Technology and Travel...smart phone apps at work!

     Travel is always hard...especially when you want to see our country and don't want to follow a set route or plan.  Reservations are fine as are going back to the well know restaurants with a menu that has the foods that you need for conditions you didn't want nor ask for.  Senior citizens know exactly what I mean.
     My husband and I are no exceptions.  We need to follow rules and get our rest!  Thankfully we can still go for a long time without eating and not have a problem.  It allows us to make our own rules when we are on the road.  But, at the end of the day, we need to find a place to lay our body down and I tell my husband "Even Grandmas need to eat!"  So how do we go about this?  We use my iphone and it's wonderful apps.
     Frugal Traveler from the New York Times may be brave enough to stop at a cheap roadside motel without a worry but I just need some assurance that the bed will be clean and Bed-bug-less.  Sorry. That is why I have an app. on my iphone called Around Me. It is the perfect go to place for the last minute seeker of a haven and food. It was the one I went to last night in Carson City, Nevada.  I knew we wanted to stay downtown near the capital of the state.  We have been to this part of the world many times but usually we just pass through. Looking for a safe motel in this small city of casinos and state government can be a trick.
      Gambling can bring out  the worst in humans.  Casinos attract desperate people that are willing to stay in any motel just so they can be across the street from a gambling hall.  That was what I think we found when we looked at the Nugget Hotel across from the Carson City Nugget Casino.  We noticed the place when we drove into town and my first reaction was one of resignation. OK, I thought, this will probably do.  Then I clicked on my Around Me iphone app to look at the reviews. BEDBUGS???  YIKES!  I turned to my husband with the news. It turned out he was not willing to stay in a place that MIGHT have bedbugs either.
     We found a motel room at the Carson Station Best Western a few block away. It cost less than the Super 8 we stayed in when we were in Wickenburg.  My Around Me iphone app. said it was okay.  It had a cute little casino and the restaurant across the street, again reviewed by Around Me, turned out to be a winner.
     So there you have it.  Around Me got me where I wanted to be.  Four Square app. allowed me to post a picture and note so my family could see what I was up to.  Facebook and Twitter were updated on my iphone and I called my daughter to say we were going to be home.
      Now I am in the Grants Pass, Or. Best Western using their wifi to write this blog.  How did I ever figure out how to do this without all my cool technology?
      I hope you are having a wonderful day.

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Tomorrow:  Small surprises on the road!