About four years ago, Dan Luedtke and his fiancée Debra Bartman decided it was time for a change.

The couple, who are both originally from Wisconsin, had been doing factory work for probably about 18 years.

“We were fed up with it and wanted to try something else,” Luedtke said. “We got tired of punching a time card and following silly rules.”

They wanted to become their own boss and make their own rules.

So, they purchased the Royal Motel in Northwood, Iowa, where they now live.

About six months later, they purchased the Crossroads Motel in Manly, Iowa, and then last year, on April 30, they purchased the Motel 65 in Albert Lea.

Luedtke usually runs the Royal Motel, Bartman runs the Crossroads Motel and Luedtke’s mother, Deanna, runs the Motel 65.

The “mom and pop motels,” as Luedtke calls them, see a mixture of long-term construction workers and travelers coming through, many of who come back after their first stay.

The owners have fixed up the motels and work hard to keep them clean.

At the Motel 65, they put in new curtains, new carpet, new beds, new bedspreads, and a new heating and water system.

“This place wasn’t too bad,” Leudtke said. “It just needed some tender loving care.”

They said one of the big reasons they wanted to get the Motel 65 facility was because it was the only motel on the south end of Albert Lea. On the north end of Albert Lea there’s a handful of motels and hotels.

“We like owning the smaller ones like this,” Bartman said.

Because the facilities are small, the couple can keep track of everything that happens there, and they can see to it that everything’s done the right way and kept clean.

“Once the people come stay with us and have the rates and nice clean rooms, they come back,” Leudtke said. They see customers from all over the country.

Bartman noted that a majority of their customers are nice people; however, they do occasionally have customers that aren’t quite that way.

The couple said they offer special weekly rates at all three motels. And while they do have rooms available for a monthly basis as well, in those cases they charge a week at a time.

They also are pet-friendly and allow customers with certain types of pets to stay at their facilities, as long as they agree to follow some guidelines.

Each room has a microwave, a mini refrigerator and a television.

Leudtke said the Royal Motel has a flower garden where people can go to relax, and the Crossroads Motel is still being updated.

Bartman said she thinks there’d be more truck drivers staying at the Albert Lea motel if there was a bigger parking lot for the semitrailers.

In Albert Lea, Motel 65 is at 1611 SE Broadway Ave. It can be reached by phone at 373-9792.

Crossroads Motel is at 511 Highway 65 S., Manly, Iowa.

Royal Motel is at 903 S. 10th St., Northwood, Iowa.