Northcoast Travelogue:7/26- 7/28

Just got back from another UCSF expedition, this time it only involved a doctor appointment which isn't bad by itself- in and out of there. At first I figured we'd drive down the night before and stay at the Super 8 Hotel in Cloverdale. That would be about 4 hours of easy driving, then the worst part of the trip: Cloverdale on south, the next morning. Only about two hours' drive which I figured be easy to do without even hurrying the next morning. But the wife made things complicated. She'd been doing that Wyndham Rewards thing where you earn points and supposedly a free stay after you acquire so many points. She had two reasons for not wanting to stay in Cloverdale: First; "what if there's an accident?" she said, suggesting a possible traffic tie up that would have us be late. She wanted to drive straight down from Eureka. Funny, because I used to be the one that imagined things to worry about. Second; she didn't want to stay at Super 8 Cloverdale unless we got a free night as they blew us off with that last time. Whatever. That seemed to me akin to biting off one's nose to spite your face. After all, anywhere else we might stay would likely cost the same. She finally suggested the Super 8 in Willits, which we'd never stayed at before (but it's a Wyndham Rewards hotel, too), although I'd tried once years ago. 

We finally tried making a reservation there which only Resulted in an e-mail saying we hadn't finished making our reservation. As with nearly all hotel web sites, the Super 8 Willits didn't work well, either. We ended up calling their 800 number that resulted in an e-mail confirming our reservation. I figured maybe we were ready to go. I stumbled upon this Cloverdale Oaks Inn while looking. Seemed like a nice place but the wife was again worried something might go wrong, so I dropped the idea. Wednesday morning we left early, too early for my tastes. We finally did it her way and got to UCSF just before noon. So much for her imaginations of something going wrong.We got done with the appointment and headed north to Willits. Now I was really wishing we'd gotten a room in Cloverdale- half the distance. We did stop at the 7-11 in Cloverdale to get my Super Gulp iced tea as I always do. Problem was, it was scorching hot there. The car thermometer showing it over 104 degrees.

We raced northward knowing full well it wasn't likely to get any cooler, And it didn't, with the thremomemter going over 105 at one point about half way to Willits.I was thinking this could get ugly.

As we left the 7-11, the wife brings up the Cloverdale Oaks Inn again. I'd actually asked the girl working at the 7-11 if she knew where it was but she'd never heard of it The wife wanted to go check it out and see what it was like. I didn't. I wanted to get to our hotel room and relax, but didn't say anything. We drove through Cloverdale figuring it was a small enough town we should easily be able to find the place. We couldn't so headed to Willits.

We got to the Willits Super 8, getting out of the car to be greeted by what seemed to be a blast furnace. It was scorching hot. I went to the front desk and all seemed well as the friendly guy indeed had our reservation. He quickly pointed us to our room which was unfortunately on the second floor. 

The last time I tried staying at the Willits Super 8 I was pretty much shown the door. We got stuck in Willits late one day because of snow. I went to Super 8 figuring they were the best shot at getting a room quickly. I go into the office and the guy working there- some middle eastern guy- was talking to a couple gals.

They were actually talking to him, having stayed there before, they were giving him strokes telling him how great he was. He was loving it

I stood there for maybe ten minutes,finally had enough and interrupted the guy's joyfest: I broke in: "Excuse me. Do you have any rooms available?". He didn't like that. Their conversation stopped, he turned and glared at me saying he didn't have any rooms but they should have some at the Baechtel Creek Inn behind Taco Bell. He gave me a brochure then turned back to his admirers.

I left, but wasn't about to stay at Baechtel Creek, especially since he told me the same family owned both hotels. We went to the south end of town and got a room at the Best Western which, while a bit over our budget at $120 a night and was pretty nice.

 I make no apologies for interupting their little joyfest. I needed a room and wasn't going to stand there an hour to see if they had one.

The guy working the front desk this time was different. If nothing else, quite friendly. So we took our stuff up to our room.  I have a problem with my hips and legs that makes navigating stairs difficult. The heat didn't help things, but we struggled to our room and turned on the air conditioner.

We could finally relax, except of course the wife asked what we should have for dinner. I really wasn't hungry and certainly didn't want to go looking for a place to eat. All I really wanted was some french fries and suggested we just walk down to Burger King a half a block to the south, That seemed ok with her so off we went, my problem being my legs hurt and the heat added insult to injury. Made for a long walk.

We made it, though, and stuffed our faces while some apparent Bernie Sanders supporters kept going in and out of the bathrooms for some reason. Real scraggly folks. I'm surprised the manager didn't inquire as to their activities, but maybe he knew them and was used to them.

We got done and struggled back to the hotel. Whew\! Too hot for me.

That was it for that day. All we could do at that point was watch TV and wait for the breakfast room to open.

Breakfast room was ok, about the norm for most I've been to. Then we loaded up our stuff and left and here I am at home now.