Fuzzy Memories

While the search for Texas Instruments' "Grinning Triangle Man" continues, there are a number of fuzzy memories of trips that I haven't yet been able to crack, or definitively prove. Luckily, there have been a few breakthroughs (one such was done in January 2023).

In this page I'll try to describe the best I can the stuff I remember from trips but can't really remember accurately.

THE BI-LEVEL HOTEL

Location: San Antonio (presumed)
Date: Circa 2000
Most of my trips to San Antonio are very old--my last overnight trip to San Antonio way back in January 2011, I stayed at the flagship La Quinta with my family, and right outside the hotel was (predictably) a Denny's with a large sign, and the one before that was in 2006.
However, going way back to the late 1990s or very early 2000s, there was one hotel that I remembered because it was laid out unlike any other hotel I had seen. Most smaller hotels are fairly standard, with the lobby on the first floor and two to five floors stacked on top of it. The one I remember had a rare "Ground" level as the hotel was built on uneven terrain. (It's possible it was in Austin, but I believe it was SA, and definitely in Texas). There was a lobby and 2-3 floors above it, but a "basement" level with the hotel's laundry facilities and accessibility to the outdoor swimming pool.

THE BASE'S MISSING RAILROAD

Location: Mississippi or Alabama (on the Interstate 10 side)
Date: December 2003
Stopped at a military base (air force, naval air force, possibly) during a family trip. Immediately I noticed rail bed gravel and very close to the road, showing there was an abandoned rail line that connected it. Gulfport, MS seems like the most likely candidate as some abandonment happened around that time but I don't think it was Gulfport specifically partially because I don't think it was that "rural" accessing it (definitely through a more populated area) and I don't remember seeing active tracks. That being said I can't rule Gulfport out. It sticks out in my mind because the rail abandonment was done so recently the tracks in the road were still there, but cut off, dangling above the rail bed.

ROAD'S CLOSED

Location: Between Chattanooga, TN and Clay County, WV
Date: 2006
There were two hotels built on a road paralleling the Interstate, with both built in the 2000s. (There may be more development since then). Continuing down the two-way road the hotels were off of came to a road closed sign which abruptly redirected motorists off in a 90-degree angle away from the freeway, presumably because the road was the old highway and was closed beyond that point.

DALLAS RESTAURANT FIRE

Location: Dallas Area off of I-35E
Date: 2004
On a school trip, I remember seeing on I-35 East up to Carrollton, a burned-out restaurant (big hole in the roof!) which faced the road. I want to say it had "bikini" in the name but it wasn't Bikinis Sports Bar because it was two years before its founding.