Driving thru OK in a few weeks (May: hotels, new home)

Bigfoot424 · 11-22-2020, 02:41 AM

Wife and I are leaving in a few weeks to drive to AZ from VA to see our new grandson. What a crazy time to do this but he is 4 months old now and circumstance for my wife's work and our sons work allows for a good lone trip. We'll get on I-40 and come all the way across and keep going. I realize a lot can still happen in a few weeks but I am curious on what we'll face while in OK. We plan on bringing a couple of coolers and eating sandwiches and such and if we want restaurant food we'll do drive-thru or curbside. But what restrictions are we looking at on this drive? If any. I hate not having as hotel reservations lined up for each night but is this a good idea right now? I know getting breakfast the hotels is likely out but we can live with that. Any suggestions on what me might expect on this drive? Thanks.

eddie gein · 11-22-2020, 07:28 AM

I don't know if you are talking about COVID or the weather.

COVID...Some towns have mask mandates (OKC does) but you shouldn't have any problem finding a place to stay. Eating shouldn't be a problem either. Oklahoma has quite a few options on I-40 as there is a town every 15 miles or so. Things don't start to thin out until you hit the Texas panhandle.

Weather could be a problem but you should be able to get a pretty good idea with a seven day forecast. If we are going to have ice or snow you may need to consider taking a more southern route and coming through El Paso/Tucson. The likelyhood of snow and ice is also a big consideration west of Oklahoma because the altitude jumps so much. So you could have decent weather in Oklahoma but have a real mess in the Texas panhandle, New Mexico or northern Arizona.

I've had to take the El Paso route a few times going out there from OKC due to winter weather.

Threestep2 · 11-22-2020, 07:44 AM

Some municipalities extended mask mandates. Call the actual hotels you book and ask about breakfast option plus request additional room coffee.Restaurants are open with limited seating.
Have a safe trip and check the weather!

Bigfoot424 · 11-24-2020, 01:39 AM

Thanks to you both. We'll make sure to have enough snacks with us for our mornings in the hotel and I am definitely a weather watcher so we'll keep this in mind. AND, we do not drink coffee although the wife likes her hot tea on cold mornings.

rfomd129 · 11-27-2020, 11:22 AM

Hubby and I drove from our old home in NV to our new home in Florida in May of this year. We had to postpone our trip once because of closures along our route (mostly 40) but when things lined up in all the states, we did the trip with our three dogs with us. Because of our dogs we stayed at Residence Inns at all of our stops - they're very dog friendly. Of all the states we drove through it seemed like NM had the most people wearing masks. Things may have changed since then of course.

The hotels all had Grab and Go breakfasts available. Basically yogurt, individually wrapped snacks and juice boxes or milk. No coffee. We stopped at fast food places for bathroom breaks and coffee for the ride. We also had a cooler filled with lots of food and drinks from home. The trip went very smoothly for us and our dogs but there certainly was stress due to worrying about restrictions changing while we were traveling. We made our reservations ahead of time for each of our stops. We couldn't take the chance of not finding a hotel along the way with our dogs, one of whom needed insulin shots twice daily.

Kthnry · 01-10-2021, 09:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rfomd129

Because of our dogs we stayed at Residence Inns at all of our stops - they're very dog friendly.

I didn't realize that Residence Inns was pet-friendly. Do they require a pet deposit, and if so, is it reasonable?

I always stay at La Quinta when I travel with my dogs, but it's good to have options.

Marriott has been trying to position themselves as pet-friendly, but some of their hotels have non-refundable pet deposits of $250 for a room that costs less than $100/night!!! You have to spend hours on their web site looking up the pet policy for each specific hotel; they're all different. No thanks, don't waste my time.

Johnhw2 · 01-11-2021, 07:28 AM

FYI Drury Inn is a good motel chain that is very pet friendly. But they are not every where. A small chain out of Missouri but with places in Tennessee and Texas but not Oklahoma last time I looked. They do not charge a pet fee or a deposit.

rfomd129 · 03-21-2021, 08:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kthnry

I didn't realize that Residence Inns was pet-friendly. Do they require a pet deposit, and if so, is it reasonable?

I always stay at La Quinta when I travel with my dogs, but it's good to have options.

Marriott has been trying to position themselves as pet-friendly, but some of their hotels have non-refundable pet deposits of $250 for a room that costs less than $100/night!!! You have to spend hours on their web site looking up the pet policy for each specific hotel; they're all different. No thanks, don't waste my time.

I was clearing out my subscribed threads and just saw this today. Sorry for the late response.

As a general question to CD users: How do you know if someone asks a question or makes a comment about something you've posted if you don't go back and check that particular thread? I bounce all over CD so I'm sure I've missed other comments and questions. I feel bad I didn't see this earlier. If someone reps me, I can see which post they're repping so that's how I usually know if there's a post/question for me but of course not every post deserves a rep : )

Kthnry, Residence Inns usually charge $100 for a pet stay and it doesn't matter how long you stay. Now if you're only staying one night, that's a lot of money, but if you're staying for a week or more, I think that's reasonable especially if you're traveling with three dogs like we used to. I don't know if all Residence Inns work this way, but it's been our experience going back many years.

Kthnry · 03-21-2021, 07:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rfomd129

As a general question to CD users: How do you know if someone asks a question or makes a comment about something you've posted if you don't go back and check that particular thread? I bounce all over CD so I'm sure I've missed other comments and questions. I feel bad I didn't see this earlier. If someone reps me, I can see which post they're repping so that's how I usually know if there's a post/question for me but of course not every post deserves a rep : )

I've always wondered the same thing. In fact, I've always wondered how you know if there's any subsequent activity on a thread you've posted on. I can find some by searching on my user name, but there are others that don't show up. Kind of a bummer when you've made a brilliant point (lol) on some random thread and can't remember which one so you can check for follow-up responses.

rfomd129 · 03-21-2021, 08:52 PM

I have subscribed to threads and forums but they can add up quickly which is why I was cleaning them out yesterday. There were over fifty and most of them hadn't had much activity in a while.

If you want to start slowly you can hit Subscribe to this Thread under the Thread Tools Feature in the upper right hand section. I wouldn't choose the notification option (been there) because then you're getting email alerts non stop especially if you're subscribed to active topics.

If you subscribe to a Forum or Thread, they'll show up highlighted when you choose the headings Subscribed Forums or Settings. I still don't know why some show up under Forums and some show up under Settings. I've been on CD about a year and a half and there's still so much I don't know about navigation.

I hope everything went okay with your travels with your pup