Enchanted Memories Travel Steven Smith, PO Box 137143 Clermont FL 34713, Clermont, FL (2024)

08/18/2024

Day 24 (The End)- 373 miles, 6120 total miles, 17 states, 4 time zone changes, 11 hotels and one "B&B", 8 of the 11 hotels for only one night, 45 stops for gas
It's over, our longest, and definitely one of our best, vacations ever. Even if we did miss out seeing Keith Urban at Buc-ee's in Alabama on Friday when we stopped for gas that afternoon not knowing he'd have a surprise concert there that night. So many new things we saw, so many things we learned for when we do it again someday (hopefully sooner rather than later), so many hotel room keys, and so many great people we met along the way. Got home in time to see the Dallas Cowboys football game, only to fall asleep in the recliner during the game and wake up after sunrise this morning. So didn't really get to sleep in our own bed. TONIGHT!!! Shower was nice and roomy, but honestly the shower head was not as good as some we had on the road. May have to work on that. My back "survived" the trip two doctors told me not to take, like there was ever any question if I was going to do it. Thank you BakMAX back brace for supporting me, literally, every mile and every step of the way! Spending today getting ready to go back to work tomorrow, and saving money for the next big trip, whatever and whenever that may be! One thing we know for sure, planning for retirement while still being able to travel and play is at the top of the priority list these days. The sooner, the better!
Final Hotel Rankings not including family owned Stephens B&B which of course wins, except they didn't have a luggage cart, or a mountain view, but the staff was better than anywhere else, and they had inside garage parking:
1- Yellowstone Valley Inn Resort - Wapiti, WY - the usual room amenities lead still goes to Holiday Inn Express in Cape Girardeau, MO. However, this place is unreal. From the rustic decor, to the private balcony views of the mountains, rivers and sunset, and the one convenience store in town to do all your shopping (think modern day stuff with an old general store attitude). You either buy it here, or go back 18 miles to the "big city" of Cody. The stories alone of the returning guests are enough to make you want to have your own returning stories. And the helpfulness and how nice the staff was is second to none.
2- Holiday Inn Express - Cape Girardeau, MO (free cookies and milk before bed, and a huge bowl of free candy always sitting out)
3- Holiday Inn Express - Plano West/Frisco, great staff, easily the best shower by far, but really nothing within reasonable walking distance if you want to go eat, or just get gas or snacks somewhere nearby. And breakfast the last 2 mornings was disappointing with stale bread for toast, stale cinnamon rolls, and the push button pancake machines didn't really cook the pancakes. But the desk and housekeeping staffs were fantastic for our 5 nights there!
4- Holiday Inn Express - Marietta, GA, staff was great, but you'll always finish behind if you don't give milk and cookies as a bedtime snack
5- Holiday Inn Express - West Monroe, LA, Theressa says it beats Loveland, CO, just because Duck Commander is in West Monroe. Nice people, lots of eating options within a 1 mile drive, absolutely the best Walk On's experience we've ever had, but the shower water was very soft and felt like you couldn't rinse off. But breakfast was good.
6- Holiday Inn Express - Loveland, CO, nice place, great neighborhood, very nice staff, slide at the indoor pool, but some construction going on that will make it much nicer when done.
7- Holiday Inn Express - Defuniak Springs, FL, nice staff, older hotel, upgraded our room from 2 queens to a "king plus" with a sofa and sitting area at no extra charge, 3 sets of towels, odd layout, gas and fast food a couple of blocks away but not many options. Shower tub with curtain but nice shower head and water pressure.
8- Holiday Inn Express - Dalhart, Tx, front desk customer service attitude at check-in left a lot to be desired. Expecting daytime morning staff to be better. They do have two elevators where most Holiday Inn's only have one, but the gravel entrance in the parking lot was a surprise. Possibly gravel because of all the trucks parking there and staying here. It's a full house tonight. It's clean, but worn. Carpets have stains and "clumpy" spots like ground in gum??? Musty smell if you turn the air down or off. But they do have all the usual amenities.
9- Super 8 - Rock Port, Mo (screwed up the reservation but the staff was very nice and the room was big and clean)
10- Best Western Graham - Murdo, SD (check in was certainly different and entertaining, but the room is pretty small, the floor A/C unit (window unit sitting on the floor) is in the back by the bathroom. Cool in there, warm up front where the bed is).
11- Baymont - Spearfish (5 more days here to change my mind but not likely going to happen. Update, after 4 nights, it still sucks. More on this later. The only upside is that we're using rewards points from our credit card to "pay" for it, so isn't technically costing us anything to stay here

