An Inconvenient Trip

I have a story to tell you.  It's not a pretty one.  Unless we're enemies and then you are going to be very, very happy.

Recently, as sometimes happens, the Boss of Me asked if I would take a quick trip to our state capital on school business.  No prob.  I can't even count the number of trips, especially to Austin, that I have taken in the last nine years.

And before I start I should tell you that I DO NOT even believe in luck.  Bad or Good.  I've preached it for years, it's just taken or missed opportunities.  Lack of preparation might be a factor, blah, blah, blah.  Who knows?  I only knew that if you attribute something to luck, then you disconnecting yourself from any credit or responsibility for it.  And I am ALL ABOUT the responsibility thing.

So.

It's like this.

I was on my way to the airport..about 60 miles away.  I receive a voice mail from the airline that says my second leg of my flight was delayed.  A lot.  Like three hours delayed.  I was already supposed to have a long layover, and this pushed my arrival to Austin back to a time that is only excusable if you have been out to a frat party.  On a weekend.  During your freshman year, when you are still excited about things like that.  Had I known the series of unfortunate events that were about to come in the upcoming 36 hours, I would have turned around right then.

Ugh.

So I arrive and am gliding right through security when an ever-so-polite uniformed man asks me to step aside.  Yes sir, no problem.    He needed to examine my purse a little more closely.  Absolutely.  Go right ahead.

Never was anyone more sure than I was that I was completely CLEAN, yall.  I mean, really, besides my contact case...what could it be?  Well, there was something.

Just a little old bitty teensy something. It was.................a knife.

I know...a knife.

In my purse.
That I was carrying on.
The airplane.  You know those signs that say they take all threats seriously?  They are not kidding.  My knife caused an uproar in the security area.  Uniformed people gathered around me.  Some separated from the group to whisper to each other.   I was in fear...not because I was afraid of arrest, but because this was one of my good dinner knife.  From my QVC set.  Pattern Domain.  No longer available.  I begged for mercy.  I begged them not to confiscate my knife.  It would ruin a perfectly good set.  With just about everyone examining the blade to determine if it was serrated, how serrated, etc.

Then to my delight and surprise, the Sanhedrin dispersed and I was informed that they would let me on through.  WITH my knife.  Can you believe it?  They did warn me to pack it in my checked luggage on the way home.

Whooooooooooo,  breath of relief.

So, on to Dallas and my eternally long wait.  It was so late that I was unable to participate in my favorite airport activities, eating and shopping.   That place was a morgue.  So, I went on to my alternate activities:  people watching and reading.

There's more.  Feel free to stop now.  I'm warning you.

Upon arrival in Austin, it was a rainstorm. It was 1:30 a.m. Rental car booths were closed down.  No taxis.  My phone, by this time, was dead.  So to my relief, Avis opened up and I got a car.  I rented a GPS.  Any of you who are as deeply entrenched in a bureaucracy as I am knows that if you go rogue like I did and rent from Avis instead of Enterprise, heads are gonna roll, girlfriend!!  Also....I already knew the GPS was going to come out of my own pocket, but at this time all I could think of was getting to the hotel and getting a couple of hours of sleep before my next day's meeting.

I got to my hotel after my GPS tried to get me to turn left right on the interstate.  But even to my BLEARY brain this did not sound like a good idea.

A couple of hours of sleep....on to the conference venue.

On the way was one of those streets that has a stoplight every single block.  But in between the lights, people drive fast.  I was in the left lane, but......and if I'm lying, I'm dying....a black cat ran out in front of me.  And stopped.  And never, ever moved.  I had to wait and change lanes and go around him.  Last I saw of the black cat, he was still sitting in his chosen location.

Once again, I should've read the signs.  The omens.  Turn out and go home.  Now.


So, the conference location did not exist. At least not at the address that was published.  I was there.  AT the address listed.  And it was not there.  After driving around aimlessly and making a few circles in the area, I found it.  Good news, conference was great!

The 12 mile drive back to the hotel that evening took 1 and 1/2 hours.  That's just Austin for you.  But by the time I got back to the hotel (still raining)....I kid you not, I walked to the Denny's next door and got take out.  It was a low point in my life.  You understand if you know how very cool Austin is and how much fun you can have there.

I had to check out of the hotel about 6 the next morning.  The clerk behind the desk was working on the receipt FOREVER.  Finally, he gave up and admitted he was the bartender and he was the only one on duty.  So I left without a receipt.  (More trouble from the business office of the bureaucracy!)

And that's about it, other than my carry-on bag ripping and falling completely apart.  That didn't seem so bad in comparison to other recent events.  By that time, I was expecting it.

As I steeled myself for whatever happened next, the ride home was relatively crisis free.  And when I arrived home in Amarillo (knife secured in the checked bag).....I kissed the cold, hard ground.....so happy to be home and vowing to never leave again.

Blessings and may all your travels be smoooooth!

Boo