Sorry for the long delay in posting, it has been a crazy 5 weeks. It started with a business trip to Monroe, Louisiana for 2 weeks. That is about 4 hours east of us so I was able to drive back and forth. The company rented me a car for the trip. With the travel company we are only able to set up rentals at local airports. Our airport is about 35 miles away so I decided to call Avis and change the reservation to a local shop closer to where we live. This seemed like such a good idea at the time, the only catch was that since it is a smaller shop the selection was a bit lacking. When I got there Sunday morning to pick up the car the only choice was an electric blue PT Cruiser.

I was not very happy about it but did not have the time to run down to the airport to change it out. The only bright spot (and it was a pretty big one) was that the car had satellite radio in it. I have had XM in the past and new that it makes a big difference on a real long trip. Anyway, the drive to Monroe was great. Nice scenery and a part of the country I hadn’t seen in years and I was able to listen to my old radio shows (The Shadow, Suspense, etc).

I tend to stay a the Residence Inn when I travel and found one in Monroe. The website said that it was close to a Railroad track but that measures had been taken to reduce the inconvenience. When I got into my room I found the “measures”… a set of earplugs and a personal sound machine, lol! I woke up the first night at 11, 12, 1, 2 and 3 not to the noise of the train (which was across the street) but to my bed bouncing around.

The Residence Inn offers a free breakfast buffet which is one of the reasons I like to stay there. It saves money and is convenient. The first day I went down for breakfast and the host asked me if she could help me with anything. She reminded me of the grandmother in Beerfest accent, long braids and all.

I told her I was good and I think I offended her. The whole rest of the week when I said good morning she would say “can I help you, oh that’s right, you can do it by yourself”. I really think I ticked her off. The guy at the front desk was a treat. Every day when I came back to the hotel he would ask me for my name. I would tell him and he would always say he couldn’t find me on the list. The genius tried to check me in every night. Now I don’t expect anyone to know my name, but wouldn’t you think that after a few nights you would recognize a guy and quit trying to check him in?

The first night I was there I ran over to Target to grab a part so I could plug in my X-Box (never travel without it). On the way out I asked the security guard for a good place to eat. He said he knew of a good pizza place. Said it was really good, but he was having trouble with the name. He finally got it out and it was Sbarro’s in the mall food court. It was 9pm on a Sunday so I asked if the mall was still open. He said no and I asked if he knew of another place I could eat tonight. He said there was a great chicken finger place called Canes. I said that sounded great and asked where it was. He said the mall food court. I reminded him again that it was closed and that I was looking for some place to eat right now. After this he thought for a minute or two and said that his uncle had a BBQ stand. Now this was exactly the kind of place I was looking for. I asked where it was, and he told me it was down the road behind a gas station and that I had to get there early, he was only open during weekdays between 11 and 2… I smiled and told him I would check it out and went out on my own to find someplace to eat.

Having all my complaining out of the way (it’s only there to give you something to chuckle about) I had a great two weeks. I have to say that the folks in Monroe were some of the nicest I have ever met. Always saying good morning and how are you in the office and out on the street.

After a quick weekend at home (and two more 4 hour drives) I ended up changing to the Courtyard and was able to sleep. I had some of the best food of almost any trip I had been on. There were more local hole in the wall restaurants there then I had seen in a long time and I spent my week eating my way through them all. My favorite was Rays PEGE. They made Po’ Boy sandwiches and my favorite was the fried shrimp Po’ Boy. I have already thought about driving back out there just for that sandwich.

My class was great and the management out there was incredible. I met some real great folks that will be good contacts in the future. I think we did a good job. I checked in with them last week and it sounded like they were all up and running which is the goal so I think it was a success.

Part II and III soon to follow.