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.