Remind Me That I Love Traveling....

I was blithely humming along I-55 on my 3 hour trek to Decatur IL, listening to my current audiobook, when a thought slowly began to take form.....I didn't remember putting my suitcase in the trunk.

Pulling over to the side of the road, I checked it out. The trunk sported our LCD projector, a wrench, a gizmo to take the nuts (bolts?) off the tires and -- nothing else.

Turn around, go back another 40 minutes, thank Jesus that I hadn't gone any farther than 50 miles, and head for home. The suitcase was politely waiting for me where I had left it, by the door of the garage. I heaved it into the trunk and set out again.

Dusk fell, and so did the rain....poured!!! Rainmakers -- here we are again. Just ask us to do a program wherever there is a drought. We'll take care of it.

The hotel was a new Hawthorn Suites. I got our key, went up to the room, turned right around and went downstairs to the desk again. "Carole and I are really good friends, but we would REALLY like to have two beds please." "Oh," said the rather geeky attendant, "there is a pull out couch as the second bed. It should be all made up for you."

Yes there was a couch, and yes it was made up. It was miserably uncomfortable. The combo of the pull out couch and the refrigerator that cycled LOUDLY every hour or so wasn't exactly conducive to restful sleep. The room was also a handicapped room. If you have never been in a handicapped room, they are wonderful for people in wheelchairs. I hung my dress on the ironing board holder. The sink was tiny and had the only mirror in the room. This is for two women trying to get ready for a professional program at 6:00 am???

We always try to get to where we are going at least 20 minutes early to make sure all the AV works and everything is in order so we can start promptly at 8:00. At 8:15, we were still working on the recalcitrant AV equipment. The wireless keyboard didn't work. Neither did the clicker. They gave us a mouse to switch the powerpoint slides, but it only worked sporadically. I finally went out and got our projector and hooked up our computers. Ahhhhhh......

We got back from lunch for the second session (we do two of these programs each day), and evidently it was the day to test the fire alarm system. It was a very loud DONG - DONG - DONG -- right in our room, 28 dongs every 5 minutes for 40 minutes.

Carole did a magnificent job of yelling through it.....and finally it stopped. Until the afternoon shift came on, and it started again during our video....

Next week this will all be funny.

Meanwhile, remind me why I travel for a living??

Oh yes, by the way -- today we are at another hospital (where the AV is working perfectly and there are -- so far -- no fire alarms) and received an award for "Making a Difference" in Breastfeeding Education for our Building Bridges program from the Illinois Department of Health.

Combat pay? Maybe this is why I love doing this....

Yep, it is.