08/17/2024

Day 23 - 432 miles, 5747 total miles
Last night in a hotel, although we'd rather be starting over again. Today was West Monroe, LA, through Jackson, MS, to Hattiesburg, MS, to Mobile, AL, to Buc-ee's, to Defuniak Springs, FL, a little east of Pensacola. Avoided most of the rain except just a little bit of spit that cooled things off nicely. Didn't even put the rainsuits on. Dinner at Whataburger, watched the lack of management/efficiency as 4 different employees stepped on, or walked around, trash on the floor in the dining room without stopping to pick it up. But hey, the food was good! When we got back to the hotel, neither of our keys would work in the door. Made the not so joyful trek back down to the front desk to get new keys, got back to the room and discovered we now have 4 keys that work! So maybe both of us actually pulled out the keys from last night's hotel??? Shhhh...... hey, old age, last night of a very long trip, whatever. Another 375 miles tomorrow, plus we lose another hour to crossing the time zone again, and then our own bed, our own shower, NO ALARM Sunday morning, and no we are not getting up early to do the local Sunday group ride. I would, however, be willing to repack Saturday night and get up early to start this trip over again.

Final Hotel Rankings not including family owned Stephens B&B which of course wins, except they didn't have a luggage cart, or a mountain view, but the staff was better than anywhere else, and they had inside garage parking:

1- Yellowstone Valley Inn Resort - Wapiti, WY - the usual room amenities lead still goes to Holiday Inn Express in Cape Girardeau, MO. However, this place is unreal. From the rustic decor, to the private balcony views of the mountains, rivers and sunset, and the one convenience store in town to do all your shopping (think modern day stuff with an old general store attitude). You either buy it here, or go back 18 miles to the "big city" of Cody. The stories alone of the returning guests are enough to make you want to have your own returning stories. And the helpfulness and how nice the staff was is second to none.
2- Holiday Inn Express - Cape Girardeau, MO (free cookies and milk before bed, and a huge bowl of free candy always sitting out)
3- Holiday Inn Express - Plano West/Frisco, great staff, easily the best shower by far, but really nothing within reasonable walking distance if you want to go eat, or just get gas or snacks somewhere nearby. And breakfast the last 2 mornings was disappointing with stale bread for toast, stale cinnamon rolls, and the push button pancake machines didn't really cook the pancakes. But the desk and housekeeping staffs were fantastic for our 5 nights there!
4- Holiday Inn Express - Marietta, GA, staff was great, but you'll always finish behind if you don't give milk and cookies as a bedtime snack
5- Holiday Inn Express - West Monroe, LA, Theressa says it beats Loveland, CO, just because Duck Commander is in West Monroe. Nice people, lots of eating options within a 1 mile drive, absolutely the best Walk On's experience we've ever had, but the shower water was very soft and felt like you couldn't rinse off. But breakfast was good.
6- Holiday Inn Express - Loveland, CO, nice place, great neighborhood, very nice staff, slide at the indoor pool, but some construction going on that will make it much nicer when done.
7- Holiday Inn Express - Defuniak Springs, FL, nice staff, older hotel, upgraded our room from 2 queens to a "king plus" with a sofa and sitting area at no extra charge, 3 sets of towels, odd layout, gas and fast food a couple of blocks away but not many options. Shower tub with curtain but nice shower head and water pressure.
8- Holiday Inn Express - Dalhart, Tx, front desk customer service attitude at check-in left a lot to be desired. Expecting daytime morning staff to be better. They do have two elevators where most Holiday Inn's only have one, but the gravel entrance in the parking lot was a surprise. Possibly gravel because of all the trucks parking there and staying here. It's a full house tonight. It's clean, but worn. Carpets have stains and "clumpy" spots like ground in gum??? Musty smell if you turn the air down or off. But they do have all the usual amenities.
9- Super 8 - Rock Port, Mo (screwed up the reservation but the staff was very nice and the room was big and clean)
10- Best Western Graham - Murdo, SD (check in was certainly different and entertaining, but the room is pretty small, the floor A/C unit (window unit sitting on the floor) is in the back by the bathroom. Cool in there, warm up front where the bed is).
11- Baymont - Spearfish (5 more days here to change my mind but not likely going to happen. Update, after 4 nights, it still sucks. More on this later. The only upside is that we're using rewards points from our credit card to "pay" for it, so isn't technically costing us anything to stay here).

