Monday:
A few minutes after I shut my eyes last night after I finished unpacking, I was waking up and heading back to the Peoria airport for my 6AM flight to Chicago so that I could connect to Louisville, KY to meet up with my co-worker, Andrea, and help her at Caterpillar's Defense & Federal Products booth at FedFleet and More 2012. After two consecutive flights of me passing out before take off and waking up upon the initial jolt of the wheels touching down in the destination cities, I felt as though I had some solid sleep under my belt...not really, but I was trying to convince myself of that. I caught the hotel shuttle to our hotel, The Galt House, and the entire shuttle ride, I was contemplating whether the house is named after John Galt in Ayn Randy's novel, Atlas Shrugged (a must read for anyone and everyone looking for a page turner); however, I didn't have time to ask as I checked in as I was on the clock to get to the Convention Center since our booth had to be completely set up and ready for display by 1:00 PM.
Kentucky Derby Winning Jockeys
The Galt House has a great display of the jockeys who have won the derby recently!
So, even though I was on a time crunch, I couldn't help but be taken aback when I walked into my room, or should I say two rooms? Literally, it was two conjoining rooms. One was for sleeping as it had two double beds, and the normal looks of a hotel room, and the room it conjoined with was for partying. It had a couch, a porch with a beautiful view of the river and the boardwalk, and a bar that looked like it was ready to be used. I had to text Andrea to make sure that I was in the right room because I was so confounded as to why a mere intern would get deluxe treatment like this, but she assured me that I was in the right room and the Galt House was just that incredible and took care of Caterpillar interns!
View from 1101 in the Suite Tower of the Galt House
View from 1103 in the Suite Tower of the Galt House
The Spirit of Peoria's Sister!
The Galt House
The suite tower is on the left which is where I stayed, but Andrea was in the tower on the right.
Once I was situated, I donned on my new Caterpillar polo and headed up the two blocks to the Convention Center. As I was walking, I was soaking in Louisville, because the last time I was here was for a volleyball tournament when I was a senior in high school. While club sports were a great opportunity for an inordinate amount of opportunities, they weren't that great for seeing cities other than the gym space the cities offer. What I noticed in my short walk was that Louisville is a very pretty city. On the shuttle this morning, I found out that it was the 16th largest city in the United States which I was very surprised at!
Evan Williams Historic Marker
It doesn't really mention anything about the distillery, but apparently, he was a political man!
When I arrived at FedFleet and More 2012, I was quite surprised. I have never been to a trade show before, and I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but I had formed an idea in my mind, and it was much smaller than I originally thought it would be. It was easy to find the Caterpillar booth from Andrea's directions: "look up and find the red dump truck bed in the air." After helping out with some of the set-up, the booth was complete!
FedFleet and More 2012
Caterpillar's Booth at FedFleet and More 2012
Sidewalk signs for the "Your Best Value" Campaign
After lot's of rearranging to appease two, Type A personalities, this was the final configuration!
Caterpillar's new vocational truck, the CT 660
Whayne Supply is our dealer in the Louisville, KY area, and they partnered with us for the trade show to help support Andrea and I with the technical details of the truck while they let us borrow their truck to display. Let me tell you this: if all of the other employees are half as funny and intelligent as the men we worked with, I would LOVE to have a rotational portion of the technical marketing program (*fingers crossed for getting it*) be there. After we left the booth at 1:00 for the convention center to clean up after all of the vendors set up, Andrea and I headed to Panera for a quick bite to eat then headed back to our hotel where I proceeded to get some e-mails taken care of before napping in order to keep my energy up for the evening. At 4:00 PM the convention center opened for the exhibitors to get situated before the welcoming event for all attendees at 4:30 PM. So, Andrea were in our places and ready to go when the trickle of attendees arrived.
I traded in my Volvo.
While at the booth on Monday evening, we met a wide variety of people representing a wide multitude of governmental agencies. It was not difficult to discern that the attendees ranged in occupations from operators to fleet managers to accountants, so depending on who approached our booth, we fielded questions ranging from the urea-capacity of the diesel engine in the CT 660 to whether or not we had hats to giveaway. Throughout the three days, it kept up like this, and I learned so much about the CT 660 that I can take back with me as well as so much regarding the intricacies of the relationships between Andrea and her federal civilian agencies.
