Day 1: October 30, 2024
Oh, Atlanta

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My "spare" day preceding the conference was spent mostly on expressways and mostly fighting some impressive winds. At a rest stop where opening the door was a bit of a struggle, I tried to get a picture of the wind but that wasn't very easy either.

That windy expressway travel took me to Atlanta, Illinois, even though I learned that the American Giants Museum would not be open today. I was inside the not-quite-officially-open museum on the way to last year's MOPCon. The main draw for me this year was outside in the Texaco Big Friend. The gas pumps are also new.

I also stopped by Atlanta's two "free range" giants. Hot Dog Man has been here since 2003. Lumi the Pie Girl has only been here since August. She stands in front of the Country Aire Restaurant which I stepped inside for a piece of blackberry pie.

My motel was pretty interesting too. The Trail Inn is something of a "robo-tel". The name caught my eye, reviews seemed good, so I booked online. The motel is more or less across the street from the Country Aire and the exterior photo is one I took before downing that pie. I had received check in instructions -- via text -- around noon and while I ate pie and sipped coffee, I verified -- via text -- that my room was ready. When I arrived at the motel, that lone car was gone. The instructions included a code which I entered -- via touch screen -- to open the small compartment containing a key card. The card gave me access to this room where everything looked nearly new.

Just as I was about to leave in the morning, the car in the photo pulled up in front of the motel and its driver entered the building. Had I left just a couple of minutes earlier, I would not have seen a single person during my stay. There had been one other guest but I never saw them and was actually unaware of them as they arrived after I was in for the night and their car was not visible from my room. I spoke with the lady who had just arrived and she told me they had been open for about two years and that they tended to be much busier on weekends. I'm guessing that the tail end of October is not a busy time for them regardless of the day of the week. It was not an uncomfortable experience at all although what I thought was a motel with no other guests seemed stranger to me than a motel without a desk clerk.


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