08/16/2024

Day 22 - 265 miles, 5315 total miles
"On the road again..." Left Texas this morning headed back to Florida. I'd much rather be headed back to South Dakota/Wyoming. Stopped for the night in West Monroe, Louisiana. Two good things happened here. We've been to a lot of Walk On's Restaurants over the years, and were disappointed but not surprised at all when the two fairly new restaurants in Orlando both closed. Several typical Orlando problems caused them to close, but mainly poor staffing and poor food quality. Same as most other Orlando big chain restaurants in the tourist areas. But tonight we had dinner at Walk On's in West Monroe, and it was easily by far the best food and waitstaff experience we've ever had at any Walk On's restaurant anywhere. It was just excellent and a joy to see. And then, well, you can't stop in West Monroe and not go visit Duck Commander if you've never been there and you're only a couple of blocks away! If you don't know what Duck Commander is, just unfriend me now. The home of "Duck Dynasty" tv show from several years ago. Got there too late to take the tour, but that's okay, we got outside pictures. Tomorrow, we'll go as far as the Florida Panhandle before stopping for the night. And we'd like to thank all the recent and current hurricanes for avoiding the area this week just long enough for us to get home. Pics to follow shortly...
Hotel rankings so far: (West Monroe ranking TBD after checkout)
1- Yellowstone Valley Inn Resort - Wapiti, WY - the usual room amenities lead still goes to Holiday Inn Express in Cape Girardeau, MO. However, this place is unreal. From the rustic decor, to the private balcony views of the mountains, rivers and sunset, and the one convenience store in town to do all your shopping (think modern day stuff with an old general store attitude). You either buy it here, or go back 18 miles to the "big city" of Cody. The stories alone of the returning guests are enough to make you want to have your own returning stories. And the helpfulness and how nice the staff was is second to none.
2- Holiday Inn Express - Cape Girardeau, MO (free cookies and milk before bed, and a huge bowl of free candy always sitting out)
3- Holiday Inn Express - Plano West/Frisco, great staff, easily the best shower by far, but really nothing within reasonable walking distance if you want to go eat, or just get gas or snacks somewhere nearby. And breakfast the last 2 mornings was disappointing with stale bread for toast, stale cinnamon rolls, and the push button pancake machines didn't really cook the pancakes. But the desk and housekeeping staffs were fantastic for our 5 nights there!
4- Holiday Inn Express - Marietta, GA, staff was great, but you'll always finish behind if you don't give milk and cookies as a bedtime snack
5- Holiday Inn Express - Loveland, CO, nice place, great neighborhood, very nice staff, slide at the indoor pool, but some construction going on that will make it much nicer when done.
6- Holiday Inn Express - Dalhart, Tx, front desk customer service attitude at check-in left a lot to be desired. Expecting daytime morning staff to be better. They do have two elevators where most Holiday Inn's only have one, but the gravel entrance in the parking lot was a surprise. Possibly gravel because of all the trucks parking there and staying here. It's a full house tonight. It's clean, but worn. Carpets have stains and "clumpy" spots like ground in gum??? Musty smell if you turn the air down or off. But they do have all the usual amenities.
7- Super 8 - Rock Port, Mo (screwed up the reservation but the staff was very nice and the room was big and clean)
8- Best Western Graham - Murdo, SD (check in was certainly different and entertaining, but the room is pretty small, the floor A/C unit (window unit sitting on the floor) is in the back by the bathroom. Cool in there, warm up front where the bed is).
9- Baymont - Spearfish (5 more days here to change my mind but not likely going to happen. Update, after 4 nights, it still sucks. More on this later. The only upside is that we're using rewards points from our credit card to "pay" for it, so isn't technically costing us anything to stay here).

