Traveling Through the Storm!

Traveling Through the Storm!

I'm sure everyone has experienced bad weather while traveling.  Some better than others but still, traveling in bad weather can be a challenge.

Late Sunday ice storm Jupiter rolled across the country.  I had a 11:45 am MSP (Minneapolis) flight. The weather map was not comforting so I woke early to assess the damage.  I normally would have left somewhere around 8:30 am or so.  This morning I left at 7 am after letting the truck run for a bit and shaving the ice off the windows.  Our walkway was slick so I imagined the roads about the same.  As I waited for the truck to warm up, the county was doing the highway out front of our house.  Even in 4 wheel drive I had problems escaping our driveway.  The first mile of road wasn't too bad until I hit the county line where nothing was done to the highway yet.  Not many things bother me but when the road is nothing but ice, that's another story.  It was icy almost all the way to the interstate except for the last couple miles that the county has started to treat.  I always hope the interstate is better than our roads but getting on seemed a little sketchy.  I rode behind a semi doing 50 to 55 mph all the way to Des Moines.  Exit 141 is a sharp hair pin turn and I'm hit a slick spot once a couple years ago, so I take it very easy when I get to it.  US 65 seemed clear with speeds at about 60 mph.  Just shy of the legal limit, although there were one or two spots that made me slow down.

Arriving at the airport I decided to park in the usual economy lot at the $10 a day rate.  As soon as I jumped out of my truck I realized that I should probably paid the extra $3 a day for the parking deck but it was a little late now.  I struggled a bit to get my 2 bags and 1 tool box to the entrance.  I managed without falling so that's a plus.  I actually didn't do too bad in getting there.  It took about an extra 45 minutes but I'd rather be early than have to rush to catch the flight.  The flights were all on time and no deicing was necessary.  I made it to DTW (Detroit) early and pulled into the hotel parking lot at 5:45 pm.  Tonight I'm at the Fairfield Inn & Suites in Livonia, MI.  Very friendly, although they gave my room to another guest about an hour after I arrived.  Thank goodness I had the locks on or he would have walked right in.  He apologized and went back down to tell them they messed up.  I had that happen to me once where they gave me the wrong room number but luckily not the wrong key.  Sounded as though someone was taking a shower and that would have been a real surprise.

Needless to say I arrived safely and should have no further weather issues this week.  I was very glad that this little weather event happened this week and not next.  I'm driving to North Branch, MN on Sunday night and it would have been a nightmare with the ice.

Safe travels...

Michigan, here I come!

Michigan, here I come!

I most say that my Texas trip ended in a very exciting way.  As we approached the airport, the phone started ringing.  That's when the $@!t hit the fan.  A costumer was down and needed someone right away.  One of the plants we had visited developed a problem at the last minute as well.  I felt bad for my colleague since I had to get home for a personal matter on Friday.  I picked up a rental car and headed towards Houston.  In the end he flew out on Saturday morning.  Looks like it will be another year of running all over at the last minute.

On Monday I leave for Detroit.  I have 2 plants to service, one in Farmington, MI and the other in Ann Arbor, MI.  It should be a straight forward PM (Preventative Maintenance) service but with how the year is starting out nothing would surprise me.  I'll get into Detroit around dinner time and spend the night near the first plant.  I will move to a hotel near the second plant on day 2 and end up by the airport on Wednesday for my early morning flight back home.  

It has been told to me many times that if you want upgrades on your flights that you should travel on the weekend or midweek.  Also midday helps as well... That is "Bull", let me tell you, I've had more upgrades leaving early am on Monday and the last flight back of Friday than I ever could the other times.  I made one upgrade in my first flights and I had higher status than I had ever achieved.  With that being said, looking at next week, I have one upgrade and it's the first flight.  I'm hoping I make the second since I'm stuck in a middle seat right now but I'm not holding my breath for it.  Coming back will probably be the same way.  Well I'll let you know how it goes.

Safe travels...