After the show closed at 7:00 PM, we joined the Whayne Supply dealer representatives, two representatives from FCC (a small-business we work closely with), and Brad, a Caterpillar representative who is a dedicated field rep for the vocational trucks for a fantastic dinner at Morton's Steakhouse. Over the next two and a half hours, I learned even more. From how dealerships operate to how Caterpillar can get a leg up in the truck business, I was soaking it all in while simultaneously filling up on one of the best meals I have ever had (no offense, Mom!). After dinner, we parted ways and headed back to our hotel rooms where I proceeded to pass out immediately. It's days like these that make me realize that the traveling life of a consultant may have once been my dream job, but I am so ready to have some stability in my life.
Louisville Slugger Plaque
Along our walk to Morton's, there were plaques that showed all of the different models of bats and which players used them.
Tuesday:
More or less the same of what happened at the exhibit last night, FedFleet and More 2012 opened up at 9:00 AM and all of the exhibitors were ready for a pick up in the number of attendees; however, it didn't really ever happen. While there was a steady flow of participants, there was also a steady flow of exhibitors leaving their booths to take a stroll around the show to see what all was being offered. Yesterday, we started a raffle for a couple models of Caterpillar machines and all that people had to do was drop their business card in the drawing to enter. We made it clear we wouldn't be drawing the winner until close of the show on Wednesday; however, I was amazed by the obtuse nature of some people who repeatedly approached our booth and pestered us to pick their card or to pick early. It would have been funny if we didn't encounter the same questions every 30 minutes from a different person each time. It was this behavior that made me get the sense that many people who were attending the show were more interested in the free giveaways at the show than actually learning anything, but that is their agenda.
Before I left for the trade show, my supervisor tasked me with attending some of the classes that were being offered by some of the federal agencies. In the afternoon, I had the opportunity to attend two. While the speakers of both were clearly intelligent, the classrooms quickly turned into a political atmosphere as representatives from agencies countered the DOE's proposals by saying "how can we afford to reach these new regulatory standards when the government is slicing our budgets?" I definitely gained great insight into some inefficiencies our government currently has, and I quickly understood how frustrating it must be for some of the fleet managers to truly do their best when they have their hands tied behind their backs to meet so many regulations.
After I finished typing up my notes in my hotel room, I met Andrea for dinner. We walked around the area for a good 30 minutes trying to decide what we wanted and where we would get that, and we finally settled on the 301 Bistro which was across from the Convention Center - it was delectable! Sitting and talking with Andrea was such a pleasure, and before we knew it, the restaurant was closed and we were the only ones still there. We checked our watches and we had been there for over three hours! Trying not to upset our waiter, we quickly headed back to the hotel where we made plans to pack up and meet the next morning so we could hit the road quickly after we took down the booth from the show.
Wednesday:
It is seriously difficult to wake up in the morning when you live in a cave. Running a little bit late, I met up with Andrea and after checking out of the hotel, we headed to the Convention Center for a breakfast hosted by the trade show for the exhibitors. Before we made it to the Center, we made a quick stop at Starbucks where Andrea tried her first (and definitely not her last!) Apple Chai tea!!! I think I got her hooked! *sidenote: I am sitting in Starbucks right now with my Apple Chai* We got slightly sidetracked before we made it to the breakfast when we ran into three representatives from one of Andrea's largest FCA customers, and we stopped and spoke with them getting their take on the show then it was off to our booth!
The morning was more of the same with even more people coming up and asking about the raffle for the models, so needless to say, at 11:30 AM we were beyond ready to draw the winners just to have it over with. After we finished the raffle, people scattered and the show pretty much halted for our booth until the show officially closed thirty minutes later at noon. With the help of the dealer reps, we tore down the booth pretty quickly and had everything ready to go by 1:00 PM which was an hour ahead of schedule! So, Andrea and I headed right up the road to Whayne's dealership just to stop and say hello and thank you to some of the people who had helped make the show such a success for us! The Whayne location we went to see is their biggest, so I snapped some pictures to share that shows their diversified product line.