08/15/2024

Day 21 - 80 miles, 5050 total miles
5000+ miles! Just over 1100 more to go. We start the trek back home to Florida tomorrow with stops in Louisiana and the Florida Panhandle. Today was the last night in Texas. Did lunch at Country Burger, visited Buc-cee's, then dinner with Stephanie and Dustin at Mo'Bettahs... spam masubi appetizer with steak and chicken entrees. Definitely makes me miss Hawaii. Can't believe it's already been 19 months since we were there.
Hotel rankings so far:
1- Yellowstone Valley Inn Resort - Wapiti, WY - the usual room amenities lead still goes to Holiday Inn Express in Cape Girardeau, MO. However, this place is unreal. From the rustic decor, to the private balcony views of the mountains, rivers and sunset, and the one convenience store in town to do all your shopping (think modern day stuff with an old general store attitude). You either buy it here, or go back 18 miles to the "big city" of Cody. The stories alone of the returning guests are enough to make you want to have your own returning stories. And the helpfulness and how nice the staff was is second to none.
2- Holiday Inn Express - Cape Girardeau, MO (free cookies and milk before bed, and a huge bowl of free candy always sitting out)
3- Holiday Inn Express - Plano West/Frisco, great staff, easily the best shower by far, but really nothing within reasonable walking distance if you want to go eat, or just get gas or snacks somewhere nearby. And breakfast the last 2 mornings was disappointing with stale bread for toast, stale cinnamon rolls, and the push button pancake machines didn't really cook the pancakes. But the desk and housekeeping staffs were fantastic for our 5 nights there!
4- Holiday Inn Express - Marietta, GA, staff was great, but you'll always finish behind if you don't give milk and cookies as a bedtime snack
5- Holiday Inn Express - Loveland, CO, nice place, great neighborhood, very nice staff, slide at the indoor pool, but some construction going on that will make it much nicer when done.
6- Holiday Inn Express - Dalhart, Tx, front desk customer service attitude at check-in left a lot to be desired. Expecting daytime morning staff to be better. They do have two elevators where most Holiday Inn's only have one, but the gravel entrance in the parking lot was a surprise. Possibly gravel because of all the trucks parking there and staying here. It's a full house tonight. It's clean, but worn. Carpets have stains and "clumpy" spots like ground in gum??? Musty smell if you turn the air down or off. But they do have all the usual amenities.
7- Super 8 - Rock Port, Mo (screwed up the reservation but the staff was very nice and the room was big and clean)
8- Best Western Graham - Murdo, SD (check in was certainly different and entertaining, but the room is pretty small, the floor A/C unit (window unit sitting on the floor) is in the back by the bathroom. Cool in there, warm up front where the bed is).
9- Baymont - Spearfish (5 more days here to change my mind but not likely going to happen. Update, after 4 nights, it still sucks. More on this later. The only upside is that we're using rewards points from our credit card to "pay" for it, so isn't technically costing us anything to stay here).

