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| CPWSA Adventure Travel (a CPWSA subsidiary) Blog
Rumor has it our CPWSA travel company subsidiary has been nominated as one of the best adventure travel companies on earth. We look forward to the final results to see where we end up on the list. We offer a variety of travel planning and registration services for your pleasure, convenience, and excitement. Listed below are some of our recommendations. Complete with cleanliness and adventure ratings in chronological order. Ratings are depicted as brooms for cleanliness and bullets for adventure. Five brooms means you can leave your cleaning and sanitation equipment at home, and five bullets means you better keep at least five rounds loaded at all times. Disclaimer: past performance is no guarantee of future returns. Park Mammoth Resort - Park City, KY - after taking some time off for a bit of personal growth and development, was nice to get back on the road again for the Pan American Shotgun Championship. I made a tactical error by opting to vend the match instead of shooting it, but oh well, we live and learn. It was a great time none the less. Was great seeing my good friend Joe "Scattergun" Satter/white/field anchor the standard manual U.S. team's gold medal win with his 3rd place overall finish. Apparently, he liked being on the podium because every time we'd stop somewhere on the way home, I'd look and he be standing on top of something wearing his gold medal; trash can, truck hood, coke can display, it didn't matter. Anyway, on the trip up, we left Georgia at the appropriate time to hit Emma's in Manchester, TN about the time the second pan of biscuits came out of the oven. From there, we headed on up I-65 to Park City. This was my first opportunity to stay at the resort at Park Mammoth. You certainly can't beat the convenience and after staying there now, you can't beat the food either. Man! You talk about some fine eating. The buffet style dinner under the tent every night was some of the best food I've had anywhere. The spread inside at the restaurant the last day was even better. Our room at the resort opened up onto one of the community balconies. The rocking chairs there allowed one to recover from over-partaking of the fine eats that were available. While our room was nice, I understand they have much bigger rooms available which are usually reserved for country music singers who happen by on occasion. Apparently, despite our world renowned reputation, heavy lobbying on our part did not result in us securing relocation to one of the luxury rooms. I guess I'll have to go write a couple of award winning country songs before my next trip up there. About the only negative thing I can say about the room is there was no alarm clock and the automatic wake up call system apparently overslept and didn't call to wake us up either. We've stayed in places with broken alarm clocks though, and I was prepared with my handy dandy Big Ben windup, so we were good. I donated it to the establishment so the next unfortunate soul that couldn't secure the luxury suite would at least have a clock. They aim to please there however, as every day the maid would stop by to ensure the room was made to our satisfaction. That was impressive. Either that, or maybe she was just walking off the lunch available in the restaurant. Rating:
Suburban Extended Stay - Columbus, GA - as this place is brand spanking new, we had to give it a try. It's on Victory Blvd, so it's convenient to the Ft. Benning gate. This is a nice place with tile floors and really nice furnishings. It was nice watching Bama beat Florida in the SEC Championship game on the flat panel TV in the room. As it is an extended stay type place, you get the full kitchen which is a bonus. About the only thing you lose here is the overall "edgy" feeling you get at some of the other hotels on Victory Blvd. They honored our request for ground floor rooms, but not our request for adjoining rooms. They knew who I was traveling with and likely figured I wouldn't be too upset with rooms not adjoining. Can't fault them there I guess. About the only negative thing I can say is I still don't know if the place offers breakfast or not. Despite others who stayed at the hotel saying a very tasty breakfast was available, I asked hotel personnel on two different occasions if they served breakfast and was told no. Maybe they thought I was asking them if they personally served the breakfast. Don't know. We hit the Huddle House further down the road when we had time for a sit down breakfast and it was some good eats, so all was well. Rating:
