On the road again.. and again.. and again...

Hannah had spring intercession and we went to the movies, visited Santa Fe, and had a little bit of a celebration. Sadly, we did not take anuy pictues at Easter. The top picture is inside the oldest church in North America. Built around 1610.

Since March 15, I have been to Kansas City, Kansas; Chicago, Illinois; Denver, Colorado; Houston, Texas (twice); and Fairfax County, Virginia via Regan National Airport (twice).

The purposes of all of these trips was to present work and to gather additional data. The scariest trip was to Kansas City where they murdered a guy in a parking lot on the street where I was staying. It was a nice part of town too. And that trip was hard because there was nowhere to buy food. I walked a couple of miles one of the days and found a little market. But it was hard. I found a Starbucks at one point and went into buy a pastry or something and they were out and I don't drink coffee.

The worst flight was coming back from the Washington DC area the second time. While I was there, I was getting up every morning at 5:30 a.m., which was 3:30 a.m. in Mountain time to get the school. Then, I would get back about 4 o'clock and my room was never clean and they would come around 5 p.m. so I couldn't take a nap. I had online teaching to do and work to grade so if I left to go find dinner, I didn't get to bed until 11:30 p.m. or so. All I wanted to do was get on a plane, get to Dallas for my connecting flight, and get to Albuquerque.

It was not to be.

We circled northern Texas for more than hour waiting out bad weather. I was in a middle seat and getting airsick. Then the plane turned sharply and started to lower. But it was because we were going to Houston to land. We get there for more fuel before taking a go at getting to Dallas again, but my connection was already gone. So they put me on a 10:25 p.m. flight from Houston to Albuquerque. It was 7:30 p.m. I waited and waited. We boarded at 11 p.m. We got out to the runway and were about to take off. Literally. We were on the runway about to acclerate and we turned back. The first officer had timed out. They only let them work so many hours. So we sat on the plane for 45 minutes waiting for a first officer inbound from Las Vegas. Our first officer disembarked. He looked like crap. So tired. I was glad that he wasn't flying me, but he/they should have known. By the time the Las Vegas fight landed, the pilot was 30 minutes from timing out. So they scheduled us all for a 6 a.m. flight. We disembarked at our original gate at 1 a.m. By the time I did the math it was impractical to try to leave the airport and expensive as well. So no hotel for me. I found a less dirty, slightly darker corner of the airport and laid my head on my laptop case (without the laptop in it). It was not good sleep. But I didn't get robbed or molested so it was still a win.

Around 5 a.m. a fresh flight crew arrived and we boarded our 737. We went to the runway and this time, we lifted into the air. The flight was supposed to be two hours and it actually did seem fast. I landed at 7:40 a.m. Mountain time in Albuquerque. I went home and took off my clothes in the entry way and went up to shower. Then I napped. I woke up and watched TV. Then I napped. Then I ate. Then I napped. You get the picture.

But wait, my bag was on a plane to Dallas?

Well, I have an iPad that I bring with me to do research because it uses my cell phone network and so I don't have to log on to school systems. I had it in my bag that I left on a plane to go to Dallas. They removed me from the flight manifest when I got to Houston and told me they weren't going to move my bag. I would get it in Albuquerque. When we left Houston (for real) I used Find my Phone to see where my iPad was, and hence, my bag. Do you know where it was? That's right! Albuquerque. My bag was better at making my connecting flight that I had been. When I landed there, I went to bag claim and found the office and it was closed. That didn't matter to me. I tried the door and it was unlocked and so I walked in. A man came around the corner and asked if he could help me. I said, I was on a flight from DCA that waylaid to Hoby from Love field and they reacommodated me and didn't move my bag from my orignial flight. Well, why do you think your bag is here? He asked. Because. Find my Phone says my iPad is in this office. And sure enough, it was.

And now I am preparing to fly again. One more and I am done for several months. Dang.