08/14/2024

Day 20 - 40 miles, 4970 total miles
Last full day in this location with family on this end. Moving slightly east tomorrow for one last night in Texas. Another family dinner tonight. Maybe a few local pics for you tomorrow, then we're on the road again with more pictures to come along the way.
Hotel rankings so far:
1- Yellowstone Valley Inn Resort - Wapiti, WY - the usual room amenities lead still goes to Holiday Inn Express in Cape Girardeau, MO. However, this place is unreal. From the rustic decor, to the private balcony views of the mountains, rivers and sunset, and the one convenience store in town to do all your shopping (think modern day stuff with an old general store attitude). You either buy it here, or go back 18 miles to the "big city" of Cody. The stories alone of the returning guests are enough to make you want to have your own returning stories. And the helpfulness and how nice the staff was is second to none.
2- Holiday Inn Express - Cape Girardeau, MO (free cookies and milk before bed, and a huge bowl of free candy always sitting out)
3- Holiday Inn Express - Plano West/Frisco, great staff, easily the best shower by far, but really nothing within reasonable walking distance if you want to go eat, or just get gas or snacks somewhere nearby
4- Holiday Inn Express - Marietta, GA, staff was great, but you'll always finish behind if you don't give milk and cookies as a bedtime snack
5- Holiday Inn Express - Loveland, CO, nice place, great neighborhood, very nice staff, slide at the indoor pool, but some construction going on that will make it much nicer when done.
6- Holiday Inn Express - Dalhart, Tx, front desk customer service attitude at check-in left a lot to be desired. Expecting daytime morning staff to be better. They do have two elevators where most Holiday Inn's only have one, but the gravel entrance in the parking lot was a surprise. Possibly gravel because of all the trucks parking there and staying here. It's a full house tonight. It's clean, but worn. Carpets have stains and "clumpy" spots like ground in gum??? Musty smell if you turn the air down or off. But they do have all the usual amenities.
7- Super 8 - Rock Port, Mo (screwed up the reservation but the staff was very nice and the room was big and clean)
8- Best Western Graham - Murdo, SD (check in was certainly different and entertaining, but the room is pretty small, the floor A/C unit (window unit sitting on the floor) is in the back by the bathroom. Cool in there, warm up front where the bed is).
9- Baymont - Spearfish (5 more days here to change my mind but not likely going to happen. Update, after 4 nights, it still sucks. More on this later. The only upside is that we're using rewards points from our credit card to "pay" for it, so isn't technically costing us anything to stay here).

08/13/2024

Day 19 - 34 miles, 4930 total miles
Not a lot of travel pictures for the next few days. Today was an early 90th birthday dinner celebration (yes, a second 90th birthday in the family), and tonight's restaurant of choice was Great Wall Buffet. Much better than the Chinese buffet we had last week in Spearfish. And today's big decision.... where to rank the newest hotel. Everything else being equal, do you go with a good, not great, but good shower, as well as milk and cookies at night before bed, and a perfect location with lots of restaurant choices within walking distance and a gas station across the street? Or do you go with no milk and cookies at night but the most awesome wonderful perfect shower with a TON of water pressure unusual for most hotel rooms, but not a great location? As much as I love the great shower at the end of a hot day on the motorcycle, I'm leaning toward the milk and cookies hotel, but only because of the location and how close everything is that you'd need for a one night stay. So for now, the newest hotel in the rankings comes in at #3 overall.
Hotel rankings so far:
1- Yellowstone Valley Inn Resort - Wapiti, WY - the usual room amenities lead still goes to Holiday Inn Express in Cape Girardeau, MO. However, this place is unreal. From the rustic decor, to the private balcony views of the mountains, rivers and sunset, and the one convenience store in town to do all your shopping (think modern day stuff with an old general store attitude). You either buy it here, or go back 18 miles to the "big city" of Cody. The stories alone of the returning guests are enough to make you want to have your own returning stories. And the helpfulness and how nice the staff was is second to none.
2- Holiday Inn Express - Cape Girardeau, MO (free cookies and milk before bed, and a huge bowl of free candy always sitting out)
3- Holiday Inn Express - Plano West/Frisco, great staff, easily the best shower by far, but really nothing within reasonable walking distance if you want to go eat, or just get gas or snacks somewhere nearby
4- Holiday Inn Express - Marietta, GA, staff was great, but you'll always finish behind if you don't give milk and cookies as a bedtime snack
5- Holiday Inn Express - Loveland, CO, nice place, great neighborhood, very nice staff, slide at the indoor pool, but some construction going on that will make it much nicer when done.
6- Holiday Inn Express - Dalhart, Tx, front desk customer service attitude at check-in left a lot to be desired. Expecting daytime morning staff to be better. They do have two elevators where most Holiday Inn's only have one, but the gravel entrance in the parking lot was a surprise. Possibly gravel because of all the trucks parking there and staying here. It's a full house tonight. It's clean, but worn. Carpets have stains and "clumpy" spots like ground in gum??? Musty smell if you turn the air down or off. But they do have all the usual amenities.
7- Super 8 - Rock Port, Mo (screwed up the reservation but the staff was very nice and the room was big and clean)
8- Best Western Graham - Murdo, SD (check in was certainly different and entertaining, but the room is pretty small, the floor A/C unit (window unit sitting on the floor) is in the back by the bathroom. Cool in there, warm up front where the bed is).
9- Baymont - Spearfish (5 more days here to change my mind but not likely going to happen. Update, after 4 nights, it still sucks. More on this later. The only upside is that we're using rewards points from our credit card to "pay" for it, so isn't technically costing us anything to stay here).

