The Romanian manager asked me 2 or 3 times if there was anyone else staying in the room, and each timed I gave a little more annoying simple "no." We started on bad terms when I asked why she was charging $35 for a room when the sign at the motel entrance stated $24. Her come back was, "Are you a senior citizen?" and I wanted so badly to retort, "Lady, did I drive up in an RV? (many seniors drive recreational vehicles)," but withheld the thought. The sign was a little misleading because it seems there was an additional discount to the $24 if patrons were seniors, not $24 only for senior citizens. When I asked her to return the completed form because I was not staying, she agreed to rent the room for the advertised rate, most likely because the motel had many vacancies.
When I entered the room and saw the phone jack being secured to the wall with gray duck tape, it was obviously clear this wasn't a 5-star motel and champagne would not be served with the in-house meal. The toilet rim was oval yet the toilet seat was round, which made an awkward marriage. Home Depot must have had a clearance sale on round toilet seats.
One good thing about the locally owned motels on Central Avenue was they have free local calls, which allowed me to connect to my Houston internet provider, EV1.net, with a local number. The line quality at the Hiway Motel was rather poor since connect rate was only 19200 baud with at 56000 baud modem.