The Adventures of the Courington Family: TN - Day 8 & 9

Today was our last day in TN. We packed up and hit the road by about 10:30 am.

On the way out of Gatlinburg, we experienced why these are called the Smokey Mountains. With the cold temps and light rain the mountains were full of smoke.

We made a stop at

So that we all didn't

and then drove and drove and drove.

We drove to Little Rock, AR and my dad knew of a hotel to stay at. Somewhere we missed the exit and had to loop back around. It was close to 9 o'clock at that point so we pulled into a Cracker Barrel for dinner. Daddy-O and I searched on our I-phones for a hotel with 5 non-smoking double rooms. Not easy to find last minute, on a weekend, during Spring Break. We finally found a Motel 6 that was cheap and had 5 non-smoking, double rooms available. We finished dinner and after some directional difficulties, got to the motel.

"We're stopping for the night? YAY!!!!"

It was in a strip with several other hotels. There were a few cop cars in the parking lot (sign #1) and the cashier's window area was a mess (#2), but we only needed a place to lay our heads for a few hours. The clerk was on a personal call (#3) and took around an hour to get us 5 room keys. During this hour, I asked MANY times if the rooms were all non-smoking and informed her that we had kids with allergy and asthma problems. She assured us they ALL were. She told us we would have enough towels, which turned out to be 1 per room.

We went to our rooms. Let me take a minute to say that I have travelled, a LOT, as a child, as a teen, and as an adult, both in this country, through most of the 50 states, in Canada, Mexico, Honduras, Belize and El Salvador. I have been in some "rough" parts of town in this country and third world countries. I have never seen a "motel" room so disgusting (#4). It smelled like a mix of liquor (#5), smoke (of many origins)(#6) and homeless person(#7 - I'll quit counting. I'm sure you get the point).

*Note to hotel workers* If you care to pass a room off as non-smoking, trying removing the ash tray and cigarette butts from the ground BEFORE the guest arrives at the room. It helps.

The floor was filthy, the bathroom was filthy, the sheets hadn't been washed, the beds were caved in. I am not a very picky person. I kind of like "roughing it". This was more the mood of "fear for what disease you will pick up here". Not so much my style.

By this time it was almost midnight and the girls were asleep. We put Leah, fully clothed, in the "cleaner" of the two beds and put Kate in her pack and play that we had brought (Thank GOD). In hind sight, we should have put Leah in it with her so that she didn't have to touch anything.

Daddy-O went to the car and talked to an officer (we were worried about the trailer still attached to the van in the parking lot) and they assured him they would be there all night and keep an eye on it. I am not sure why that was reassuring. Why do they camp out in the parking lot here all night? I went to "get in bed" and thought I had better lock the door first. The door wouldn't even shut all of the way. I was able to get it dead bolted, but not shut.

I tried to turn on the a/c to "air out" the room. It didn't work either. Some of the other rooms couldn't get theirs to turn off.

I laid in bed the rest of the night wondering what in the heck I was doing. Why did I have my kids in here? Should I take them to the car to sleep? How bad is this? What is the smoke going to do to J.T.'s asthma? What's it going to do to my allergies? Could we find somewhere else this time of night? If I went to the office would they care and do anything about it? Was everyone else's room this bad? What was that sound?

I was up at the crack of dawn and hoped that Kate would be soon after. For those of you who know me personally, you can bear witness to the fact it takes an act of GOD (or filth) to get me up early in the morning. By 7:30 am we were out of the room. We waited in the parking lot until everyone else was up. While walking around the parking lot to kill time we noticed several things.

1. The "gentlemen" going door to door on the third floor checking in on his "employers" and their "friends" from the evening.

2. The stack of mattresses lying next to the dumpster. I am think all of them should have been in there. Although Leah LOVED the "little beds". She loves anything kid sized. Since the beds sagged so bad, she thought they were "little beds".

3. None of the ventilation tubes had covers so a child easily could have crawled into one and gotten stuck or hurt by the fan. There were also MANY a/c units without covers which could be really hazardous.

4. Small red bumps all over. I know that is gross, but true. We think they are either bed bugs or flea bites. I am not sure I want to know what diseases such bugs in such places carry.

When everyone got down to the parking lot, we were discussing the "joys" of our night. My mom's comment took all. She said, "I thought the low point was the baggie of used band aids on our floor". OH MY GOODNESS!

We decided to put J.T. in our van since we have an outlet in the back that would run his nebulizer on the road. Christa rode with us again too. We hit a Waffle House and then hit the road.