En Route to 3rd Annual Monteleone Fundraiser!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So we started our long trek to El Paso.  For those of you that don't live in Texas, El Paso is about 620 miles from Dallas.  So we decided to split up the trip and go about 300 miles per day.  300 miles from Dallas leaves us right at Midland/Odessa.  While I'm sure these are fine towns, I must say I was severely underwhelmed with the accommodations.  Let me start my saying, I am not a hotel snob.  Despite the fact that I worked at some really nice hotels (which by the way my hotel friends - I may be calling in a favor next time!) I have nothing against the "budget" hotels.  In fact I find them absolutely appropriate on a trip like this.  I thought I would be safe and book through Orbitz, because I'm sure they have checked these places out right?  Right?  Well, OMG!  This was officially the most disgusting place I had ever stayed at in my entire life.  Why did we stay - you might be asking.  It was a combination of 1. it was non-refundable, 2. we had already unloaded all of our luggage, 3. traveling with 2 little girls, 4. It was already close to 10pm, 5. We really had no other good options.  Please beware when you see the pictures and take care in knowing that no one was harmed in the making of these photos:

Let me set the stage for you.  It started something like this.  You walk into a muggy room that smells and feels like an ash try, despite the fact that it is a "non-smoking" room.  This was the hollow door leading into the bathroom that felt like it was going to fall apart every time you shut it.

 This is the dangling shower curtain rod.  Because it was hanging on by a thread the shower curtain only covered about 1/4 of your body while you were showering - with flip flops of course.  And oddly enough the bathroom smelled so much cleaner after we showered, probably because it was the first soap the shower had seen in months.

This would be the cigarette burn in the sheets which would explain the cigarette smoke in the bed and pillows.

And this my friends is a band aid wrapper found under a table.  Apparently vacuuming is not part of the daily chore list here.

 And perhaps we've been watching too much Dexter, but I would have to say that this lamp shade has blood spatter on it. 

 And here is Marisa and Olivia playing our new "game" called "Stay on the bed at all costs and if you must get up put your shoes on!"