10/27/2010 - Back from Hell!

So, I must admit that I didn't expect my trip to have the adventurous, torturous ending that it had. It started dreary, with the typical California sunshine hiding itself entirely for the first 8 days. Oh, there were still highlights. I got to meet some interesting new people, reunite with some old friends and generally have a typical California visit sans sunshine. I had the opportunity to take part in the Brain Tumor Walk with my dear friend and Abrego Team Captain, Dallas Williams. Work was great, as usual.

Then.....Vegas Happened! I drove to Vegas on Friday morning with a colleague to do dealer visits. We got there about 10:30 and made our rounds. After lunch, I was going to drive back to the Mercedes store with the Finance Director. . . but he misplaced his car in the structure at the Fashion Show Mall. After an hour or so, we found the car and were on our way. Being lost kinda puts me on edge, especially in a foreign city, state, and area. After a nice visit, I headed to my hotel and was not feeling well. So, I laid down in my hotel room at the Green Valley Ranch only to find that some very hearty newlyweds are in the room next to me. With little sleep, I headed to the airport Saturday morning. I got stuck in horrible traffic because Obama was flying out on Airforce 1, the entire airport was closed. No one could come in or go out. My flight was scheduled to leave at 9:45. At about 2:30, it got cancelled due to horrendous storms at DFW (better safe than sorry). At that point, several other flights to DFW had also been cancelled, as had all the re-routed options that would get me home in a timely manner. So, the flight that I got was at 9:45 on Monday.

I started calling hotels and, because of the National Rodeo Championships, the largest rodeo in the world, all the hotels were sold out! So, what was a girl to do? I was feeling very sick at this point and kindof pukey with a huge headache. So, I sat there and had a good cry. Then, I called a friend who had lived in Vegas and goes to Vegas all the tme. He found me a hotel room at the Luxor for $100. I was so thankful. I took a cab to my room and immediately laid down, then starting getting sick. I was sick all weekend. On Sunday, I ventured out and found a Walgreens. I bought some Immodium and some Pepto Bismol. I chugged gatorade and water. Then, I went back to my room and went to sleep. Monday morning, my cab didn't take a credit card, so I had to run and find an ATM machine, though annoying, this had little strain after the rest of my weekend. I was asked to get bumped from my flight to arrive in Dallas at 4:45 p.m. instead of 2:45 p.m., I declined.

For the first time in my life, I was so glad to finally land in Dallas.