08/12/2024

Day 18 - 28 miles, 4896 total miles
Not a lot of travel pictures for the next few days. Today was a family 90th birthday party. Fun gathering of family and friends. And lunch at a small place we had passed by many times over the years and never stopped, only to find out how many opportunities we've missed over the years as it was very good! One of the things we've noticed during this trip is how many people want to stop and talk when we're getting gas, or at a restaurant, or at the hotels. They see the motorcycle loaded down with 3 1/2 weeks of gear and want to know where we're going or where we've been. Or they see one of our motorcycle shirts and they want to know where we're from, or talk about the place on the shirt where they have visited also. We have met SO many neat people along the way. And it seems almost everywhere we go, we run into someone from Florida, or from Texas, or both! When we were at Devil's Tower, I sat down on a bench with another couple already there. Turns out they were from Fort Worth and didn't live far from where we had family many years ago. At Beartooth Cafe in Montana, there was a couple from Austin coming out as we were going in, and then as we were leaving we ran into a family from Dallas. At a hotel in Texas, we meet a lady from Clearwater, Florida. In very small town Dalhart, Texas, we get on the elevator with a man and start talking. He is from Vancouver, Canada, and on his way to Orlando to teach a course at UCF. In Wapiti, Wyoming, we're leaving the restaurant and meet a snowbird couple who split time between St. Augustine, Florida, and Weatherford, Texas. One of the concession vendors in Sturgis, SD, is from Orlando, and a t-shirt vendor there is from Daytona. Oh, and in the restaurant in Dalhart, a man walks up to our table while we're eating and starts talking motorcycles. Turns out he went to Navy bootcamp many years ago in Orlando. Or the couple at the gas station in Electra, TX, who had lots of questions about our motorcycle, because they have two motorcycles they are considering trading in for one like ours. It's like everywhere we go, we just start talking to people and it doesn't take long to make mutual connections. That is one of the most fun parts of this trip... just start talking and it quickly leads to extended conversations, new Facebook friends, new ideas of things to do and see. Just one of the many things making this trip memorable and priceless.

Hotel rankings so far:
1- Yellowstone Valley Inn Resort - Wapiti, WY - the usual room amenities lead still goes to Holiday Inn Express in Cape Girardeau, MO. However, this place is unreal. From the rustic decor, to the private balcony views of the mountains, rivers and sunset, and the one convenience store in town to do all your shopping (think modern day stuff with an old general store attitude). You either buy it here, or go back 18 miles to the "big city" of Cody. The stories alone of the returning guests are enough to make you want to have your own returning stories. And the helpfulness and how nice the staff was is second to none.
2- Holiday Inn Express - Cape Girardeau, MO (free cookies and milk before bed, and a huge bowl of free candy always sitting out)
3- Holiday Inn Express - Marietta, GA, staff was great, but you'll always finish second if you don't give milk and cookies as a bedtime snack
4- Holiday Inn Express - Loveland, CO, nice place, great neighborhood, very nice staff, slide at the indoor pool, but some construction going on that will make it much nicer when done.
5- Holiday Inn Express - Dalhart, Tx, front desk customer service attitude at check-in left a lot to be desired. Expecting daytime morning staff to be better. They do have two elevators where most Holiday Inn's only have one, but the gravel entrance in the parking lot was a surprise. Possibly gravel because of all the trucks parking there and staying here. It's a full house tonight. It's clean, but worn. Carpets have stains and "clumpy" spots like ground in gum??? Musty smell if you turn the air down or off. But they do have all the usual amenities.
6- Super 8 - Rock Port, Mo (screwed up the reservation but the staff was very nice and the room was big and clean)
7- Best Western Graham - Murdo, SD (check in was certainly different and entertaining, but the room is pretty small, the floor A/C unit (window unit sitting on the floor) is in the back by the bathroom. Cool in there, warm up front where the bed is).
8- Baymont - Spearfish (5 more days here to change my mind but not likely going to happen. Update, after 4 nights, it still sucks. More on this later. The only upside is that we're using rewards points from our credit card to "pay" for it, so isn't technically costing us anything to stay here).