Last Day in Texas

Last Day in Texas

We started out with breakfast at Schobel's in Columbus, TX.  I had The Maison which is like the classic Eggs Benedict and was very good.  Wasn't many people there this morning but the food was way better than what we could have had at the Holiday Inn Express.  After breakfast we traveled back to Alleyton, TX to our customer.  They were running with no issues so we said our goodbye's and header to Converse, TX.  They weren't running the system today but had run it yesterday.  They were very happy with the system.  It was nice to end the week with a friendly swing-by to a happy customer.  Our sales rep pulled in just as we were getting ready to leave.  We decided to have lunch at the 54th Street Restaurant & Drafthouse in San Antonio, TX.  I had the All-American Pretzel Burger which was very tasty.  The service was great and so was the atmosphere.  It is a chain but don't let that discourage you from trying it out.  From there we did another swing-by to a plant in Shertz, TX.  They have 2 machines, one is very old and probably due to be replaced and the other hasn't run since 2012.  We recommended some service to the old system and maybe possibly taking the newer, hardly used system to replace it.  From there we headed to the Fairfield Inn & Suites San Antonio/Shertz.  It was a little early but with Platinum status with Marriott I received early check-in.  For dinner we walked across the road to Schlotzsky's.  This is only my 3rd time eating at one but the sandwiches are excellent.

With the extra time I had from our visits, I went into our scheduling to arrange my Minnesota trip.  This will be similar to my Kansas trip but with 2 customers instead of just one.  I will have to leave my house about 2 am to drive up to North Branch, MN for the first service.  I'm usually done and heading to a hotel by noon.  The closest hotel is near the next customer in St. Cloud, MN.  On the following day I'll service my next customer in St. Joseph, MN and upon finishing that will drive directly home.  It does make for 2 long days and a lot of miles on my truck but it's better than having to fly to Seattle where the rest of the team will be.

Tomorrow we get sleep in, just a little.  Our flights aren't until 11:05 am and won't have to head over to the airport until about 9 am.  We're about 15 minutes from the rental car facility.  I'm hoping the trip home goes smoothly which it should.  I'll be getting back just in time for dinner.

Until next time, travel safe!!!

Texas Trip Continues...

Texas Trip Continues...

Our day started at 7 am with checking out of the TownePlace Suites in College Station, TX and having breakfast at the Denny's just up the road.  We've eaten here the last time we were in the area. Good service, always busy and the breakfast was pretty good as well.  That's when the emails started. Nothing like getting about 10 emails over the coarse of breakfast.  It took us a little longer to get on the road for Alleyton, TX since we had to address some of the emails.  We arrived at the plant about 10 am, just in time to meet up with our regional sales manager.  We ran into some issues but finally had the equipment up and running.  They stopped running and everyone disappeared so we figured it'd be a good time for lunch.  We went to Schobels, a family run restaurant with the best buffet. I love the salad dressings that are made from scratch.  Very friendly and never much of a wait to be seated. If you get the chance to stop there, I'd highly recommend it but prepare to overeat.  When we arrived back at the plant they still weren't running and we found that they were done for the day and would start back up tomorrow.  We called it a day and headed to Columbus, TX a few exits up I-10 to a Holiday Inn Express.  They have started to remodel the lobby since we were here last.  It is about the only chain hotel in the area.  The rooms are nice and the beds are comfortable.  The price isn't too bad either.  Our final day is tomorrow and will be spending the night near the San Antonio Airport for our Thursday flights out.

Until tomorrow fellow travelers...

A week in Texas

A week in Texas

I don't get to Texas very often but this trip is a revisit from last year.

I started my morning as usual by getting up at 2:30 am.  This gives me about an hour to get my stuff together, into the truck and down the road.  I have about a 1.25 hour drive to the airport.  Being that early in the a.m. it's usually just me and a few semi's on I-80.  Since this was my first flight of the year, I like to be a little early to the airport just in case some new TSA rules popped up in the past few weeks I've been at home.  The drive was uneventful as usual.  I save the company a couple dollars by parking in Economy.  I only use the parking deck if the weather is really foul so I'm partially sheltered getting to the airport entrance.  As I walked towards the Delta counter I could see the line was enormous.  It was now just after 4 am and they hadn't even started to set up the lines.  I used the kiosk to check in and print my boarding passes and proceeded to wait.  I could tell the frequent fliers were all irritated by the wait but by 4:30 am we were moving along.  Being able to use Sky Priority is a plus for days like this.  During most of the year the Atlanta flight is at 6 am but probably due to the necessity of deicing, it was scheduled for 5:40 am.  I checked my bags, did my usual stroll through pre-check and claimed my usual seat by the gate.  Getting that seat is partly why I get there so early. We boarded, deiced and had a pleasant flight to Atlanta.  I did score First Class so the I was able to have some hot tea and snooze a little.  With a little over an hour layover I headed for the Sky Club by T6.  Met up with my colleague and had some cappuccino with a bagel.  Boarding in Atlanta is real fun.  When they board the Premium cabin that includes all Diamonds in Atlanta, it pretty much means half the passengers.  I didn't get a seat in first but did get a window in Economy Comfort. Better than the back or middle.  The accommodations were a little tight but livable and it was a fairly short flight to Dallas.  Arriving at Dallas early at 11:30 am made it even better.  