Service Trucks and Wheeled HEX
Thomas School Buses
Parts Sales and Support Center
Generator Sets
Trucks
Service Center
Six hours and one McDonald's stop later, we were pulling into the Peoria airport (I am becoming a native here) to return Andrea's rental car and to pick up my car. I drove her back to Woodview Commons where her husband, Matt, picked her up with her much-loved dalmatian, Lela. At this point, I haven't seen my girls from Club 4-3-2 in about a week, and I need some rest and relaxation! A priority was to do laundry, and between laundry and writing my trip recap report for work, I made it back to my room just in time to help work out flights with Tim. Oh, did I mention I am scheduled to fly out to Texas tomorrow after work?
Thursday:
Knowing my schedule was pretty full starting with CPR training, I got to work at 7:00 and carpooled with Tim so we could leave early in order to catch our flight to Austin at 5:00. I am now officially certified to administer CPR, but I beg of you, please don't make me use my new skills! After training, it was back to work as I wrote up my internship report, finalized my trip report, and worked on some little things that needed taking care of. I was officially caught up when I looked at my screen and saw the time was just about the time for our scheduled departure, so I went to the delta travel portal to see what the flights were looking like...the answer: not good.
After picking up Tim from his building, we had to make the decision: try and fly out of Peoria where the flight didn't look promising at all, or try to drive to Bloomington-Normal (Blo-No is about 55 minutes away) and try for their last flight out. We decided on Blo-No. Long story short: they were paying passengers to get off the flight when we arrived AKA a stand-by's worst nightmare. So, we cut our losses and called it a practice run for when we try again. Pedal to the metal, we headed back to Peoria in order to meet up with the Blue Zebra's to help them defeat one of the other intern teams! Needless to say, all of our teammates were quite surprised we were there when we had told them we were flying out to Texas and wouldn't be making the game. Oh, the life of a standby.
After our victory, we headed back to our apartment, and after a quick shower, I hopped in the car to go meet up with Bryant and his friends at Tequila's for some margs since I already had Friday off from work and I was going to head back to Peoria's airport bright and early tomorrow morning to try and get to Austin on the flight that left at 6:30 AM. Well, went to the wrong Tequila's and immediately cut my losses as I was exhausted and headed back to Woodview where a game of Euchre ensued. Let it be known: Tim and I are no longer undefeated. It was just the cherry on top after missing the flight. Lauren and Liz took down our record, but we will come back with a vengeance when the cards turn their luck back in our direction.
With a craving for brownies, Club 4-3-2 whipped up a batch of brownies around 11:30 and the roomies + Tim settled in to watch Deja Vu, but I was too exhausted to keep my eyes open and decided sleep far outweighed the movie.
Friday:
One of these days, I am going to get a decent amount of sleep, but today wasn't it. Up again at 5:00 AM in order to make it to the airport in time for my flight, I quickly checked the flights before leaving and decided to route myself through MSP rather than ATL due to the logistics of standby. Despite running a few minutes late, I couldn't help but stop and capture the Red, White, and Blue sky as the sun rose at the Peoria airport - it was too befitting of the weekend before the 4th of July!
Sunrise at Peoria International Airport
Red, White, and Blue!
Good decision to switch my connecting city in retrospect because the Atlanta flight was already experiencing difficulties when I was boarding to MSP, but when I landed in MSP, I found my flight delayed for two hours. But, I made it. On my flight from MSP to AUS, I chuckled to myself as I watched my seat mate draw animae the entire time. I was also surprised to find the newest warning signal that shows on airplanes that caters to the new personal electronics era.
"Turn Off Electronic Devices"
Clearly, I was paying attention to the message...
I landed in Austin around 1:00 PM, and shortly thereafter, my GT friend, Kirk Moss, picked me up and thus began the weekend.
