November 7, 2009: Terra Haute, IN to Erie, PA

Today, the major goal was to work my way back home. This would be the longest amount of driving on the return trip, with nearly eight hours of drive time. I needed to go from southwestern Indiana, to Erie, PA, which is the largest city in PA along I-90. This meant driving through most of Indiana and going all the way through Ohio.


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I had Mexican food for lunch in Terra Haute, IN and then began my drive. Southern Indiana is very nice, seeing all the farm lands and such. It's very flat. But there are miles and miles of fields. The route took me through Indianapolis along I-70, and then it was back to more rural areas.

Southwestern Ohio is similar. As I moved further east, obviously it became more developed and the trip became more boring. I had a taco salad for dinner at a Mexican restaurant. Most of the rest of the drive was backtracking the same route I had come.

My hotel was at a Rodeway Inn at the TA travel stop on I-90 in Erie. I was a bit nervous about this place as Rodeway Inn is typically of lower quality than Econo Lodge. To check in to the hotel, you must go to the travel store. The staff were friendly at night, though they had not been as friendly on the phone the previous day when I called to ask a question. The hotel room was surprisingly nice, especially for a Rodeway Inn. It was very clean and aside from the wall paper coming off a bit in the bathroom, nothing else was run down. I used points for this one.

The major complaint about this hotel is that unlike any other Choice hotel I've been to, they actually CHARGED for Internet access!! As this is a truck stop, I suppose I can understand charging if you want to use the Internet from the store. (On the other hand, when McDonalds and various other fast food places give free wireless, even this is not competitive.) But to charge a hotel guest is unbelievable. Had I not used points, I'd have paid $60.00 plus tax to stay at that hotel. I've paid much less at other hotels and gotten free wireless Internet. They wanted $8 for 24 hours, or $2/hour. I called the desk to check if there was some kind of option for guests to get it free and was told there was nothing. Would I stay at this hotel again? Only if I absolutely had to stay in Erie and no other hotel took a reasonable amount of points. It was definitely clean enough and the room was in great condition. But I typically need Internet access.