So there I was, tooling across Arkansas in the one and only Penskemobile, the yellow beast and its trailer bucking like synchronized broncos on the "Natural State's" naturally lousy roads (just how hard can it be to get a smooth stretch of interstate? I mean just about every other state seems to know how). And then darkness fell, and with it my tired eyes began to droop. Out on I-40 between Little Rock and Memphis, there aren't many choices... the AAA book told me there was a Best Western just ahead at Brinkley, and Brinkley it was. I passed up the Days Inn and the Super 8, and wrestled my "little rig" into truck parking behind the Taco Bell. Yes, they had a room for me (in fact, they had lots of 'em), so I had me a place to stay for the night. I schlepped the freezables from truck to the relative warmth of the room, and settled in.


The Property

Brinkley's Best Western sits a few hundred feet south of I-40 at exit 216 (on the east side of Highway 17), halfway between Little Rock and Arkansas. The little town of Brinkley is a tad further south. The cluster of one- and two-story stone and brick buildings has about 100 rooms, all with exterior entrances. Rooms range from singles to mini-suites with whirlpools. There's a swimming pool and putting green on the grounds, and a playground across the adjacent side street for the kids. One room near the pool has been converted into an exercise room. The motel appears to be thirty to forty years old, most likely a converted member of another chain (HoJo, I think).

A restaurant and coffee shop - the Duck Inn - shares the main building with the lobby. Whether the menu features Peking Duck and Duck a l'Orange, I don't know - it was never open during my few hours in residence, although it was supposed to be open for breakfast. At the rear of the dining room are a couple of small facilities for business meetings (should you decide not to use the regional convention center just down the street). Hours at the restaurant are 6PM to 8PM (in theory). The lobby has a covered portico for registration, with a window for late-night registration and early-morning checkout. Coffee service is available in the lobby. There's plenty of free parking on surface lots among the buildings of the motel complex, with truck parking in a gravel lot off the adjacent side street.

Pets are permitted - they say "small," but most BWs will let my pair of 100-pound Labs stay the night. Supposedly they're only allowed in smoking rooms.


The Neighborhood

A tentacle of little Brinkley follows AR 17 up toward I-40, including not just the BW but a handful of other motels, gas stations/C-stores, and restaurants. A shopping strip immediately across the road holds a WalMart, Kroger, and other small stores, all within a few minute's walk. A very pricey little liquor store sits facing the highway across from the motel. The Kroger store does not sell beer (does Arkansas have state-controlled liquor stores? I dunno). Local restaurants include a Waffle House, a Pancake House and a Chinese restaurant besides the ubiquitous fast food emporia (Subway, Taco Bell, McDonalds). Besides the motel playground, there's also a strip of parkland near the motel.

As one might infer from the name of the restaurant (Duck Inn) waterfowl hunting is a big draw in the neighborhood. It's rice country, flat and marshy for miles to the east into the Delta country of eastern Arkansas and western Tennessee. Except for travelers passing through, hunters (in season) seem to make up the bulk of the motel's business.


The Room

Fifty-four simoleons (plus tax) bought me a non-smoking single near the back of the motel for the night, a king bed in a spacious room big enough for a sofa and coffee table, the bed, and a desk and chair - not to mention the usual credenza-style dresser/TV stand. Besides the television (50 or so channels, with HBO) a clock radio had been provided plus iron and board, hair dryer, coffee service, and a minifridge. There was no microwave, though, and no on-demand movie or video game service. The room's single phone (on the desk) had no dataport, though local calls were free - but who would I know on Brinkley, Arkansas? A window unit controlled heating and cooling, though cooling wasn't much of an issue in this first week of February.

The room was "surface clean," with no obvious litter and everything in working order, but had apparently seen quite a bit of neglect over the years. Water damage was evident all around the bathroom, and the walls had seen plenty of patches and re-painting, not particularly well done. The floor was clean at first glance, but housekeeping had left plenty of dust bunnies and bits of litter under the bed and in the corners. The grounds and common areas seemed clean, though I never actually saw them in the light of day.


Intangibles

Because there's a restaurant onsite, this particular BW doesn't serve the obligatory "continental" breakfast. Unfortunately, the restaurant - though supposed to open at 6 AM - didn't open on time the next morning, so I hit the Waffle House for "the most important meal of the day." The restaurant crew still hadn't showed up when I left at 6:45. Go figure.

The motel was mostly empty, though a cluster of muddy SUVs pulling boxy trailers had been parked not too far from my room. That's probably who I heard leaving at about 4 AM, during one of the periods when my heater's fan wasn't running. Otherwise, the place was acceptably quiet.

After checkout, I was a bit peeved to note in my AAA book that the room rate I'd been charged wasn't a AAA rate (they're supposedly guaranteed, and I had showed the friendly clerk my card the night before). Oh, well, maybe I'll make the $5.50 back with this review (-snort-).


Recommendations

Eastbound travelers don't have many opportunities coming up ahead, though there are a few motels twenty miles or so up the road at the Forrest City exit. I-40 in the western suburbs of Memphis is pretty much a motel wasteland (I once stayed in a Red Roof there, however), and it's also tough to find motels along I-30 and I-40 on the south side of Little Rock. Right now, I-30 is under construction (and, if AR's anything like TX, will be for several more years) from Benton into Little Rock proper, a royal mess of narrow lanes and extremely short on ramps.

Though not the cleanest motel in the world (it's also not the dirtiest - that's a BW in Covington, Tennessee), the Brinkley property is spacious and quiet, with plenty of convenient services. Just make certain they give you your AAA discount. Oh, and ask whether the restaurant crew is going to bother to show up the next morning...


Other nearby hotels previously reviewed:

Red Roof Inn, West Memphis AR
The Beast Western, Covington, TN


Recommended: No