in the back of the lot, made entirely of fieldstone. As kids, we were always curious about who lived there, and of course we made up stories about the house and it's inhabitants (usually involving a troll or a murderer or something - kids will be kids). We never did find out who lived there; in retrospect, I imagine it was the resort owners...
Across US2 from the resort was a very good beach on Lake Michigan, and down the road a few hundred feet was one of those deer-feeding station/curio shops that the U.P. abounds with near St. Ignace and the mighty Macinac Bridge...
A couple of years ago I rode my motorcycle past the place... traveling through on business. (Yes, I love my job that lets me ride my beloved "Jezabelle" to work!)
It's still there... barely. Funny how it looks so much smaller & cheesier now... did it shrink while I grew? Did I stop for a night, or at least to look around? I confess not. Thomas Wolfe was right; you really can't go home again.
From: Dave Vick
Route 66
I travelled old route 66 from Niagara Falls Ontario to San Clemente, California in 1966 and have some wonderful memories. We spent 2 weeks getting to Cal., 2 weeks there and 2 weeks to come back. We did a lot of sight-seeing and took rolls of film that were unfortunately later destroyed in a fire. I found your site listed in Sympatico Netlife which is the bi-monthly publication of Sympatico internet server, which is a subsiduary of Bell Canada, they gave you a 5star rating, and I might add that it is well deserved. Will visit often . . .
From: Brian M. Ford
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