Heh, well, planned stop, major stop, dunno what you'd call it, maybe leg 2? Left home, split the drive to Huntsville over two days, partially because driving electric ads quite a bit to the trip, and also because as Murdock said, "I'm getting too old for this."

Not much to say about the Huntsville leg, hit a Holiday Inn Express in Fort Campbell, or rather just north of it but close enough to call itself Fort Campbell. Wasn't a bad hotel, wasn't great, but at least breakfast was free. The Hampton I called home for two days in Huntsville was far better. Party was oK, too peopley, I kinda hid in the back and spoke when I was spoken too, not my thing, but its my grandmother's 105th, for that, you go since you don't know how much longer you'll have her.

From there we headed to here, another two day trip, another disappointing HIX, this time in Augusta Georgia. Boy that was a weird hotel, older, some of the furniture looked like it was sourced from a thrift store, and the layout of my room was weird, it just felt off kilter. Once again, free breakfast, so that was a plus.

And finally Myrtle Beach, and we're staying at the Holiday Inn Resort Oceanfront @ Surfside Beach. Awesome hotel, older, room layout is a little odd, but not bad in any way, and the place is well taken care of. Oddly I didn't choose it for location, but because it was the third cheapest hotel in the area. Really, around $140/night plus breakfast at the hotel restaurant (don't recommend, food is alright but over priced, service ranges from alright to poor), which really isn't bad for a oceanfront resort. Sure, I could've spent a bit more and got a room with a view of the ocean, and for a bit more, even gotten a balcony, but its not like I can't walk out the front door and onto the beach. Crazy part like I said is the price, I could've saved by staying in west Myrtle Beach, but that sold out before I got it, or I could've grabbed a room at the Vondy, another beachfront hotel actually in Myrtle Beach (Surfside Beach is a town just south, like 2 or 3 miles away), but that felt kinda like an old hotel pretending to be one of those new hip ones like Tru, no thank you.
Now this part of the trip isn't really for fun, I'm here to fulfill my mother in law's last request, she passed a few years before my husband, and wanted her ashes spread here. Considering how close they were, i figured he'd appreciate some of his ashes going here as well. So, I spent a few hours this rainy morning spreading their ashes at Myrtle Beach State Park. Original plan was to distribute their ashes off the piers, but technically that's illegal under Federal law, so I revamped the plans. Originally I didn't plan to spread them all at the park, but all the nature trails with plants that attract birds, bees, moths and butterflies, seemed like a great spot. I did spread a last little bit off the pier and on the dunes as well.
As well as that, I did run some errands, grab lunch at Del Taco, I haven't had the opportunity to visit one since I lived in PHX, one of the two best Mexican chains, though nothing beats the 'bertos. Caught up with things on the web too, and tomorrow I have a two hour historical tour scheduled, I considered the three hour tour, but thought better of it. Dinner tonight was picked up at Bruisers Burgers, a place with a terrible web site and a cheap strip mall location, guaranteed to be either great or horrible, and its great. Tomorrow aside from the tour I need to do laundry, I mean I've been on the road for a week, and I need a shave badly, plus a little other grooming, so might not do much touristy stuff while I'm here, not enough time to do more than recharge my batteries, get m'self sorted out, and get on to the final leg.

And what is the final leg? Lancaster, where my mom and sister live, so going to visit them. Visit, house shop (checking out two tiny home manufacturers), go to my favorite historic railroad, and might hit a second one that I haven't been to before, service is limited, but still operating, they shut down for winter. Oh, and getting my car serviced, Chevy dealers suck so badly in STL that I"m resorting to getting my car serviced while I'm in Lancaster, if that isn't ridiculous, I don't know what is.

#life #today #myrtlebeach