Econo-Lodge - Corinth, MS and Osage Beach, MO (see below also) - this was our match blitz weekend where we hit two matches. We shot the Mississippi 3 Gun Challenge on Friday, then buzzed over to the Ozark Mountains to shoot the Adams Arms Ozark 3 Gun match on Saturday and Sunday. We knew we were in trouble when we arrived in Corinth Thursday night to a deluge that about washed us across the Ruby Tuesdays parking lot. The rain didn't prevent us from dining there where I watched a couple of my girly man friends enjoy a flute of lemonade, complete with pinky extended dispensing. I personally think they been hanging out with them European guys for too long and picked up some bad habits. On top of that, they have the nerve to make fun of anyone using an umbrella in the pouring rain. It was the California guy carrying the umbrella after all, I was just smart enough to take advantage of an opportunity. Anyway, I digress. This particular Econo-Lodge boasted it's close proximity to the Battle of Shiloh in the recent War of Northern Aggression and the nearby interpretative center. They really should warn customers that they have two mannequins in a diorama right when you come in the front door featuring uniforms worn by soldiers of both armies. Some things are just bred into you, and as such, I apologize again to the Corinth Econo-Lodge for the two bullets holes in the yankee soldier. Again, you should let people know these things so they're not taken by surprise when they walk in the door. This facility is also almost co-joined with the Holiday Inn and I can assure you the Econo-lodge key won't get you into the breakfast bar room at the Holiday Inn. There were no surprises here and everything was pretty much as expected. Rating:
Econo-Lodge - Osage Beach, MO - the weather delayed our completion of the Mississippi match to the extent that we rolled into Osage Beach at 4:30 am. We still had to drain the water and get the mud out of all 3 guns from the Mississippi downpour the day before and get them cleaned up before departing for the Adams Arms range at 7 am. I lobbied for a room discount since we weren't able to use the beds the first night, but they didn't go for it. I think when we woke the desk clerk up to check in, we likely got off on the wrong foot. They were accommodating enough however as we got a service call right to the room when we experienced an internet access problem. I suspect this was more because the clerk took a shine to the one bachelor in our group and took every opportunity to ensure he was comfortable. I guess running around the parking lot in your underwear generates some fringe benefits, though I suspect that depends on who sees you. The beds here seemed better than most, but after 40 hours with no sleep, I suspect a 4' x 8' sheet of plywood would have felt pretty good. The Osage Beach area is beautiful, right in the heart of the Lake of the Ozarks and it was tempting to not take a few extra days to wet a line while in the area. Rating:
Radisson - St Cloud, MN - this was our first stay at the Rad in St. Cloud. I'll have to say while the hotel in and of itself is very nice, it just isn't what Adventure Travel has grown accustomed to. Paying to park at a match hotel was a new experience. I didn't care for it, especially since the deck was a considerable distance from the room; which seemed even longer due to all the gear we were humping. While hotels with their own restaurant are nice at first glance, that also means they ain't gonna give you a free continental breakfast every morning. At least I could grab some free coffee when I went downstairs every morning to get my parking ticket validated so I could park for $4 a night instead of $8. On the upside, this is the first hotel I've stayed in that had sleep number beds in the room. I think we burned up the motor in one of the beds playing with it. The "21" setting is about right by the way for a seat sore, middle aged, overweight guy. We still homesteaded our fav, the LaCasita Mexican restaurant, although some friends did talk us into an overcooked steak at the Timber Lodge Steakhouse the last night of our stay. While we really knew better at the time, we'll know not to listen to them next time. We did get re-oriented to the way things are supposed to be on the way back home, staying the night at a Super 8 in Wisconsin. A ground floor room and free waffles.....now that's living. Rating:
Comfort Inn - Boonville, MO - this was our second stay here and Adventure Travel management has decided we need to mix things up a bit. Unless a place has some really redeeming features, we likely will be opting for new digs at some of our more frequented match locations. They did honor our request for adjoining ground floor rooms for the second year in a row. There were a few surprises this time around. We discovered our keys would lose programming on occasion and it was a bit frustrating having to go back to the desk to get them programmed so we could get back into our room. Maybe they were trying to tell us something.....I don't know. One night, a passer-by recognizes the familiar sound of weak hand shotgun loading (with dummy rounds of course) thru the room door and a few minutes later the phone rings; "someone" from room 110 challenges room 104 to a shotgun loading contest. Room 104 says "bring it" and the race is on shortly thereafter. Room 110 occupants were quickly sent back to their room in honorable defeat. While the race was close, we did decide maybe the United States Shooting Academy should add some shotgun loading classes to their offerings. This Comfort Inn is all about customer service however, as we did learn it is possible to get a waffle there at midnight if you talk to the front desk clerk just right. W.J.'s still has the best food in town, but service wasn't what we experienced in years past so we branched out to discover the Hawgs and Heifers biker bar. Pretty decent food and much closer to the range. There the waitress will at least tell you they're horrible right off the bat so there's no disappointment later. Rating:
