La Quinta Inn - Tallahassee

I try to keep a record of our trip statistics, in case we pass this way again.  So, for our trip from Baton Rouge to Cape Coral:
We departed BR at 3:30 p.m., arrived at LaQuinta Tallahassee North (described below), (exit 199 off of I-10) at 11:45 BR time -- 8.25 hours on the road, 435 miles covered, averaging about 53 miles an hour.  We stopped about every 2 hours along the way to pottie Max and Willow, and ourselves, stretch our legs, buy coffee and food.  First stop was the Mississippi Welcome Center, forgot to record the other stops.  We'd have made better time except for taking Florida Blvd all the way to Walker then cutting over to the interstate, to avoid near stand-still traffic from O'Neal thru Denham Springs.  plus lots of 18 wheelers and aggressive drivers riding our rear bumpers, weaving in and out at 80+ mph, and several conjested areas, light rain and fog, where traffic moved at closer to 60 mph.  I kept a steady 75 mph as much as possible thanks to my trusty speed control.  By 10 p.m. we had I-10 mostly to ourselves.  Gas prices all along the route about 3.35/gallon for Regular.

John and the dogs rest in our spacious room, #163.

The end wing, on a forrested slope, where we stay.

Arriving at this LaQuinta Inn is like coming home (we stayed here last year, too).  Friendly welcome, speedy checkin, clean comfortable spacious room and bath, free Wi-Fi, free breakfast including grits and hard boiled eggs (not just the usual cereal, bagels, toast and jelly), large flat screen TV, pets welcome and stay free.   Great price at $54/night (with AARP discount), $60 with tax.  I like 3 p.m. checkin and NOON checkout.  We got to sleep in late and depart leisurely.  Also, up to 6 p.m. cancellation on day of arrival.

Motel style, one can park at your door in most rooms. Our favorite rooms, though, are from 167 - 159, all facing a downward sloping forrested hill (the dogs can pottie right out the door), dotted with camellia and azelea bushes, mounded with pine straw, very charming.  There's a grassy area to the far left, where they even provide a poopie bag dispenser. Parking is at the side and bottom of the hill.  A quiet, homey wing and still not far to lug your luggage. 

I experienced my first "Book On Tape" on this trip, Dean Koontz's Sole Survivor, which my son had given us months before but we never had time to listen to.  Driving, there was nothing else to do but drive, sip coffee, listen.  John operated his little Sony Megabase portable CD player (my antique car only has a cassette player), but he was able to route the sound thru the car speakers with some kind of cassette adapter, and it sounded GREAT!  Along with strong coffee, cigarettes and gum, it kept me wide awake and on the edge of my seat (I do most of the driving).  A very suspenseful, graphic book with amazing descriptions.  That we can pause and discuss interesting facets makes "reading" this way an interactive experience!  We like that.

Max and Willow are awesome travel dogs.  Maxie nestles by my side and never moves, Willow rides in the back window and rarely moves -- unless food comes out.  They are incredibly patient and calm.   Willow knows the difference between me leaving home for a few hours, which doesn't bother her, and us going on a road trip. She screeches horribly, as though seriously injured, if she thinks we will leave her behind.

A few days later I received a La Quinta survey asking them to evaluate my stay.  I got to complain about the lack of a bathtub stopper and no repair offered.  I used a wadded up wash cloth to hold the water in the tub.  I also mentioned about the dog area having too much poop on the ground. I recommended they tell everyone at check-in to pick up after their dogs. (Those who don't make a bad name for the rest of us, so I usually pick up mine and more every time we go outsideI)  got a personal email back from the hotel manager apologizing for the inconvenience, assuring us we'd have the same room on our return trip and there would be a stopper in the tub, and they would redouble their efforts to keep the pet area clean!

NOTICE TO DOG PEOPLE:  We should be keeping the area clean ourselves.  There aren't too many motels that will receive us to begin with, and fewer still that don't charge a pet fee!

We will stay here on our way back home after the New Year.  I highly recommend this place to anyone travelling in the area, especially with dogs.

Upwards and onward!

