No Room at the Inn

It was 1:00 A.M. We were in Beaumont, TX with a Hot Shot to be delivered at 6:00 A.M. that morning, looking for a hotel.

We got the call about 2:30 that afternoon. Threw some clothes in a bag, gave Sean some directions for the next day & took-off. We didn't even have to pull a trailor. We stopped by Jessica's to get our air-phone (Fed-Ex can never find us) & told Jon that we were headed to Beaumont. TX which is about 40 miles East of Houstan. He commented that that should be interesting, seeing where the hurricane hit. Oh yeh, seems like a long time ago.

We went to the Holiday Inn, Best Western, La Quinta, no vacancy. OK, try some generic hotels that look nice. Same thing. What is the deal. We 've encountered this before, especially this late at night, but usually after a few inquiries we find a room. Finally a clerk told Bill, "We've been full since October." The Hurricane.

We drove back North about 30 minutes & finally found a hotel. The whole time we were trying to figure out if the hotels were full of people who had lost their homes or workers traveling to repair the damage. Probably both. Either way, there were still a lot of people dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Ike just one state away from us, and we had already forgotten. How quickly we forget about other people problems.

A Blast From the Past

In one of our daily rounds--Home Depot, Lowe's, Locke Plumbings Supply--Home Depot, Lowe's, Tiles & Stone--Home Depot, Lowe's, Harbor Freight--we realized that Casa Bonita had opened up again! Bill wanted to try it immediatly, I said "Let's wait & take the Grandkids, they'll really enjoy it!"

Casa Bonita was one of our special occasion places. On Saturday after visiting our Bus Kids, the Church Youth Group, when we went to the Tulsa State Fair or Bell's, dates, a special day out with our kids . We would happily wait in line for an hour or two & there was always a line!

Well, there was no line! We ordered from the menu which was still to the left of the two cash registers after you round the corner! We picked up our trays, our food & our drinks just like always & requested The Cave! IT WAS EXACTLY THE SAME!!! I thought it had been remoded & updated! The little monkey on the unicycle, The Jail, The Sopapia Window, The Cave, the little Flag you raise to request service,...the food.

The Kids didn't eat much they were too busy looking around. They loved the game room. They were hilarious bowling. Jennah & Joel got a little frustrated at Not Getting Any Tickets...Jennah finally started giving Jacksen her tokens so he could win HER some tickets. In one game Jacksen's hit the jackpot! His machine started spitting out tickets! They were rolling out of the machine so fast! Before the tickets stopped rolling out Jacksen had run up to the ticket desk & franticly told the girl the machine was going crazy. The girl was really sweet & told him the machine does that sometimes & he could keep all the tickets! You should have seen the smile on his face! Graciously he shared the tickets with Sister & Brother. You have never seen 3 kids so happy with their penny prizes!

Casa Bonita, the neighborhood is now a little run down. Bell's Amusement Park is gone, the McDonalds Caboose in front is gone, but it still works it's magic on kids & grown-up kids!