This past April, we embarked on a two-week road trip with the kids to visit friends and family. For one thing, we wanted to take the girls to Independence, KS, to see the Little House On The Prairie site. In searching for non-Motel-6 lodging in southeastern Kansas, we found that the pickings are slim.

Being a good geek, Laura did some internet searching and came across the Leatherock Hotel in Cherryvale, Kansas. After a telephone conversation with Wayne, the owner, our lodgings were set, $66/night, two nights, and we moved on to other planning for the trip.

The Leatherock may be the most dreadful and misrepresented hotel I've ever had the misfortune to inhabit. It really reminded me a lot of the hotel in "The Shining", but with extra awfulness and, fortunately, no rivers of blood or scrawlings of "red rum" were found. The "spacious yet cozy sitting parlor, with its eclectic furniture mixture" came stocked a book about the Bloody Benders, a locally famous family of murderers and thieves. There at the lonely and desolate end of town, next to the railroad yard, right out on the prairie, we survived the night. The book really capped the experience.

Come share the myriad examples in a multimedia extravaganza!

Technorati Tag: leatherock hotel