Best Western Hancock Inn - Lewisport, KY - this was our second stay at this establishment, and not much had changed. You have to appreciate the hotel's convenience to the range every time you drive nearly 30 minutes into Owensboro. Our request for a ground floor room was honored and life was good. It is the little things you know. While my traveling companions and I were sitting around talking to some friends in the lobby on arrival night, we shared our story of the un-cleaned room with all the beer cans and empty pizza boxes from the year before. Unbeknownst to us, the hotel manager overheard our story and went out of his way to ensure our room was acceptable this year. The conversation went something like this......envision the accent of the typical Indian customer service rep at an outsourced IT call center; this is the hotel manager; "I am very sorry for the inconvenience you have experienced and want to ensure that your room this year has met with your satisfaction". Membership and the notoriety that comes with being associated with Adventure Travel does have it's privileges I suppose. Some of those privileges just aren't something most people want any part of in some cases. Despite my finish at the Kentucky Multi-gun match, I'm glad to be done with the state of Kentucky for a while. The two Kentucky matches this year were poorly executed on my part at best. That blue grass they have up there got in some tight spots and left a rash. Heck, my "friends" wouldn't even let me drive us home; afraid the train wreck that was my match would morph into a truck wreck on the way home. It's all good though, cause I got to let my hair down and hang my head out the window on the way home. Rating:
Diamond Caverns Resort Condos - Rockcastle Shooting Center, KY - these condos, like the cabins that are also available, are fairly convenient to the ranges. Neither of these are as convenient however as the Shooting Center Lodge, which we were unaware of until after arriving at the range. I got a brief look at the Lodge rooms, and suspect any issues here would be outweighed by the central location on the property and convenience to the ranges. I was told by some who stayed here that the train track, which appeared to be five or six hundred yards away, interrupted their sleep. For us veterans of the Bossier City trip, the train at Rockcastle hardly justified a second thought, though it did trigger a post traumatic stress episode for a couple of us. The condos were tolerable and available at a decent price. Our units were one bedroom, with something called a "foo t'on" which simply seemed like a fancy way of saying the couch turned into an uncomfortable bed in a pinch. Comfort is a subjective thing I suppose, as I had the opportunity to see some of the "cabins" that were available nearby. Unless your shorter than five feet tall, let's just say I wouldn't suggest those. As such, I have it on good authority that Mike Sexton will be billed for the damage he inflicted to his cabin when he kicked one of the end walls out so he could stretch out to sleep; and, for the imploding chair at the banquet Saturday night. The cabins, and even the chairs at Rockcastle, just aren't made for some people I guess. Though after shooting the tunnel stage, the cabin likely seemed like the Ritz and twice as comfortable. I think had we to do it over again, we would stay at one of the mainstream establishments 5 miles away in Cave City. We usually ended up there for breakfast every morning anyway as there was a McDonalds and a Cracker Barrel there. This Cracker Barrel has been upgraded with one of the inter-stall tissue and wipe dispensers that was really trick. Keep an eye out for them at finer restaurants in your neighborhood. Our condo rooms were clean enough and the only reason to keep the guns loaded there would be for the deer and turkey roaming the property. But don't shoot the golfers, they frown on that I understand. Rating:
Springhill Suites - Oklahoma City, Quail Springs, OK - maybe I'm an adrenaline junkie, but you know, after a while these nice places are, well, just plain boring. I guess that isn't all bad. Really nice place with a great breakfast included with the price of the room. Kind of a pain to get in and out of due to the one way service road you have to use. I would suggest staying over toward Edmund and Arcadia anyway as that is closer to the range and eliminates the need to use the toll road. Plus, when the clock in the room is an hour slow and you show up late to the match, at least you can get there quicker because it's not as far to drive. I thought I was in New Jersey for a while there; you know, paying a toll every 2 miles. The GPS routed us home via Tulsa so we ended up spending what seemed like $56.75 in tolls before we got out of Oklahoma. Felt like I'd just been to one of their many casinos, just not having a slim chance of winning. Rating:
