One Last "Hoorah" Thru The SW

After a long hiatus from work travel, I was instructed to make one last "Hoorah" trip to the southwest and finalize some open issues on my project in El Paso. So I made arrangements to leave early Wednesday morning before last flying one way to El Paso, one night hotel stay there and then drive up to Albuquerque for a two nights stay and then one way back on Saturday morning. Sounds like a great trip, huh? Uh, wrong! First off, it took forever to get through security so I rushed the entire way to the gate...only to find out when I got there (profusely sweating and all) that the plane was there but no flight crew. Huh? Yep, the crew did not show up until 10 minutes after our departure time. After a battle with one of the airline's finest over whether or not I had to gate check my carry-on, I made it to my seat... on the back row next to the restroom! Yes, I spent the next two hours watching folks go in and out of the bathroom- no snoozing for me! Besides the fact my left shoulder was like one inch from the door handle so I was "brushed" every time someone grabbed the handle. And the smell after the first hour was horrific.
Finally made it to the Houston airport and headed to the gate... only to find out when I got there that they had changed the gate for my connecting flight. Why does this happen everytime I fly this airline? (Keep in mind that I HATE connecting travel trips) Every freaking time I am forced to fly this airline, they are a) always late on departure and/or arrival and b) they change my connecting flight gate EVERY time! And then I find out that my gate is all the way back over where I just got off the plane from Atlanta! Now I am even more furious than before. So again, I retrack my path back over to the other gate. I sit down long enough to eat my protein bar and banana and then board the plane. I arrive in El Paso and am instructed to go out to the lot to pick up the keys to my rental car. I head out and it is blazing hot outside... and there are no attendants around. After baking in the sun for about 20 minutes, the desk guy shows up with keys to a different car... whatever- just gimme the keys before I turn to leather.
My time in El Paso was a total waste considering the subcontractor who we were supposed to meet with that afternoon did not show up. I did get to see the finished project with my own eyes and snap lots of photos.

I barely slept all that night... kept waking up every hour... I felt so badly from lack of sleep that I did not even work out the next morning. Finally made my way to the hotel restaurant for free breakfast. Finally decided on the breakfast burrito from the limited "free" menu list... I knew when I took the first bite that I was going to regret ordering that burrito with the sausage option. Something felt weird as I chewed the first few bites of it. I doused it with A1 sauce thinking it was just a mental thing.... managed to get thru half the burrito before I realized that I was in trouble. I left my tip and took off to my room. And then I spent the next hour and a half on the toilet. Checkout time was 12 noon and at some point in my foggy mind I told myself that they were going to have to kick me out before I lifted my fanny off that seat. When I found out around noon that my Superintendent was not going to make it to work after all since his wife was out a commission at the doctor for tests all day, I finally checked out and made my way westward to start my trek to Albuquerque. Quick stop at a drug store to buy pepto and toilet paper- just in case- I mean this is a long drive thru the deserts of New Mexico!
A four hour scenic trip thru southern New Mexico was pretty cool. I really do enjoy siteseeing in the car... even by myself! I jammed out to old Michael Jackson hits the entire way... just like catching up with an old friend and with a great view all the way around.
Albuquerque was uneventful for the most part the first night except for my ongoing queasy stomach from the burrito. I checked into my hotel and crashed. Amazingly enough I slept through the alarm and realized that I had slept over 8 hours straight and was now late for work! How is it when I travel to the time zone two hours AHEAD of my own that I STILL cannot get up and to work by 8am their time? I plow through that extra two hours just like I need a 26 hour day to get all my junk done. I worked at the office all day and stuck with basic sandwich meals since I was now skiddish of any thing mexican or "southwestern". After work I decided to make the drive up to the tram that takes folks on scenic tours of the mountain range just outside of town.

I wanted to snap some good photos of Albuquerque since I hauled my big camera out there and who knows if I will ever be back. I had no intention of taking the tram to the top since the views from the tram start were just fine. I found some really cool cactuses (sp?) to shoot with the city in the back ground....

Well wouldn't you know that while trying to snap the "perfect" photo I managed to get tangled up with a low-lying cactus and the shooting pains in my right calf hurt like hell. After trying to ignore the pain, I finally lifted my jeans leg only to find all of these little red prickly things stuck in my leg and how they got through denim to my skin is beyond me! I tried to pull them out but they just kept breaking off at the surface leaving the other half in my leg... now I was worried- what if these things have some kind of poison and I die up here? I mean no one had any clue as to where I was.... and who knows when the locals might find me! So I head back to the rental and cruise back to the hotel. I did get a really up close look at my cactus bites that night and tweezers were the only way to remove them... so I would have to wait until I got home.
Saturday morning came way too early even in their time zone and miraculously enough my flight left on time for once. All in all, my last "Hoorah" trip was well... hopefully my last.