Since the early days, I have played this game on PingWi-Fi where I see just how cheap I can be … or rather … how inexpensively I can travel.  It’s just who I am … Mr. Frugal:) … I do it to excess … just a crazy game I play.  Ha … I have lived on jerky samples at gas stations, slept down the hall from ex-cons in dubious hostels, used hotel points out the wazoo, packed many a lunch of sandwiches and carrots and water … whatever it takes.

On The Cheap At Sundance Film Festival

Now, given a recent illness and an outpouring of support and love from family and friends … I think it more important than ever before to be a good steward of my finances … especially if I get to do something fun and call it work. 

So, on the quick weekend trip to Austin and San Antonio to cover the 2018 Valero Alamo Bowl, I first imposed on family members in Austin, and then because it was a late game, I stayed at the “most affordable” motel I could find near the AlamoDome in San Antonio.

Well with my stay at Motel 6 in San Antonio, I think I outdid myself:)  A Motel 6!  Are you crazy!?!  It was pretty basic.  First off … isn’t Motel 6 the chain that has Tom say they will “leave the light on for you” in the TV ads?  Ha … I think it should be revised to “We’ll leave the incense burner stoked.” 🙂 Maybe … just a little sketch … 

Ha, the walls and some of the accents … they were ORANGE … the shade of orange that might be a warning of some sort … or maybe an attention-getting storage unit facility.

 So … how was the room? … Well, glad you asked.  You know that little move that house keepers do with the poo paper? … Also frugal, they do that ceremonial, fancy, triangle fold on a partially used roll … (Makes me crazy!)  … Rather than — you know, practicing some housecleaning hygiene — replacing the thing with a roll untouched by human hands … Ha … well at Motel 6 they didn’t replace the roll, even though the old one had about 10 squares of cleanliness remaining (so unpretentious) … and forget that triangle fold thing … There it is … kind of a “use it at your own risk” attitude.  Of course I replaced the roll and remembered to turn the roll the correct way … right ladies?

OH just another funny hotel story from Vegas

Ha … also at Motel 6, don’t get any crazy ideas about complimentary shampoo in the room either.  Motel 6 …. It is what it is.

Free breakfast … a fresh pot of coffee and all the cigarettes you carried in.  Nice.

But my Mama always told me to say something nice … Well, my vehicle was not stolen — a small victory, but a win all the same — And I think that should go down as a  “big selling feature” in my review at one of those review sites.

Then there was the bed …. oh the  bed … I will from now on call it the Motel 6 magic carpet ride!  You know that fairly recent, hip, fashionable type of bedding that is a bag-like mattress, plopped up on a flat platform of a bed frame? (I am sure there is a name for it and I am also sure I don’t know it.) Well, Motel 6 “don’t miss a thang,” and they have converted to this bedding style … However, their design has nothing to keep the mattress in place … in check … or whatever.  I sat on the bed, with my back against the wall, doing social media on my phone I am sure … and the mattress and me kind of slid and squirted out in the floor … well almost.  How fun.

Mini-bar?  Don’t even think about it.  More conscientious amenities by this hotel chain … cuts out the old temptation thing … no eating five or six $5-candy bars and downing an airline-sized bottle of whiskey:)

So how was the Wi-Fi ?… (remember Wi-Fi? … that is what I am supposed to blog about) … Well it was actually pretty good.  It worked great … much better than the microwave I had to unplug to charge my phone.  But … it also showed me something new.  Granted, I don’t get out much anymore … but this was new to me.  For the Wi-Fi hotspot at Motel 6, the splash page was co-branded with Facebook.  The guest has the option to sign in using their Facebook user name and password (perhaps not the best practice) or simply enter the code (provided by the front desk) in a smaller, less obvious window.

Yes, #IIWII … Motel 6 beat me at my own frugal game of cutting corners, had reefer madness down the hallway … the bed was entertaining in its own right and the Wi-Fi made me smile — 4 pings.

After check in, I used über with my nice, conversational Palestinian driver for just  $8.99 … to jet off to the bowl game in just a matter of minutes, where upon hopping out of the car … I was nearly mauled by a pack of rabid Iowa State kids, zipping down the sidewalk on those free Bird scooters that are taking over the word.  No blood … no foul.

Great game … a wonderful experience with my nephew and his family … conversation with photographers, great plays in close proximity … marching bands … a Mike Leach/WSU Cougars win … and free refills for my water bottle at the stadium water fountains, although plastic bottles of water were five bucks in that bowl game economy:)

Then back in my car, headed back north as fast as I could go to watch OU vs. Bama.  Gotta watch “Boomer Mules.”  Football!  #bowlseason

Know what I sayin?