Finding A Place To Stay, Getting A Haircut, & Relaxing! (KS) “DAY 179” – 12/30/10

January 1, 2011 - 2:45 pm - (KS) “DAY 179” - Week 26 - State 24

Since it’s New Year’s Day... Happy New Year Everybody!  I can’t believe it’s already been almost 6 months and somehow I have more money then when I started. 😉  But I ‘ll write that post at the half-way point in a few days.

Anyway, although it is currently New Year’s Day, I’m always a day behind and in this case, I’m 2 days behind.  So, I’m gonna try and write both days but it might not happen.  I may just get Dec. 30 done (Thursday) if writing my New Year’s Eve day takes to long.  (It didn't happen. :()

Thursday Morning - Leaving Prairie Band
I got up this morning an soaked in the nice view I had from my room because I only had few hours left in it.  ya see, my time at Prairie Band has come to an end and I now have to find a  place to stay again.  Ahhh!

My plan was to drive south to Topeka and either work out a deal for a comped room or pay as little as I had to.  I also needed a haircut for the New Year and I had to catch up on my writing (as seems to be the norm lately). 😉

Finding A Room
After leaving Prairie Band, I drove 20 miles south into Topeka, Kansas where I stopped at a few different hotels trying to get a deal.  First, was the Holiday Inn where I got $110 room down to $50 but I kept looking.

Then, I stopped in a Motel 6 where I was possibly gonna get the room for free but I had wait an hour two for the owner the get back me.  Even though I had a few things brewing, I kept searching for a room while I kept my eye out for a barbershop.

After stopping at a few more hotels ($50 a night was the best I could find), I decided to get a haircut while I waited on the call from the Motel 6 owner.  (One of the people working at a hotel front desk gave me a $8.99 coupon for a haircut.)  Nice!

Sports Clips
I wound up at Sports Clips even though my coupon was for a different place. (I didn’t find this out until later.) 😉  Anyway, I walked in and the place had a really cool set-up.  They had a big TV with bowl games on and memorabilia all over the place.

I was 2nd or 3rd in line so I had 15 minute wait ahead of me but I didn’t mind because I was yapping away with everybody there while I was taking pictures.  (The people working there thought I was inspecting the place or something because I was taking so many pictures.)  😉

My Haircut
By the time I was up to get my haircut, everybody there knew me.  So, Tiana called me over and put me in her chair for my New Year’s cut.  I felt like I was at home with all the people there because they were so cool to me.

I talked to them about my trip, New Jersey, and my thoughts on Kansas so far.  They told me about everything I had questions about in Topeka.  As we were talking, I mentioned the coupon I had and that’s when I found out it was for a different place. Damn!

I really didn’t mind though because everybody there was so cool, whatever the price was already worth it. 🙂  Then, to my surprise, while I was getting the hot towel treatment, Tiana handed me a coupon for Sports Clips for a free haircut!  🙂
Are you serious, people are so cool!  Thank you Tiana and Sports Clips!  My haircut was almost finished after the hot towel, so I took a few pictures with the girls and promised I’d stop back to see them before I left Topeka.

F.Y.I. - I even got a really good haircut.  I’m happy with the way the whole experience turned out. 🙂 (Left: Tiana, Me, and Tara)

Motel 6
It was now close to 4 pm and I hadn’t heard from the Motel 6 yet, so I drove back there to see what the outcome was.  When I got there I found out he couldn’t comp the room but he would give to me for $35 for the night.  It’s not the Holiday Inn but $15 saved is worth it for me, I took the room.

My room was... a Motel 6 room but it has cable TV, free Wi-fi, and it’s relatively clean so I’m all good with it.  I still had a lot writing left to do so I bunker’d down and got to my posts.  I wrote/posted until almost 8 pm when I went out to get some dinner.

Chili’s
I decided to go to Chili’s because well... I still have gift certificates for any Chili’s in America.  Sweet!  Anyway, when I got there, it was packed so I went to the bar and found the one open seat available.  (That’s one of the good things about being alone, you can always find a single seat at the bar.)

After settling in, I started talking with the couple next to me (Q and his wife Cyndi). They were a real nice couple as we exchanged stories while they waited for their table to be called.  Before they left, Q bought me drink as he wished me well on journey!  Thanks Q!  Nice meeting you both. 🙂

Back To My Room
After eating dinner and getting another dinner for the road, I left Chili’s and headed back to my room for the night.  It was only 10 pm but I tomorrow is New Year’s Eve and even though I don’t where I’ll be yet.. I’m sure it will be a long adventurous day!

Thanks for reading!