Thursday March 8

It's eight AM and I am at the airport in McAllen. This flight is seriously oversold. They start at $200. They move up to $250. It's an hour later. We load onto the plane. They are still asking for people to give up their seats.

They raise it to $300. And an upgrade to first class. Hmm. A travel voucher and I can drink my way across the country. Well, hello continental. I'm up for that. (Sue had scheduled me with a long layover, and continental agrees to make sure I make the plane connection.)

If I had the time, I could have sat here all day and collected vouchers. The next flight was overbooked even more. So were the rest of of the flights.

I end up taking a taxi from the airport to the hotel. Ohhhh, I have stayed here before. It used to be a something else. The food used to be decent, but the rooms were the pits.

I walk in to a beautifully upgraded lobby. When I get on the elevator, I laugh at the construction dust all over the floor. Up on the fifth floor things are nice, but a number of the rooms weren't yet finished.

My room has a stove top, glasses, a dishwasher, a large refrigerator, a nice table and chairs and a couple of easy chairs. It is a nice room. I head downstairs to a meeting and enjoy some dinner.

Back in my room, I enjoy the temp of my room being a tad on the cool side. My dad has MS and he is continually cold. The temp in the trailer that I share with them when I visit in Texas is somewhere between 80 and 90. I kick back and look at some TV and read the board notebook I was handed. I finish it around 2AM.

I wish I had a car so I could pick up a bottle of wine or a six pack of sam adams or two, but I don't so I satisfy myself with iced tea. I've gotta get up in the morning. I am happy about the travel voucher. I will be able to use it as I try to fly the kids to me so they can travel with me this sumer.

I think about going home to see my therapist. I need to think some stuff through. I also have the money to pay her. grin Now, if I get the train in San Antonio I can pretty much get a straight shot through to Chicago and then head on east.

Happy Trails, Marty