Hampton Inn - Lake Wales, FL - this hotel is only a couple years old so we had to try it out. As convenient to Frank's as any of the other Florida Open hotels. It is a bit on the pricey side compared to some of the other options along the Lake Wales/Sebring corridor. The hotel was....what's the word....oh yeah....boring. Everything was as it should be; wake-up calls are on time; and everything is extra nice to boot. Maybe it's just withdrawal symptoms after some of our other experiences (see below). I think the room we were assigned was a recently converted conference room. As such, there was probably a hundred square feet of empty floor space, even after you allowed for two beds, flat screen TV, couch, end tables, table, chairs, and kitchenette area. I figured the management staff was aware of the awesome PR opportunity they had before them, hosting Adventure Travel personnel for the first time, and wanted to capitalize to the fullest extent. If that's the case, they did good. About the only negative thing I can say about the place is the breakfast food was not very good. As such, on the last morning, we opted for some real food over at the Bob Evans across the street. We did learn a few things on this trip. For one, Pat Cochran can shoot a spit ball much better than he can shoot a pistol; Kaci now on the other hand, not so much. Oh, and if you want 30 flavors of wings, and without a doubt, the best fish sandwich in Florida, go to the Hurricane Grill and Wings on Cypress Blvd. Rating:
Econo Lodge - Columbus, GA - this is one of our first re-entries even though we've stayed here now for the third time. Not much to say for our last entry of 2008 as little had changed from our last visit. As such, everything's a year older and a bit more abused than last time as evidenced by the phone in our room that didn't work. There was a flashy new sign out front. I first thought they had really raised their level of customer service when we checked in. While some places give you chocolate chip cookies when you check in, there was pizza there and we got excited. The desk clerk wouldn't let us have any of it though so that was kind of a bummer. Don't guess we can hold that against them as it was a small pizza and there was three of us. They honored our ground floor, adjoining room request for the third year in a row, but we are getting to be celebrities in some circles after all, so that's somewhat expected. Plus, based on the much larger number of vehicles in the parking lot this year, I think Adventure Travel is driving business into (or in some cases, quickly away from) some of these establishments. I even heard comments at the match about the various places the CPWSA logo would get you access to. Kinda like a challenge coin. Ok, this is a family blog, so I'll not mention the name of some of those places. I think the water system has been changed as I would have noticed the awesome showers in our previous visits. You know the really good showers that pin you against the back wall when you turn the water on? Those make your shower much quicker and packing for the trip easier because you don't have to pack your exfoliate. We opted to not take advantage of the breakfast offered at the motel, so can't comment there. Instead we chose the Burglar King one morning and the Huddle House further down Victory Blvd the next morning. That Huddle House has a really great breakfast by the way. Don't go in there if you're in a hurry though. While very good, they ain't real quick in getting your food out. I think the earlier comments from our previous critique still apply and are as follows: the Victory Blvd. location offers quicker access to the Ft. Benning entry gate. When leaving the Krilling Range you can come out the back gate, right onto Victory Blvd and save yourself some time. It's the typical older motel layout without interior hallways, so parking is available right outside the door. Allows for easy loading/unloading of weapons and gear with the added benefit of being able to keep an eye on the vehicle. Have been there three years now and they always honor the ground floor room request, with a free suite upgrade afforded us on one occasion (ok I'll admit a suite at the EconoLodge is somewhat of a contradiction). As this area is not in the better part of town, I think there are some adventure opportunities here. Also, be on the lookout for the "stranded female with the brokedown vehicle needing a lift" scam at the adjoining Quick Rip gas station. Rating:
