One summer when Wen lived in Missouri, she convinced her parents to spend the weekend at the Lake of the Ozarks. She had never been there and thought that it would be fun and her parents hadn’t vacationed there in decades, so they planned a trip.
They set out on their road trip with Wen’s three dogs, Casey, Buffy, and Poo, riding along in the back of the SUV and when they reached the lake area and arrived at their pet-friendly motel, it wasn’t exactly what they had expected.
Wen’s dad had made the reservation from a travel guidebook that didn’t have pictures and the motel looked as though it had been there since the 1930’s. Everything about it was old and worn, but they decided to stay there anyway, since their options for three dogs had been limited.
The first night, they noticed that rather large spiders were coming in under the door, so Wen put a towel down by the door and slept with her dogs in their crates on top of her bed. The room wasn’t exactly soundproof, needless to say, so as doors slammed during the night, all three dogs barked and it wasn’t exactly a restful night for anyone.
The second night, Wen once again shared her bed with three occupied dog crates and her dad had to fix the running toilet in the middle of the night.
Even with less than stellar accommodations, the weekend was a lot of fun and it turned out to be the first of many trips to the the lake with the dogs. Each time, they tried a different pet-friendly motel, but it seemed as though there was always an issue, such as a super long distance from their room to a dog-walking area or no grass whatsoever.
Traveling with dogs can be a great experience, especially with accommodations that work well and eventually Wen found a pet-friendly motel that was owned by a really nice couple which suited their needs perfectly, making their stays at the lake even better.
Each subsequent lake vacation when they drove past what they had named “The No Tell Motel,” they commented on their miserable but humorous experience there and about a year later when they were once again driving by, there was nothing but dirt. “The No Tell Motel” had been torn down.
Buffy, Casey & Poo