Despite his adversity to the University of Texas, Kirk is working in downtown Austin for a civil engineering firm this summer and thus, lives right in the heart of the Longhorns. On our way back from the airport, he took me on a driving tour of Austin, and immediately pointed out the strong parallels between the capital's building structure and our nation's White House.
Austin's Capital Building
Through Kirk's windshield which is slightly cleaner than mine...
Austin's Capital Building
Think the White House, but tan.
After heading back to his apartment to set down my stuff and kick back and watch a little "How I Met Your Mother," we headed to Cavender's for my long-awaited shopping trip for...MY NEW BOOTS!!! Over the past six months, I have been checking out a wide variety of boots, and I thought I was set on a pair until I found THE pair, and now they are mine. While I was walking around Cavender's checking out the options, the employee helping me mentioned that I should choose a boot size half a size smaller than my regular size. Due to a look of complexity I was apparently exuding, the Kirkulator helped me out and made me look like a fool despite me just wondering if I should use my tennis shoe size or heel size. Thanks Steve Kirkle!
My Noconas!
These are going to be the pair I keep real nice and tidy!
After such a successful trip to Cavender's, Kirk and I headed to Chuy's to get some real comida mexicana, but due to the long wait, we headed to Matt's La Rancha to wait a little longer, but it was awesome! Carlos O'Kelleys. pshhht. Following dinner, we drove through downtown and saw the beginning of Sixth Avenue shaping up for a crazy night of a bar scene that I imagine is similar to Athens, Aggieville, or Power and Light, etc. Kirk and I headed back to his apartment where I proceeded to pass out while watching the one and only, Super Troopers.
Saturday:
Due to some of Delta's flawed rules, Friday, June 29 was a black-out day for buddy passes; hence, Tim not being able to fly out of Peoria yesterday.
Due to some of Delta's flawed rules,
Friday, June 29 was a black-out day for buddy passes; hence, Tim not being able
to fly out of Peoria yesterday with me!
Tim’s catch phrase is “you see what I am saying?” When I described to him the thrills of riding
on a buddy pass, I wanted to make sure he saw what I was saying, but nothing
can prepare you for watching a plane that you planned to be on take off without
you until you experience it. Well, he
experienced that on Thursday afternoon in Bloomington-Normal, and I really
didn’t want him to experience that “thrill” again. On Saturday morning, he was supposed to
catch the first flight from Peoria to Atlanta and then head onto Austin. I told him to call me in the morning when he
was heading to the airport, so I shouldn’t have been so surprised when my phone
started singing Eric Church’s “Springsteen” at 5 AM as he called me, but after
I mentally woke up, we walked through the steps of getting his boarding pass
and what he should do when in Atlanta.
Well, he made the flight to
Atlanta. Little did he know what was
awaiting him in Atlanta in terms of flying standby. While he was in flight, I was passed out
again, and when he called from Atlanta, I was ready to break the news to him:
he wasn’t getting to Austin until much later in the afternoon than he had planned;
however, I told him to stay in the gate area and just wait it out in case some
of the numbers changed. It wasn’t long
until I got a text from him that read “Not looking very good…6 seats and I’m 9th”,
and that’s when he started to realize the reality. But wait.
Good karma for being such a gentleman, and before I could respond I got
a follow-up text that read “I made it!!!!!!!!!!” To say I was relieved was an
understatement. These so-called “standby
miracles” don’t happen all too often, folks, but Tim experienced one today, and
I hope it just sets the tone for his time back in Austin.
So, after getting Tim squared away, I
headed to Starbucks to write that overdue blog about last weekend and to
indulge in some non-sketchy people watching.
You’d have to ask my coffee-drinking neighbors if I succeeded in being
non-sketchy, but I can tell you that Austin is such a fantastic city for this
favorite pastime of mine. Even in the
Starbucks there was a homeless man sipping on a grande, so I didn’t have to
look very far…
You may ask yourself at this point,
what the hell is she doing in Austin?