08/11/2024

Day 17 - 44 miles, 4868 total miles
Not a lot of pictures for the next few days. Motorcycle regular scheduled service day today. This is the benefit of a national prepaid service plan. For those not familiar, think regular oil change on a car, but a lot more items checked and done on a motorcycle, usually every 5000 miles. The prepaid service plan we have basically gives you unlimited 5000 miles services for 3 years. Considering we've already used our renewed plan twice in the past month, I'd say we're getting our monies worth out of this one. And the last thing you want on a cross-country motorcycle trip is mechanical problems anywhere, but especially in the middle of nowhere sometimes hundreds of miles or more from the nearest Harley dealership that has a service shop. This was our first time ever getting service on a motorcycle away from home, but also our first time to put this many miles on it in one trip. We've always had the same shop perform every service and have been extremely happy with them, so you're always nervous when you have to use someone else. Today, we went to Maverick Harley Davidson. Been coordinating with them for the past couple of weeks to make sure we're all on the same page and that they would accept our maintenance plan. Worked with Asst. Service Manager Dane. Would highly recommend them, they were GREAT!!! Thank you for the suggestion Carl Dehls. Anyway, we're passing through very briefly for a couple of different 90 year birthday celebrations in the family. So what's the first thing you do? You start hitting all the food you miss the most!

Hotel rankings so far:
1- Yellowstone Valley Inn Resort - Wapiti, WY - the usual room amenities lead still goes to Holiday Inn Express in Cape Girardeau, MO. However, this place is unreal. From the rustic decor, to the private balcony views of the mountains, rivers and sunset, and the one convenience store in town to do all your shopping (think modern day stuff with an old general store attitude). You either buy it here, or go back 18 miles to the "big city" of Cody. The stories alone of the returning guests are enough to make you want to have your own returning stories. And the helpfulness and how nice the staff was is second to none.
2- Holiday Inn Express - Cape Girardeau, MO (free cookies and milk before bed, and a huge bowl of free candy always sitting out)
3- Holiday Inn Express - Marietta, GA, staff was great, but you'll always finish second if you don't give milk and cookies as a bedtime snack
4- Holiday Inn Express - Loveland, CO, nice place, great neighborhood, very nice staff, slide at the indoor pool, but some construction going on that will make it much nicer when done.
5- Holiday Inn Express - Dalhart, Tx, front desk customer service attitude at check-in left a lot to be desired. Expecting daytime morning staff to be better. They do have two elevators where most Holiday Inn's only have one, but the gravel entrance in the parking lot was a surprise. Possibly gravel because of all the trucks parking there and staying here. It's a full house tonight. It's clean, but worn. Carpets have stains and "clumpy" spots like ground in gum??? Musty smell if you turn the air down or off. But they do have all the usual amenities.
6- Super 8 - Rock Port, Mo (screwed up the reservation but the staff was very nice and the room was big and clean)
7- Best Western Graham - Murdo, SD (check in was certainly different and entertaining, but the room is pretty small, the floor A/C unit (window unit sitting on the floor) is in the back by the bathroom. Cool in there, warm up front where the bed is).
8- Baymont - Spearfish (5 more days here to change my mind but not likely going to happen. Update, after 4 nights, it still sucks. More on this later. The only upside is that we're using rewards points from our credit card to "pay" for it, so isn't technically costing us anything to stay here).