Quality Inn & Suites - Bossier City, LA - For the 2008 Multi-Gun Nationals, we try this place as it is one of the match hotels. Well, sometimes you just can't win. Break from the norm and stay somewhere other than the match hotel and people get dead in the parking lot. Thanks to our attempt to conform by staying at a match hotel this trip, we get to add a new earmuff icon to the web page. That's right; because if you stay at this place you're gonna need'em. You might even consider double plugging. The check-in was uneventful, although they failed to honor our request for a ground floor room. They made up for this omission by putting us on the top floor.....yea! This wasn't so bad as the elevator was slow and small. We hit the room which was clean enough, then roll into the rack looking forward to a good nights sleep, when....at precisely 1:30 am, a train derails and sounds like it's about to crash right into the hotel. After extracting my fingernails from the ceiling and falling back into the bed, I realize this is going to be far worse than Lynchburg, because there's no way there's only going to be just one fatality here. After preparing to meet my maker, I realize the train has narrowly missed my hotel and must be about to destroy another unfortunate place nearby, bringing death and destruction. As it turns out, since we arrived after dark, we were unaware that there was a train track not 50 yards from the hotel. We were reminded of this fact again at 3 and 4:30 am that night, and every night we were there. Our hotel was apparently the engineers landmark to lay on the horn for the upcoming railroad crossing. I had forgotten how loud a train horn really is when you're sitting on the front bumper of the train when it goes off. On the upshot, the free breakfast was decent with plenty of strong coffee which was needed after sleeping only 4 hours every night. There was an Outback steakhouse literally right in the parking lot of the hotel which was convenient, though certainly no closer than the train track which was right "outback" as well. Rating:
Staybridge Inn - Tulsa, OK - this was my second time staying here and it's a great place if you can get several people together to share the expenses. Generally speaking, nothing is going to happen here to get your adrenalin or blood pressure up. They have two bedroom, two bath suites that include a sleeper sofa and full kitchen. You end up with 4 full size beds and two full baths. They honored our request for a ground floor room and allowed us use of the mop sink to wash off our mud caked boots and shoes after the US Nationals, otherwise known as the Tulsa Mud Bowl. Monday through Thursday evenings feature free food from local restaurants along with free beer and wine. The free breakfast included eggs, meats, waffles, fruit, etc. Definitely a rough place to spend a few nights. My only regret about this place was that I didn't stay here during the day while in Tulsa instead of going out to the USSA range in the rain, mud, muck, and mire. Rating:
Grandstay Suites & Hotel - St Cloud, MN - I can't take credit for this one as I was approached by friends who had already secured the room. This place definitely swings the pendulum over to the ritzy side of the scale. As I walked into the lobby, I was soothed by the classical music that was playing. Not being a classical music aficionado, I wasn't sure if it was Bach, Beethoven, or Charlie Daniels they were playing, but it was nice nonetheless. For recreation, there was a marble game board in the sitting area. I thought it to be a checker board, until my more sophisticated friends told me it was in fact a chess board. Not being completely convinced however, I believe this might be another fiddle/violin type controversy that has raged for centuries. My friend Albert especially enjoyed the children's playground area on the back lawn. So much in fact, that he left some play clothes in the room for the next occupants to use so they wouldn't soil theirs. I was moved by his thoughtfulness and generosity. Even the Rolls can go belly up on you though, as I know of one group that had to change rooms because their air conditioner stopped working. Very convenient to the DPMS range and several nearby eating establishments. I highly recommend the LaCasita Mexican restaurant. I found St. Cloud to be a nice town with lots of friendly folks. After some of our recent travels, this one was almost boring. But hey, variety is the spice of life! Rating:
Econo Lodge - Oxford, NC - since no one turned up dead in the parking lot, we can't bless this establishment with our coveted five major caliber bullet rating. However, you'll definitely want more than five bullets in your heater should you decide to stop over at this high adventure locale. While I didn't exactly give the place the white glove inspection, I suspect a mop bucket icon might better denote the level of cleanliness than our usual broom icon. Ah, where to start. It became evident from the time we entered the parking lot, that unless you are in the "pharmaceutical" or "escort" business, this wasn't a place you wanted to spend much time. Once in the room, my trusty sidekick and SWAT commander traveling companion brought to my attention that both the room door and bathroom door had recently been breached with a ram. A closer inspection of the door lockplates (splayed like a cauliflower) and obviously unprofessional door and doorknob replacement/repair work convinced me this was indeed the case. As I moved into the bathroom, I observed that the grout between the shower tiles had more shades of green than a 64 crayon box of Crayolas. I also discovered a much easier way to repair that pesky wallpaper that just won't stay on the wall. Take a tip from Econo Lodge and fix the problem with your handy paper stapler and the strategic placement of about 30 staples. Gave the place a nice down home feel. Lastly, make sure you have your Surefire flashlight handy as the place is prone (no pun intended) to power "fluctuations". Had I glanced out the window about 2 seconds after the power came back on, I am confident I'd have seen a guy running by with a TV on his shoulder with the deer caught in the headlights look. Rating:
