Well, I finally escaped Kansas City - a strangely unpleasant place to be. Nothing bad, just blah blah blah. Friendly folks, good food, etc. But the blah was overwhelming.
The drive home was done in two long days with an overnight in Tucumcari, NM. A short stop was made in Gallup to do some wholesale stuff for Amparo, and after a fill-up I drove on down through St. Johns, the Salt River Canyon, Globe, and ugly construction northeast of Winkleman. Amazingly my truck got 20+mpg between Gallup and Tucson - and this is with a load stuffed into the back end, and 200,000 miles on the 7.3 liter diesel engine that is 15 years old.
Last week I did three trips to the Phoenix Civic Center for the Waste Management conference that used to be held in Tucson every year. Phoenix stole it away because of the crappy way Tucson continues to treat big business, it's downtown businesses, etc. Rumors of the Gem Show going north are floating around town too. And I understand why one has, and both may leave. Downtown Phoenix is actually pretty darn nice now. They have really cleaned up the area from the old civic center north into a nice destination area. Heck they even have parking for big ugly trucks like mine. The new center is huge and could swallow all the facilities in Tucson. If it wasn't Phoenix, Phoenix would be pretty nice.
The three trips in three days sucked. I-10 is 55 mph for 13 miles from Picacho Peak toward Tucson. Still two lanes, but there were enough snowbirds to make it frustrating. Best news was that it is only 1:30 from the house to downtown Phoenix even with the traffic.
I was supposed to go to DC area for a meeting this morning but AA canceled the flight for mechanical reasons. This is the second time in a row that the countries number one airline couldn't get me to where I need to go to conduct business. Atlas Shrugged is coming true.
No new work yet, although it seems to be coming together for a short term assignment in South Carolina starting next week (4 - 6 weeks). Work is always good so I'll be happy to get it. It is with a DOE site, but given the new administration's penchant for taking my (and the kids) money in punitive taxes it seems only appropriate for me to get some of them back.
Pedro has a cold today so he's home today. Jose was dragging toward school earlier this morning - he drove me to the airport at 5, then back at 6 - all before school so it will be a sleepy afternoon for him. His PC croaked last night so he is working through resolution of that too. Amparo is doing well running trying to keep ahead of the rest of us and all the critters.
Hope all well - more as it goes by....
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