I have been able to find motels in Paducah by purposefully calling those farthest away and not on the "approved" by AQS list. Paducah isn't that big so driving 20 minutes across town is a lot better than driving an hour from further out--Metropolis, IL; Charleston, Missouri, Cumberland, KY, etc. The past few times, I have just driven down for the day so didn't need a motel but we didn't see everything either and were bone tired from what we did manage to get to.
I'm a little disappointed to hear that the IQS show in Houston is much the same as AQS show in Paducah but at least hubby can get over his fear that I'll be dragging him to Houston soon--LOL. Just kidding. Houston is actually on our possible places to retire list so is more attractive to him than Paducah.