Today we headed north toward Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and on the way we passed through Waldo, Florida.  Apparently Waldo’s claim to fame is that it is one of two official speed traps designated by AAA.  The other is just up the road in Lawtey.  Lucky for us, the Waldo police were at Dunkin Donuts and there was a billboard warning of the speed trap in Lawtey (rumor has it the billboards were purchased by AAA), so we made it through unticketed.

I think Falcon Mania is catching on.  Driving 65 mph up Route 95, my husband spotted the word “Falcon” on the side of a truck and pulled over so the truck would pass us and I’d have a chance to see it.  I was expecting giant letters on the side of the trailer, not a bumper sticker, but at least he’s a willing participant in the insanity.

We stopped at a hotel around the half-way point, in Brunswick, Georgia, and I can’t keep quiet about hotel hardware any longer.  Hotels seem so simple from a hardware perspective…hundreds of typical doors, a few hardware sets repeated over and over.  But if you get it wrong once, the problem is compounded multiple times.

The main problem is usually the guest room entrance door, and specifically what type of stop to use.  Many of these doors conflict with closet, bathroom, or communicating doors, making a wall- or floor-stop impossible to use (unless you’re creative – see below).  I’ve written quite a few upscale hotel specifications, and I typically use overhead stops when there’s a conflict.

The other issue with the entrance door is the closing device.  The first hotel we stayed in on this road trip had LCN 4031 closers on every guest room entrance door.  On some of the fancier hotels I’ve seen concealed closers used (I’ve never seen this application in person since 3 kids + fancy hotel = noise disturbance complaints + visits from hotel security, but I’ve seen a few specs like this).  The vast majority of guest room entrance doors have spring hinges, including all of the hotels we’ve stayed in since that first one.  Most of our doors didn’t close reliably, in fact, one day everyone else went to the pool and about an hour later I realized that the door wasn’t latched and anyone could have walked in and interrupted my nap.  For security and door control, I prefer closers, especially since many guest room entrance doors now have smokeseal on them which can further inhibit closing.

Here are just a few of the hotel doors we’ve seen on this road trip (if you hover your cursor over them before clicking, you will see my comments):

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