Description: I stayed here only because it was getting late and I had to stop for the night. The motel was run by an ethnic East Indian man. (I was glad of that. In other Texas towns, I’d seen motels advertising that they were “American Owned and Operated,” which seemed blatantly racist.) He made a point of telling me that the area was very safe (I was concerned, traveling alone), he kept calling me “dear,” and he gave me a room close to the office, all of which made me feel safe.
This was a very basic country motel. Clean. Painted cinder block walls. No concept of a nonsmoking room (the smell wasn’t extreme). The door was held together with nails. One double bed, and the sheets were threadbare, but it was comfortable. The shower was excellent, but the tub drained slowly. The sink had the faucets reversed (hot water on the right). No Gideon bible, but there was a copy of The Watchtower. Hmm. The picture on the wall looked rather avant-garde...for the '50s! All in all, I was happy with the place. For $27.99 a night, why not?
I liked the menu cover for the Route 66 diner in the hotel complex, so I stopped there in the morning for a light breakfast. It was already 10am and I was the only customer. The diner offers inexpensive country fare; my tea and toast were okay, but not enough to tell how good the food is. The waitress, an older woman, sat at a table with her purse, cell phone, and keys on it and smoked. Two tables had marker-on-paper-bag signs saying “No Smoking Table.” A man came out of the kitchen and talked with the waitress. He was tall, with a cowboy hat, overalls, and tattoos on his arms. I don’t know what his role was; a woman was also in the kitchen, and I assumed she was the cook. I felt comfortable sitting there and jotting down stuff for this journal. Though I was a little put off by the tapestry on the wall (for sale, $15.99) saying “America-Love It or Leave It.”
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