Motel Camping. Del Taco #3.
5 Days in the Desert travelog #3
Del Taco #3, Barstow - Sat, 24 Dec 2022, 8:30am
When we started planning our 5 Days in the Desert trip a week or two ago we were thinking about camping out in the desert a few nights. Camping can be fun... except when it's not. Doing it in the winter, when even if the weather is warm-ish it's dark by 5pm, is no fun. Doing it as I get older is also no fun. Thus we do what I euphemistically call "motel camping". See earlier this year for another example.
This trip we're holed up in the Hampton Inn for 5 nights. With my diamond elite status we got upgraded to a corner suite for free. Of course, with the number of cars in the parking lot indicating there might be only 10 rooms sold last night, maybe they upgraded everyone to a suite. 🤣 Anyway, it's nice to have the extra space, including a table we can sit at with our computers open or to play a game at. Yes, we brought a few board games! (See above comment about it getting dark at 5pm.) This morning we snubbed the free breakfast buffet at the hotel. It just didn't look compelling. It barely even looked "meh". It was especially easy to say "no thanks" when there's a Del Taco 1/2 mile away.
Eating at Del Taco restaurants is one of our little pleasures when traveling through certain parts of California and elsewhere in the southwest. They serve food we like, it's way better quality than their arguable closest competitor Taco Bell, and they serve their lunch/dinner menu all day. Which means I can get a proper steak- or chicken taco at 8am instead of some barfilicious egg-and-sausage wrap.
How much do we like Del Taco? Well, last time we were in Barstow we took a slight side trip to visit the site of the original Del Taco! It's not a Del Taco anymore. Now it's some hardscrabble burger-and-taco joint in the dusty desert countryside. We happily ate at Del Taco Number Three on Lenwood Road near our hotel.
Del Taco #3, Barstow - Sat, 24 Dec 2022, 8:30am
When we started planning our 5 Days in the Desert trip a week or two ago we were thinking about camping out in the desert a few nights. Camping can be fun... except when it's not. Doing it in the winter, when even if the weather is warm-ish it's dark by 5pm, is no fun. Doing it as I get older is also no fun. Thus we do what I euphemistically call "motel camping". See earlier this year for another example.
This trip we're holed up in the Hampton Inn for 5 nights. With my diamond elite status we got upgraded to a corner suite for free. Of course, with the number of cars in the parking lot indicating there might be only 10 rooms sold last night, maybe they upgraded everyone to a suite. 🤣 Anyway, it's nice to have the extra space, including a table we can sit at with our computers open or to play a game at. Yes, we brought a few board games! (See above comment about it getting dark at 5pm.) This morning we snubbed the free breakfast buffet at the hotel. It just didn't look compelling. It barely even looked "meh". It was especially easy to say "no thanks" when there's a Del Taco 1/2 mile away.
Eating at Del Taco restaurants is one of our little pleasures when traveling through certain parts of California and elsewhere in the southwest. They serve food we like, it's way better quality than their arguable closest competitor Taco Bell, and they serve their lunch/dinner menu all day. Which means I can get a proper steak- or chicken taco at 8am instead of some barfilicious egg-and-sausage wrap.
How much do we like Del Taco? Well, last time we were in Barstow we took a slight side trip to visit the site of the original Del Taco! It's not a Del Taco anymore. Now it's some hardscrabble burger-and-taco joint in the dusty desert countryside. We happily ate at Del Taco Number Three on Lenwood Road near our hotel.