TRAVELS WITH LINDA
PLACES I FOUND TO EAT, DANCE, LAUGH, & VISIT WHILE WORKING ON THE ROAD

This blog. I’ve always wanted to write. Blogging fulfills this desire. Starting a blog has been easy using the information I found in the USA today while on the road. I will eventually have 5 different blog sites up and running or in progress by the time you read this. Here goes, let the fun begin.

I travel doing remodel/merchandising work at various different retail stores. This involves periods from 1 week to 5 weeks on the road at any one place. Since life can be a little rough especially when traveling by yourself, I decided to start this travel blog. I hope it is fun, interesting, and helpful to travelers. I will be covering the areas of the country I am currently traveling/working in.

My first travel blog involves Endicott, NY. I worked in this fine area for 5 weeks. Since I didn’t start this blog when I arrived in Endicott, it will not be in real time, however, the memories are still very fresh in my mind.

ENDICOTT, NY
SEPT, 23, 2007 TO OCTOBER 28, 2007
LIFE ON THE ROAD BY LINDA
PREPARATION FOR THE ROAD

I haven’t bee n working on the road for a couple years now, so I needed to get some things taken care of before I took off. I had my Explorer worked on and couldn’t take it at the last minute because they found a bad bushing while working on the brakes and didn’t have time to fix it. So the car of default was the Chevy Cavalier, which got excellent mileage.

I took my computer to the doctor, for an upgrade and any other necessary work that needed to be performed. I bought clothes, toiletries, anything I might need while working on the road. Organized my tool box, got the dvd’s , & cd’s together . Packed the necessary cameras, packed my toy, and plenty of batteries, filled the cooler and headed out.

THE TRIP TO ENDICOTT

I left Richmond, KY late on Sept. 22nd , I planned on spending the night somewhere along the way, but ended driving straight through. I was driving my Chevy, Cavalier instead of my Ford, Explorer like I wanted to. This is important, because, I buy and sell things while on the road, but that’s another blog. Anyway, my car looked like I lived in it and it was pretty full since I took things to sell at a flea market once I found one. I real don’t like driving at night, since I hit my first deer on the road 2 months ago while on a job in Paintesville, KY. I did end up driving straight through.

ARRIVING IN ENDICOTT, NY

I arrived in Endicott on Sunday the 23rd late in the day tired and jittery. Since I didn’t have directions to the store, I drove around town to get a feel of the place. I picked a cvs pharmacy to ask directions. The first person I encountered was actually begging money from store customers and was someone who could not give me directions to the store I would be working at. I drove around some more and actually found the store by accident. I was sent to Endicott to remodel a K-mart store. They were adding home appliances to select stores.

This was my first job for this retail account so, I was a little nervous. I entered the store and met the manager, Ester, whom I immediately liked. Over the next 5 weeks, I learned my instincts were right, as I gained more admiration and respect for this person, who had only taken over this store 1 week prior to my arrival. Here we were going into a major remodel, with a new manager, and a first time PMM at the same time. This was going to be a learning experience, which it ended up being. We all learned, laughed, and stressed along the next 5 weeks, but the job came in on time, and we all still had our hair when we were finished.

This next paragraph is important for hotel owners and managers. Since I pay for my own rooms up front, I was looking for a decent room at a decent price. It took me a couple of hours to find such a room. I went to all the hotels in Endicott, Vestal, Johnson City, as far west as Oswego, and didn’t find anything that suited my requirements. While at a Holiday Inn Express in Oswego, the desk clerk called the Holiday Inn in Vestal, (the only hotel I didn’t inquire at). I was given an excellent rate over the phone and went back to Vestal.

MY ROAD HOME FOR 5 WEEKS

I arrived at the Holiday Inn in Endicott, late on Sunday afternoon. My desk clerk, was Gracie, a college student from BU. She not only gave me the long term rate, she also went ahead and ok’d my first night as well for the same rate. The issue I had with most of the other hotel rooms was that most could not give me a long term rate until the next day when their sales manager was in. That didn’t help on Sunday, and once I had moved in, I did not want to move hotels or rooms. Since that is common practice throughout most hotel chains, many of them are losing money. I’d like to thank Gracie and the staff at the holiday inn in Vestal, NY for taking good care of me for 5 weeks, and especially for taking the initiative to get me into the room at the start.