Tag: writing

Writing in Tacoma – Day 94

Writing in Tacoma

Day 94 – July 3, 2003 – Thursday

Today was a writing day. I spent the day in Tacoma and Seattle just writing and working on the website updates. I added photos to most of the days since June 27.

The staff of the Comfort Inn was really delightful. Fatima was the General Manager, and she has personality plus! Leehanna was the Desk Clerk there this morning, and I enjoyed speaking with her.

I did go see the Western State Mental Hospital today; it was recommended by Desiree as the most unique sight to see in the Tacoma area. Photography was not allowed. Western State Hospital is an infamous facility where movie star Frances Farmer was allegedly raped, shocked, and brutalized. See http://www.cchr.org/art/eng/page34.htm for the story. I was also told that Stephen King spent some time there to do research. It certainly ranks as one of the more unusual places to visit on the trip. I was pleased that the radio folks from South Bend, Indiana didn’t call me for another interview today.

I saw Fort Steilacoom in Tacoma.

I went to the airport and picked up the sweetest, most beautiful, and most wonderful woman in the world, my lovely wife and ace navigator, Bozzie.

It is just 60 miles or so from Tacoma to Seattle, so it didn’t take long to get there. It did, however, take five calls to the Marriott Courtyard on Westlake in Seattle to finally get the directions needed to get to their hotel. I made three laps of about 20 miles. The service was so bad at the Marriott that I checked out within an hour. A faceless Marriott person named Jerry is the rudest person I have ever come in contact with at a hotel. Marriott Courtyard on Westlake in Seattle — avoid it.

So, we moved to the Doubletree Hotel at the Seattle-Tacoma airport. Huge hotel, and the staff is really nice. As an extra added plus, there was a big Science Fiction Convention taking place at the hotel.

I met Mary at the hotel. She was a flight attendant for Delta. She was on the way to South Bend, Indiana to spend the Fourth of July with her husband.

When training salespeople and customer service people over the years, I have always stressed the importance of being nice to customers and prospective customers.  People like to do business with people they like.  I believe it is the most important lesson in salesmanship or customer service.  The lesson of the day is to never hire a Jerry; never allow a rude person to work in sales or customer service. Some people do not deal with questions well. Some people do not deal with stress well. Some people are rude to everyone. Those people do not belong in customer service positions.

Random Comments:

Bozzie Jane and I fly to Anchorage tomorrow!

The Daily Journal of Round America:

Each day, we collect our thoughts on a web page just like this. We drop in some of the photos from the day. Our goal with the Daily Journal is to write about the towns we visit, the sights we see, the people we meet, and the pie we eat. We write about where we are, where we’ve been, and where we are going, but we also make observations about what we’ve seen and done as well as about life in general.

You can follow our travels from the Daily Journal section of this website. Other pages of interest include the running report of “vital statistics” on the Trip Scorecard, our nominations for the Best & Worst of the trip, as well as a rating of the pie we eat. If you’d like to see information for a specific state or town, click here, and then click on the state of interest, and the full itinerary is shown.

 

More Information on the Sights Visited Today:
Port Angeles Washington — Olympic National Park — Hurricane Ridge — Olympic Game Farm — Sequim Washington — Port Townsend Washington — Port Townsend Pie Co. — Tacoma Washington
 

Writing in San Francisco – Day 78

Writing in San Francisco

Day 78 – June 17, 2003 – Tuesday

We have extended our visit today with son Ryan in San Francisco.

The PT Cruiser went in the shop for brake repair. Ingrid at Midas helped us after Steve at the local Chrysler dealer could promise neither prompt nor courteous service.

Today marked the start of Week 12. 27,178 on the odometer. We racked up 18,113 miles over the first 11 weeks. 66 days on the road with 11 spent writing in Atlanta. So, we averaged right at 275 miles per travel day. 1,005 gallons of gas. The little white car got 20 miles per gallon, but the 4-cylinder PT Cruiser gets just 15 mpg. 23 states so far, though we’d hit several twice. 1,393 towns behind us and about 1,100 ahead. Over 8,000 photos have been taken. We passed only 13 cars in 77 days. We have eaten 73 pieces of pie so far. We have been to three doctors — one eye injury, one ear problem, and a gastrointestinal disorder. No flat tires so far, though the little white car did eat up one set of tires on the first loop. No significant car problems, though the little brake problem that is being repaired today could have been a big problem if Jiffy Lube hadn’t identified it for us. We met well over 1,000 people in the first 77 days. We have given out about 1,200 business cards.

We’re on our second case of beads.

I had visited 48 states prior to this trip. We will soon mark off Alaska and North Dakota — the only two I was missing. I was really looking forward to both Alaska and North Dakota, as was Bozzie Jane.

I spent the day writing. Boz worked on Ryan’s place; she has always been everyone’s interior decorator.

We went shopping for pie today, but all we could find was overpriced packaged pie at the nearby grocery store. We passed. We again enjoyed outstanding meals from Karen, young Ryan’s personal chef.

The Dude has had one of his biggest tour business days ever. He will generate more business this month than he did in all 12 months last year! His biggest problem is that he and his staff just can’t even handle the number of phone calls that come in. The phones ring continuously. We may help The Dude set up a Call Center to more efficiently handle what he has built. It is quite a business; we are really proud of him!

The Daily Journal of Round America:

Each day, we collect our thoughts on a web page just like this. We drop in some of the photos from the day. Our goal with the Daily Journal is to write about the towns we visit, the sights we see, the people we meet, and the pie we eat. We write about where we are, where we’ve been, and where we are going, but we also make observations about what we’ve seen and done as well as about life in general.

You can follow our travels from the Daily Journal section of this website. Other pages of interest include the running report of “vital statistics” on the Trip Scorecard, our nominations for the Best & Worst of the trip, as well as a rating of the pie we eat. If you’d like to see information for a specific state or town, click here, and then click on the state of interest, and the full itinerary is shown.

 

More Information on the Sights Visited Today:
San Francisco California