Comfort Inn - Boonville, MO - not a bad place with new carpet, and a nice pool and hot tub. Small and cozy so hauling multi-gun match gear into the ground floor rooms was not a problem. Decent breakfast bar that can even accommodate dorks who put peanut butter on their waffles. Parking was ample even with a trailer. Good value for the dollar. This is your typical high clean, low adventure option. They did honor our request for adjoining ground floor rooms. Rating:
Best Western Hancock Inn - Lewisport, KY - things got off to a bad start here right off the bat. Our request for adjoining rooms on the ground floor was not honored and we ended up with one room on the ground floor and another on the second floor. We checked in around 10 pm and the second floor room wasn't even cleaned. Unmade beds, beer cans, and pizza boxes littered the room. Litt and Romero got moved to another room on the second floor as CPWSA management pulled rank and took the clean room on the ground floor. Don't trust the clocks in the room either, as the less intelligent could find themselves up and ready to depart for the range an hour earlier than necessary; knock on their traveling companions door asking why they weren't ready to go. This place is expensive for what it offers, but it's saving grace is it's convenience to the ORPC range. Rating:
Super 8 Motel - Lynchburg, VA - this is our top recommendation for you high risk, high adventure types. Here we took advantage of the special prom party gone bad package, and awoke to fighting in the halls and gunplay in the parking lot. It was cool seeing Lynchburg's version of Gil Grissom measure bullet depth penetration into the exterior wall adjoining our room while his compatriots searched for evidence around the chalk body outline in the parking lot. We did think ahead and brought our friendly SWAT team captain to grease the skids for us before we breached the crime scene tape barrier to put our guns back into the trailer. Otherwise, I'm sure the local police would have been much more "interested" in 4 guys loading 12 guns into a trailer, not 30 feet from where a murder took place a few hours before. On the upshot, (no pun intended) the motel did honor our request for adjoining rooms on the ground floor. Local law enforcement did do us a solid and suggest the Wingate Inn which was visible up the mountain for our next stay; assuming we wanted to opt out of the Super 8 adventure package the next time around. Rating:
Comfort Inn - Oxford, AL - this place has been frequented on several occasions and they always honor the ground floor room request. It's nice when you can toss gear straight out of the truck or trailer directly into the room without having to hump everything to the inside and through the interior halls of a place. On one trip, we did notice a sewage like smell coming from the surrounding area which was a bit disconcerting. Not evident inside the rooms, but pretty nasty once you're outside. Fair value for the dollar here and convenient to the Moss Branch range. Rating:
Quality Inn - Sebring, FL - one of the mainstays for the Florida Open match. Not much to talk about here. Middle of the road from the cleanliness standpoint and after several years, have not noticed much adventure capability. The fact that a hospital is right in the back yard of the place is comforting for anyone who tends to frequently draw blood or come down with exotic maladies while on the road shooting matches. Rating:
Econo Lodge - Columbus, GA - after incidents of vehicle theft at the Ft. Benning match hotel a couple of years ago, this place seemed like a good alternative. The Victory Dr. location offers quicker access to the Ft. Benning entry gate. When leaving the Krilling Range you can come out the back gate, right onto Victory Blvd and save yourself some time It's the typical older motel layout without interior hallways, so parking is available right outside the door. Allows for easy loading/unloading of weapons and gear with the added benefit of being able to keep an eye on the vehicle. Have been there two years now and they always honor the ground floor room request, with a free suite upgrade afforded us on one occasion (ok I'll admit a suite at the EconoLodge is somewhat of a contradiction). As this area is not in the better part of town, there are some adventure opportunities here. Also, be on the lookout for the "stranded female with the brokedown vehicle needing a lift" scam at the adjoining Quick Rip gas station. Rating:
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