Well, my friend, Kirk, introduced me to some fantastic Texas music long
ago, and some of those artists include Josh Abbott Band, Corey Morrow, Turnpike
Troubadours, Casey Donahue, and many more; however, the first three previously
mentioned were taking the stage less than four hours away from Austin at JAB
Fest Off Road Edition at the River Run ATV Park in Jacksonville, TX on Saturday
evening (for those of you who think “ATV” stands for alternative transportation
vehicle, you are wrong. It stands for
“all-terrain vehicle.”)
Kirk stumbled upon this gem of a
concert earlier this summer and sent me the link. I don’t think he thought I was serious when I
said I will be there and we are going, but last week when I called him, I think
it started to dawn on him what sharing that link really meant. Similar to Country Stampede, I wasn’t quite
sure what this concert would be like, but I have been to an ATV park in
Illinois last summer, courtesy of Josh, and I was sure we would be in for a
treat! The band posted the lineup
schedule the night before they were supposed to take the stage, and after some
serious searching, Kirk finally found it and we deemed 2:00 a good time to head
out from Austin to make the 4-hour journey East to Jacksonville.
Before we left for Jacksonville, we met
up with Tim and his friend, Evan, for delicious, authentic tacos at
Torchy’s. The first time I ever had
Torchy’s was earlier this Spring in Houston, TX at the Houston rodeo, and I remembered
them being delicious…these were even better than I remembered! This Texas-chain
of taco restaurants are fantastic!!! How
fantastic? Well, not only do they have
unrivaled tacos, but they also have great management that kindly replaced my
tacos that I managed to drop on the ground before even sitting down to
eat. I felt like an idiot. I felt like an even bigger idiot when the
pigeon joined our lunch as it pecked and cooed at the ground where I had
dropped my tacos and attempted to clean up…
Torchy's Tacos
After we wrapped up lunch, Kirk and I
hopped in his truck and headed East! I
have never been to East Texas, but I can tell you that as we drove, I could see
so far whether it was cattle farms, farm fields, or just the road ahead. In my opinion, it was beautiful, and I am
going to share a picture for you to decide if it is beautiful to you or not:
Middle of Nowhere East Texas
Over the ride, Kirk shared even more of
the fantastic, Texan music he has been keeping to himself recently, and I now
have a music wish list a Texas-mile long.
When we pulled off the state-highway, it wasn’t long until we passed an
incredible sign that I wasn’t able to snap quickly enough before we passed it,
but it read:
Pray
for America
Pray
for Glenn Beck
It was hysterical…and awesome. As we continued on, we found the turnoff for
the ATV park, and so we left the paved roads behind us as the dust and red dirt
greeted us. Pulling into the park, I
quickly realized I was going to be slightly overdressed in my skirt and tank
with my old cowboy boots while everyone surrounding us was just getting off the
park’s trails and were wearing bathing suits covered in mud…whoops. After checking in and signing a waiver (yes,
I signed a waiver to go to a country concert), Kirk and I continued into the
park and after much debate as to where to park his truck for optimal viewing,
we parked directly in front of the JAB Fest stage about 200 yards back.
Drive to the ATV Park
Red dirt road style
At the time we arrived, Adam Hood was
just taking the stage, so we took a stroll up to the stage just to see what the
atmosphere was like. How can I describe
this…it was DEAD. There were probably 20
fold out chairs set up and only some of them were occupied. You could walk straight up to the stage and
there was no crowd to stop you. There
were spectators sitting outside of the marked area on their trucks’ tailgates
of their ATVs. One of the more creative
seats we noticed were the two blow up pools that were set atop a trailer bed to
the right of the stage so the “swimmers” could view the stage while staying
cool in the pool. Ultimately, Kirk and I
decided to kick back and relax on his tailgate to enjoy the first set while we
waited for the third member of our group to join us. Who would this person be if Tim was left back
in Austin?!? Ladies and Gentlemen: the one and only, Chrissy. While Kirk and I drove from Austin, Chrissy
was making the trip from Houston and met us just in time to see the end of Adam
Hood.
