Good Ol' Hell Paso... I Mean El Paso

I arrived home last night from my 3-day trip to El Paso for work. I left on Monday morning bound for the armpit of America and what a trip it was! First of all, I was pulled out of line at airport security in the Atlanta airport so they could inspect my bags for a suspicious item. When the guy proceeded to inform that I had a “vibrat__….” I could not contain my shock at what in the world he could be referring to… and since my shock filled my ears instead of listening to the entire phrase, I would have known he was talking about my vibrating neck pillow that Hubby gave me for my birthday! I was so embarrassed… supposedly the mechanism that makes the vibrations looks something like a terrorist bomb?
I make it onto the plane only to find out that I have a middle seat… Crap! I hate middle seats! And wouldn’t you know I had a lady 1.5 times bigger than me on the left and a man with a major case of OCD on the right (both elbow rest hoggers mind you) so I had absolutely NO arm rests for the entire 3 hour trip! I was so restless and uncomfortable the whole trip. I could not get off that plane fast enough…
I stayed a much nicer than normal hotel with a great fitness center… too bad my key card did not want to cooperate with my entering the fitness room…
El Paso weather was gorgeous… lows in the high 30’s and low 40’s and highs in the 60’s… and VERY windy! I browsed through some really nice sporting stores after work each night. And the groceries there are so much cheaper than here in Georgia- a ½ gallon of milk was only $1.00!! Yet, gas was much higher than here… the QT on the way to the Atlanta airport before I left on Monday was $1.99/gallon and in El Paso it was $2.44/gallon… glad I didn’t drive too much…
My Superintendent took me to lunch for some authentic Mexican food after our meeting on Tuesday… very tasty and VERY spicy! I almost cracked up when I used the ladies room at the signs posted on the back of the stall door.

Yikes! Do they really do that here? My last night I enjoyed some really good barbeque and then attempted a short shopping trip through wal-mart… bad idea… I must have been the only English-speaking person in that store! It feels very odd to be standing in the men’s section and hear all Spanish around you.
I really like the El Paso airport… the rental cars are at the airport so no shuttle buses to ride on. The Delta employee at the ticket counter informed me that Atlanta is their only destination from El Paso… how convenient? My gate is the first one just past security…, which worked out really great since I got held up AGAIN at security for that darn pillow! I think I will have to dissect the mechanism out of the pillow before my next trip…
The plane was only half full on the way back to Atlanta… I took note that we had several military troops on the flight. I was honored to strike up a conversation with one of them who was sitting in front of me. We talked off and on the entire way back. He told me how much he loves being in the army and how he was on his way to see his fiancé. They are marrying on January 1st… and then he will be deployed overseas. He answered all of my crazy questions about their guns, their exercise routines, their tanks, vehicles, etc. What a great guy! I wished him much luck on his way to Mayberry, NC… and then onto the unknown… How fitting since Veterans Day was Tuesday…