The Long and Winding Road (Friday)

THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD, that leads me to your door... In all my life's winding roads and mis-adventures, I'm thankful for every one of them that have brought me to this place in my life with this man I call my husband....
A crisp November morn complete with blue skies greeted us as we awoke on Friday morning in Plymouth, Massachusetts. We started our day with a hearty bowl of oatmeal and played some fiddle tunes before getting on the road. We had a pretty slow travel day though. It took a little while to maneuver on the back roads between Plymouth and I-95 in Providence, RI. Good cruising down the highway through Connecticut and into New York City where we hit a wall of traffic. Not totally unexpected to hit some traffic, but I thought by getting through early in the afternoon we'd avoid rush hour. Rush hour, what a crazy term that is. No one is rushing anywhere. Once through NYC, we managed to get ourselves on I-80 instead of staying on 95 or the New Jersey Turnpike (too much conversation and not enough paying attention to the signs, oops). We find a bunch of back roads that can get us south and back onto the highway, but that takes another few hours to go a few miles. Literally, we were not registering mph on the dash, not even 3! We had planned to reach Greg and Lisa's to spend the night south of Richmond which would have been a long travel day, but a distance I've attained many times in the past. It became clear we would NOT be getting there tonight! Around 6:00 we decide we'll look for a hotel, have a good dinner, good night's sleep and get on the road in the morning. No problem, it's vacation after all. The hotels in the Philadelphia area are all booked... Richard spent quite a bit of time on the computer trying to make a reservation, and then made a few calls to places, all to no avail. Plan B? US Route 1. Let me tell you, US Rt 1 from Philadelphia to north of Wilmington does not offer any hotel selections. We finally get outside Wilmington and get a room at Comfort Suites. Hmmm. NO COMFORT AND NO SUITE. No kidding. This room apparently was too small to use for the mechanical room (it was located next door). Once we brought our bags and fiddles into the room there was little room for walking around. Not even enough room for two nightstands... the alarm clock was set up on a little half wall and the wall lamp was across the room from the bed... not very convenient you say? Well the room is so small we can still reach these things from the bed. The mini-frig is over in the corner with the microwave perched up on top of it. No matter, we're just tired, so we turn up the heat (brrr, it's still cold here, in the 30's outside) and go to Denny's for dinner. When we get back the room is STILL COLD. Richard goes to the front desk to express his concern, and comes back with a key for the room across the hall which is much bigger, but still not what I'd consider a suite. There is a small sofa separated from the bed area by a little half wall... guess it's all about hotel downsizing... no super sizing in this industry! Heat though, that's a plus. Internet Connection? Non-existent. Shampoo? Not enough for two people. Conditioner? None offered. I will say that the girls at the front desk were very accomodating when I asked for these items though, so I will give the place high marks for courtesy.