Our 2010 Auto Trip; Part V, Travel to Kadoka, Day 9

Across Iowa and South Dakota; 1 July 2010 --

Starting out quite early this morning, Grumpy had hopes of canceling their reservations at Mitchell SD and being able to go to Chamberlain to spend the night. The past memories of buffalo steak dinners at Al's Oasis just across the Missouri River from Chamberlain danced in his head! These thoughts would be communicated to his First Wife and life-long companion, riding in the passenger seat to his right, to get her ideas and agreement, if possible.

We agreed, and a cell phone call to the motel in Mitchell took care of canceling the reservation. Reaching Sioux Falls at about noon, and after a quick lunch at a convenient Perkins restaurant, we drove west -- with a 35-40 mph wind coming out of the south -- and soon realized that we could easily reach Kadoka at a sensible hour of the afternoon. So we forged on, reaching Kadoka at about 4:30 local time, with the thermometer showing 90 degrees outside! The trip odometer, set when we refueled in Des Moines that morning, showed 550 miles; the fuel light had come on, indicating about 100 miles to totally EMPTY, a few miles before we got to Kadoka.

We had called ahead to alert Mother's childhood friend, Betty, that we would be arriving that afternoon, and wanted her to join us for supper that evening. Of course she was delighted to do so and so the three of us met at the H & H Restaurant located along the old highway that went through Kadoka.

We stayed in the RodeWay motel, with our Senior Citizen's discount, the most expensive accommodations we were to endure on this entire trip: $121 per night, including taxes!! And, to make Grumpy even more upset, the room smelled musty and mildewy, with ash trays on the night stand, although it as sold to us as a "Non Smoking" room. Fortunately, there was no trace of cigarette smoke that either Grumpy or Mother could detect -- we would have demanded another room if there had been! The good aspect of the room was that the bathroom was very handicap friendly, something Mother especially appreciated.

Grumpy has never had a high opinion of RodeWay Inn's, rating them just about the same as Motel 6. However, Grumpy has stayed in a Motel 6 back near Atlanta GA that he would rate with Holiday Express or maybe La Quinta. Grumpy's recommendation: don't stay at a RodeWay unless you can't find another motel!