Now comes the rental car bus.  The first one we get to is packed so we decide to wait for the next one.  When it arrives, a whole slue of people come out of the airport and start piling on cutting in front of everyone that was already waiting.  We were packed in like sardines.  The gentleman standing behind me was at the doors and you could here the wind coming through them as we made our way to the rental car facility.  Every time the bus turned a corner I almost imagined the guy flopping out as the doors popped open.  We finally made it to the facility and on the board for Avis Preferred had CTR next to my name. So out to the Preferred Center I went to find out what car we were getting.  They gave us a Mitsubishi SUV.  Roomy enough to fit all our bags and us.  I set up the blue tooth for my phone, plugged in the address for my GPS and off we went.  It would be a 2 hour drive from Dallas to Palestine, TX so we stopped for lunch at a Denny's along the way.  After all the holiday foods I wanted to cut back so I had a grilled chicken sandwich.  We arrived at the customers facility by 3:30 pm.  We replaced the suspected part and the system worked.  I rewired all the temporary wiring I had done last year so they could run and tested the system.  There was another problem but with the equipment connected to ours and helped them fix that problem as well.  Once we were finished we packed up and headed towards our next customer.  We planned on staying at a midway point as we did last time in College Station, TX.  We chose the same TownePlace Suites we had stayed at last time.  Finally ending our day at 7 pm when we checked in.  The rooms are very nice and spacious.  Many restaurant choices as well.  We opted not to go anywhere else tonight and figured we'd meet downstairs at 7 am to checkout.  We'll have breakfast at the Denny's up the street as we did on our last trip here.

Tomorrow we head to Alleyton, TX...

Next Trip is to Texas

Next Trip is to Texas

This will be a multi-stop trip to visit three customers.

This will be the second trip of the year.  I've made arrangements to fly out of DSM, Des Moines International, connecting in ATL, Hartford Jackson International, and arriving into DWF, Dallas Fort Worth International.  The reason for flying through Atlanta is that a colleague of mine will be flying out of there and we want to get into Dallas at the same time.  I'll be taking care of the rental car and have selected a Full Size through AVIS.  We've completed this exact same trip last year but have some unfinished business there so figured it needed one more trip.  We have three hotels setup along the route since each stop is about 2 to 3 hours apart.  

Our first stop will be in Palestine, TX and is about a 2.5 hour drive from Dallas.  Last time we stopped at a What-a-burger along the way.  Not much in the way of restaurants along the route.  From there we're heading south and midway we'll spend the night at a TownePlace Suites in College Station, TX.  We will then continue to our next stop in Alleyton, TX.  We will spend the night in pretty much the only hotel close by, a Holiday Inn Express in Columbus, TX.  We will then head out after breakfast to our last stop in Converse, TX and spend the final night at the Fairfield Inn and Suites San Antonio NE/Shertz in Shertz, TX.  We will fly back out of San Antonio on Thursday just before noon. 

I'll fill you in on how the trip progresses and how my first flights of the year go.

About to hit the road...

About to hit the road...

Just a quick shout out that I'm about to hit the road for my first trip of the year.  The temperature has dropped significantly and the wind is howling.  Should prove to be an interesting trip for sure.  By my calculations it'll be 279 mile drive and I'll need one refueling stop on the way there.  I look forward to filling you in when I get back tomorrow.

Safe travels everyone!

First trip of the year!

First trip of the year!

Last day of holiday and tomorrow marks the first trip of the year!

I'll be heading Southwest tomorrow evening.  Heading to Kansas so I can service some of our equipment for a customer.  It'll be a 4 hour drive for me.  I've done the preliminary things such as, pack my parts, tools and safety gear into my trusty truck.  Need to get my paperwork and backpack ready for travel.  I'll take my suitcase with me just in case but I plan on being right back by around noon on Wednesday.  It'll prove to be a long day but at least I'll get to sleep in my own bed for the most part this week.  The trip is all interstate and should be pretty much uneventful as always but you never know.  I'll see about getting something on here about the trip on Wednesday.