Cape Coral Trip

T to B: Mom, Dad, Maxie, Willow

John and I just returned from an 8 day, 1800 mile road trip to Cape Coral, FL to help celebrate my dad's 95th, and my mom's 90th birthdays.  4 days on the road (2 there, 2 back), with 2 dogs, covering about 450 miles a day, stopping every few hours at McDonalds or a gas station for coffee and to stretch, pottie ourselves and dogs.  At each stop, I kept with my commitment to sprint 100 yards. 

We found a great halfway point between Baton Rouge and Cape Coral in Tallahassee, where we stayed at a really nice LaQuinta Inn, exit 199, right off of I-10, which included roomy rooms, continental breakfast, WiFi, NOON checkout, and NO PET FEE for only $58.50/night, including tax. There was no microwave or fridge in the room, though.  $4 extra for that.  Rooms 161-167 (odd numbers only) faced on a charming wooded slope the dogs could run in, and there was a designated grassy pet area further down.

5 hours to Houston had been Maxie's longest road trip up til now, and both he and Willow travelled like champions. At the birthday party Maxie did all his parlor tricks, and Dad got the biggest kick out of his "I'm depressed" trick (where I say "When you knock a bar, are you depressed?", and he slumps over and hangs his head and won't straighten up until I say "That's OK". Nobody understood how I use food to train various behaviors, so I got to demo that as well.

Maxie got ill for a few days, throwing up and diahrreah, wouldn't eat.  First time ever for being sick, scared me. We think maybe he ate a berry off the ground around one of the many palm trees in the area.  That's what it looked like came out of him, anyway, or maybe he licked harsh chemicals off the tiles of the Paradise Cove hotel room.  So on the trip I blogged about putting together a Doggie First Aid Kit.  He recovered, but I should have been better prepared.

Willow and Maxie are none too happy about
potential rivals to their thrones (puppies in crate).
Maxie is positioned between me
and the pups, keeping up a low growl. 
Willow keeps licking an empty bowl.

On the way home we stopped in Myakka City, FL where my cousin, Lois, a Papillon breeder, surprised the heck out of us with 2 9 week old AKC Papillon puppies -- to keep, or to sell!  She doesn't have time to fool with this litter, she said.  Since I acquired Maxie when he was 6 months old, and Willow at age 6, I've never been around Papillon puppies.  Oh my, are they ever cute!!!!!  I will keep them another few weeks or so to socialize them before hopefully sending them off to a good home.  Please, God, don't let me get too attached.

Already I can see differences.  The female is slightly more dominant than the male, quicker to figure things out, faster, stronger, and has a more dense body.  When I got home I weighed her on my kitchen scale at 2.5 lbs.  Though they appear the same size, the male only weighs 1.75 lbs. 

Jitsu (sitting) and Roku (lying down).
Roku looks bigger because of his fluffier hair.

We temporarily named him "Racoo" because his face looks like a raccoon's, then we nicknamed her "Jitsu" after a sign we saw posted on a telephone pole for Ju Jitsu lessons.  Then Racoo devolved to Roku for some reason.  So it's Roku and Jitsu.  They eat every few hours, and pee and poo all over the place and often, and they and their shredded paper stunk by the time we got home.  I gave them a bath, blow dry and nail clip, and now they smell sweet and are little soft white fluff balls.  Jitsu loves water. 

We set them up in Lucky's big crate, lined thick with newspaper so I can remove the top layer a few times a day, a tub of kitty litter on one side (which they love to dig in, so that didn't work), a towel to snuggle on, some little tug toys, and a heavy bowl for water (which they scamper through).  Outside, I set up the x-pen in the grass and they tumble around in there several times a day.  They seemed to suffer no ill effects from the long trip home. 

I've got my work cut out for me for the next little while.  Yet another learning curve - crap!  Will I ever know everything about anything?  I'll take some pictures and videos over the next few days to try and capture their markings, expressions, and antics, which will help in advertising them for sale.  They are hearty little things, mighty cute, and such a blast they make John laugh great big belly laughs, which I've never actually heard coming out of my husband before.

Upwards and onward,