The motel is not "across the street from a landfill." There is a landfill about a half mile away and you can't see it from the motel. In front (to the south) of the motel there's a McDonalds and, across the street, a somewhat pricey convenience store. The EconoLodge to the right of the convenience store has a bar in case you're feeling thirsty. If you happen to be without a car (probably not a lot of people without a car even end up here because it's a six-mile, $20 with tip cab ride from the center of Springfield), these are your two food options. The McDonalds is open until 11 p.m., and the drive-thu until midnight. After that you're stuck with the convenience store (there is a restaurant called the 50's Diner attached to the convenience store, as well as a truck stop, but I wouldn't recommend this dining option).

To the west of the motel there's an industrial/back-office park, to the east a parking lot full of FedEx trucks. However, if you want a pleasant walk, Chicopee State Park borders the motel's northern property line. Despite the nearby highway and the industrial neighbors, the predominant mood of the motel's surroundings is rural (or at least it seems so to an urbanite such as myself).

As for the rooms themselves, there's not much to say. My most recent stay here was during a slow period with most of the rooms empty, so maybe they gave me one of the rooms that was in better shape than most. It was a smoking room but I only noticed the odor for about five seconds before I grew used to it and could no longer perceive it. The bed was neatly made, all the bedding perfectly fine. My wife didn't like that the toilet had no cover (a ring, but no cover). I thought it was just one less place for germs to hide. Overall, the toilet was fine and perfectly clean.

One criticism, the shower has some kind of water-saving plumbing. It is not possible to adjust the strength of the water flow. You can make it colder or hotter, but not stronger or weaker. Then again, the room was $56 for two including tax so you can't really fault them for economizing.

There is, of course, no free breakfast at this rate. There is free black coffee, free powdered coffee additive, and free sugar. If you want milk, you have to buy it at the convenience store. Considering that milk at the convenience store costs $2.09 for a gallon (milk is almost always on sale cheap somewhere), I don't see why they can't be at least a tiny bit civilized and offer milk with the coffee.

The coffee is only available until 10 a.m. (didn't find out when it starts). However, when I was there recently at Thanksgiving, when I got to the office at about 10:20 and the coffee was out, the manager went in back and filled my cup from her own coffee maker. That was a nice touch. Don't know if they'd do that at busy times or if all the employees there would do something generous like that, but it was most appreciated.

It is true that at times this motel has housed welfare recipients. Most likely the local government rents these rooms when there's a shortage of available permanent housing for folks who need it. During past visits to the hotel when the welfare recipients were there, I had absolutely no problem with them. In fact, I had no interaction with them. They pretty much kept to themselves.

The TV has basic cable channels plus HBO. The heating unit worked perfectly and was well attached to the wall with no gaps (after having stayed at this hotel several times over the past few years, I have yet to find a heating/cooling unit not firmly attached to the wall). There's free ice so, despite the lack of a refrigerator, you can improvise one from your ice bucket. A microwave is a little tougher to improvise and would be a nice touch. If you want to cook anything in the room bring your own cooker.

Checkout is at noon.