Michigan finally feels like Florida. (And that’s a compliment.) It’s warm and balmy. For once I can’t find any complaints with the weather. It’s absolutely glorious. Today it was in the mid 70’s and sunny without any noticeable wind.

I’m perfectly content to stay here, as it is now, until October 1st when we’ll pack it all up and head south.

Today I spent several hours finding motels which fit into our itinerary for our return trip to Florida. We plan to leave Michigan on October 1st and will arrive in Florida on Oct. 3rd.

The whole landscape has changed since Willow died. No longer is it vital to find a place which accepts pets at no additional fee. Our tiny dog was a very quiet, non disturbing pet, that no one ever even knew was on site. The only choice we felt we had was a stay at the closest Red Roof Inn. Now the horizon is wider.

With Willow gone, we can consider those places which would have charged large pet fees or just said “no.”

Almost always we stayed in London, KY, at a lovely (very high end) Red Roof Inn, and then in “Valdosta, GA.”

We’re still planning on London, but in Valdosta, the Red Roof has closed (and wasn’t very impressive when it was open).

For our October 2-3 stay, I finally found that Tifton, GA, is a little further north and would probably fit the schedule even better so I went searching. I locked into a Microtel in Tifton, GA.

John definitely prefers a continental breakfast over most features and the Microtel offered one. So we took the bait and we now have reservations.

I spent from 8:15 a.m. until after 11:20 a.m. today, not counting the more than hour I wasted last night. That’s nearly FOUR HOURS OF SEARCHING and scheduling!! Certainly the few dollars I saved are worth a lot more than I invested.

It’s a problem which I haven’t totally solved. The internet has all the info but it takes so much time to scope it all out.

But at least for October 2011, I have us reserved at the Red Roof, Oct. 1-2 in London, KY, and in Tifton, GA, Oct 2-3 at the Microtel.

If we find a great “stay,” we’ll be repeat customers for all the years ahead.

We’ve stayed in London at the Red Roof countless times. It’s still our favorite stop and definitely best in that area. We have nice rooms and pleasant hosts. The restaurants in the area are good, the continental breakfast grand, and we feel it more than fits our needs.

The Microtel Motel in Tifton will be a “first time” stay. We’ll let you know what we discover.