We had crew change this past Wednesday.

When we arrived in the oil rich town of Corpus Christi, Texas

we knew this was not going to be a smooth crew change

because we couldn't get in touch with the boat to find out where they were.

There was a good reason for that.

They were still out in the Gulf,

doing what we call "weather patterns"

which means they were outside the entrance

running in circles

waiting for the fog to lift and the river to open once again.

After many phone calls to the river pilots and our office,

we were told the river would not open again

until the next day and

arrangements were being made for our crew

of 7 guys,

to spend the night at the local LaQuinta hotel.

With the rental car's GPS fired up

we plugged in LaQuinta

and it showed the hotel was only about 10 minutes from the airport.

We arrived at the hotel and were presently surprised

at how nice this particular LaQuinta was.

It had a beautiful lobby,

courteous employees and

free cookies!

Upon checking in

we ran into a glitch.

It seems thay had no info at all on this

bunch of homeless sailors.

After more phone calls it was determined

we were at the WRONG LaQuinta.

10 minutes down the road was the other La Quinta,

the one with our names in the register.

And let me say this.

There were no free cookies at this baby.

You won't find a travel channel episode

highlighting this hotel

any time soon.

Note the vehicles in the parking lot.

Not many Honda's or Toyota's around.

This is truck country.

This beautiful little area

was described to us as the outside

"relaxation area"

by the lady behind the desk that had

no free cookies on it.

This is what I imagine

the exercise yard looks like

if your doing time

at Sing Sing.

Happy weekend.