Adam Hood at JAB Fest 2012
Adam Hood at JAB Fest 2012
River Run ATV Park
Keepin' cool in the pools at the ATV Park
At the beginning of the evening, we
determined we would love to have a couple of cold beers in our hands to truly make
the scene complete; however, nowhere in the park did they sell any beer, and
the closest convenience store was at least thirty minutes round trip – so much
for convenience. So, we were without a
rejuvenating beverage, but my mind was far from this predicament as Turnpike
Troubadours took the stage. Ever since I
started listening to this band last Fall, I have become obsessed. If you are into country that isn’t to
“pop”-like, has great vocals, and unparalleled fiddle, then this is a band you
have to check out.
I have never seen this group in concert
as they don’t venture over to the Southeast all that much…or ever, but I
quickly found out that their stage presence makes their music even better! While the lead singer, Evan, swept Chrissy
and I off our feet while singing the song “Good Lord Lorrie” from their newest
album, Gin, Smoke & Lies, the fiddle player strummed, sang, and smiled, the
bass guitarist jammed out barefoot and in man-pris (man capris), the drummer
dominated and the electric guitarist rocked out with an incredible beard while
lip-syncing every word to the song even though he was the only one without a
mic in front of him. Their stage
presence and intensity was incredible and despite the small crowd, there was
definitely a following there. What was even more incredible is when I saw
Mr. Josh Abbott peaking his head out from behind the speakers on the left stage
and before I knew it he was singing alongside Evan to my first and favorite
Turnpike song, “Long Hot Summer Days.” I
think it is incredible how these bands stick together and help elevate one
another’s following, and I just attribute it to the wonderful mid-West
mentality that I love so much! I’d say
it is a Texas thing, but Turnpike is out of Oklahoma…
Turnpike Troubadours at JAB Fest 2012
Lead Vocalist of Turnpike Troubadours
He can sing, play guitar, play harmonica, and play the banjo...
Josh Abbott peaking his head out as Turnpike Troubadours play
Turnpike Troubadours singing alongside Josh Abbott during "Long Hot Summer Days"
Evan gettin' after it
About the time that Turnpike finished
their set, Chrissy and I decided it was time to look for dinner amongst the
food carts parked sporadically throughout the nearby area of the park. Kirk was left to hold down the fort in the
front row as Corey Morrow started setting up, and Chrissy and I headed to the
truck to get our wallets. Well, we went
to each food truck to see if any of them had a cold beer for sale, and after we
conceded our efforts, we settled for pizza for dinner. As we waited for our pizza to cook, Chrissy
and I had an opportunity to catch up, and once again, I am left with the
feeling that Texas could definitely be home to me someday. The way that all of my Texan-born friends
talk about their home state with so much pride, my Texan-convert friends talk
about the state with so much awe, and all of the well-known pros to living in
Texas just starting with the fact you can wear boots anytime of the year while
not paying personal income taxes makes me think I may find myself here someday
if I am so lucky!
It wasn’t long after we got the pizza
and were burning our taste buds off trying to take a bite off our scorching
pieces that I looked up and my eyes caught those of the Turnpike Troubadours
lead vocalist, Evan. Most of you know about
my outgoing nature, but even I was surprised by my automatic response to wave
to him and wave for him to come join us.
Before we knew it, he was asking us if we minded him sitting with us to
eat. I had died and gone to heaven. Or so I thought. Little did I know it would get better. Despite him being convinced we only had made
the trip to see Josh Abbott (not helped by the fact Chrissy had no idea he had
played in Houston the weekend before…), I know that I am just as big of a fan
of Turnpike as I am of Josh Abbott, and I hope they change their mind and
expand their touring horizons in the future.
Somehow, the topic of purchasing beer came up in conversation, and we
told him about the pickle we were in because there was no where on-site selling
beer, and wouldn’t you know, we had an angel among us and he grabbed us two VIP
passes that got us into the VIP section that had a bottomless bar
available. Needless to say, Chrissy and
I were smiling ear-to-ear when we walked back to meet Kirk 45 minutes
later.
Heading over to the VIP tent to see
what awaited, Chrissy and I were more excited about the possibility to run into
more members of the bands than the alcohol.
Well, it didn’t happen immediately, but with a drink in our hand we
joined Kirk and during the time we had been gone and when we returned, Kirk had
been downgraded a couple of rows from the front, kegs had been brought out and
were running full throttle with people doing keg stands in the middle of the
crowd, and people were moving from slightly intoxicated to moderately intoxicated. About this time, Josh Abbott was walking out
and introducing their band.
Cory Morrow at JAB Fest 2012
Me and my new friend, Chancy
Chrissy and Me
Me and Kirk
Keg stand attempt #1
Keg stand attempt #2
Josh Abbott Band at JAB Fest 2012
Josh Abbott Band at JAB Fest 2012
Fight #1
Me and Chrissy with the bass guitarist of Cory Morrow
Their entire set was impeccable. From having the original songwriter, Adam
Hood, join in singing “I’ll Sing About Mine,” to their incredible rendition of
“She’s Like Texas” to them playing “Touch” twice…or once depending on how you
count (right, Kirk?), the concert couldn’t be stopped even despite a number of
cat fights that happened to break out in our near vicinity. I know I have used the word “incredible” too
many times already in this blog entry, but that’s what today was:
incredible. From start to finish, I
couldn’t have asked for a better day!
After the concert, there was an incredible fireworks display that lasted
over 20 minutes, and during this time, Chrissy, Kirk and I met the fiddle
player, Preston, from Josh Abbott’s band.
Chrissy and I had met his college roommate in the VIP tent, and I
explained to him my slight obsession with the fiddle, and he made it happen –
it’s all about expanding that professional network all the time, right?!?
Preston, JAB's fiddle player, roommie and his wife
Chrissy and Kirk
*photo bomb by Eric, the rando*
Josh Abbott Band at JAB Fest 2012
Chrissy singing along to "Touch"
Fireworks Finale!
Fireworks Finale!
A beautiful moon watching over the wonderful state of TX!
Well, with the four hour drive ahead,
we decided it was time to leave as the last fireworks fizzled out, and so Kirk
and I parted ways with Chrissy even though she tailed us for nearly an hour
until Kirk safely got her to Interstate 45 that would take her to Houston. Chrissy’s phone had died, and for those of
you who know her…directions and her don’t get along very well, so I was
relieved to find out this morning that she made it safely back. For me, the car ride was a battle: me vs. my
droopy eyelids. Even with the help of a
Starbucks Frappuccino from the gas station, an hour and a half out from Austin
my eyelids won out for a short period of time. We arrived back at Kirk’s around 3:30 AM just
in time for the rain to start coming down, and I was thankful when I checked
the flights that the most promising flight home left at 4:00 PM. Plenty of time to sleep in.
Sunday:
I woke up around 10:30 this morning and
after checking the flights a couple more times and sticking with the 4:00 PM
flight from Austin to Atlanta to Peoria, I picked up my computer and, like
yesterday, headed to Starbucks to start recollecting this weekend’s
wonder. My face is still sporting a
goofy smile from how exciting last night was at the concert…I thank God every
day for my personality and demeanor, but it’s still hard to believe that I got
to talk to the lead singer of one of my favorite bands, was three rows back
from one of my other favorite bands, and all the while alongside two of my good
friends!
After leaving Starbucks, I walked back
to Kirk’s and we kicked back and watched “Saving Silverman,” a movie that I
have never watched but thought was hysterical, before heading out to the
airport. Thankfully, the experience at
the Austin airport was pretty uneventful in terms of flying standby, and I got
on the plane to Atlanta in an exit row seat (hillbilly first class).
Back in Hartsfield-Jackson, I can honestly say I was the only person getting off the flight with someone waiting with their arms wide open...ahhhhh a mother's love! Bringing me a scrumptious dinner of my favorite chicken salad with a few bones mixed in, my mom joined me in a long wait filled with delay after delay after delay for my flight from Atlanta to Peoria.
Me and Mom at Hartsfield-Jackson during my layover
I don't know when I will get to Peoria, but I hope I am at work tomorrow morning! As I said goodbye to Kirk, I mentioned that after two consecutive weeks with Fridays off I was dreading a full week of work, and then he reminded me that we have THE FOURTH OF JULY this week! So, happy early fourth of July! Work hard and play harder!
