My corner of the institution: Road trippin' Texas style...

West Texas weather brews.

Wednesday I logged a 15 hour day and drove through three states. It was just another day at the office.

Sort of.

6 a.m. Depart from Dodge City. In the dark. It is raining.

9 a.m. I have driven in rain for most of the morning, and decided to make a pit stop in Pampa, Texas. As I am standing near the fountain getting myself an iced tea I hear moaning of relief. I turn to see the unisex bathroom door open and a man using the facilities. That's right. The door was open. Apparently that's an OK thing to do in Texas.

10:30 a.m. I arrive in Amarillo and have about 40 minutes to kill. So I make a couple stops at my favorite stores. I buy a few things on clearance and then move on to my appointment at 11 a.m. that is right down the street.

11:25 a.m. The hotel associate I am supposed to meet with at 11 a.m. finally comes out of her office. She has kept me waiting for 25 minutes. She gives me no business card, and can't seem to remember why I'm there. "We spoke on the phone yesterday," I say, trying to not be overly annoyed at this point.

"Oh, yes," she nods, but I'm not convinced she still knows what's going on.

11:45 a.m. I head out to meet fellow Sigma Alpha, Jessica. We have a great lunch, and it was nice to catch up. It had been a long time! This was the highlight of my day, and the food was good.

1:00 p.m. I head downtown to the next appointment. I am hoping my afternoon goes slightly smoother than the morning, but even if it doesn't I did get some new perfume. So it wasn't a complete waste of a day (I can smell again).

1:15 p.m. I head into the next hotel and I notice it seems to be a little dated. This isn't the end of the world. Things get old. I also read where they are starting a massive remodeling project. Great. And, the time frame lines up with when our meeting will be. This contact person shows up more on time than the gal before, but still late. This one also doesn't seem to know why I'm there.

"We spoke on the phone yesterday about the event space," I tell her.

"Did I send you menus?" she asked.

"No, but you did tell me this was available on the day."

"Oh, yeah, sure," she takes me around the space and it will work. It may be our best option, construction and all. We stop by the front desk to exchange some more information and I ask about discounts due to renovation. She agreed we could waive some of the items if we agree to do the meeting there during construction, and I'm OK with this. Maybe. We agree that she'll send me a bid on what it would cost us. Then she throws in, "but if you don't get it by Tuesday just call and remind me."

Really? At this point in my day I'm wondering how people function in the professional world. Why do I have to call you to remind you. You should want my business. Moving on.

2:00 p.m. I head to the next venue. This guy is even more clueless as to why I'm here. I spoke to your secretary, and we have been emailing all week. "Oh, yes."

I'm really ready to just lobby for an event city change at this point. He takes me to the space. It's one room. I feel a sinking feeling in my gut. This isn't going to work, but if it must - we can get creative. As we are exchanging information he realizes I'm not from Texas. "You drove down here? From Kansas?"

"Yes. It took less than four hours," I answered.

"Why didn't you fly?" he seemed so surprised.

"Because we don't have direct flights on-demand," I answered. He agrees to send a bid as well, and believe it or not, I had it first thing Thursday morning.

3:00 p.m. I head further downtown to the next hotel. I knew this one would be a long shot just by chatting on the phone with the sales manager. However, it doesn't hurt to take a look if you're there. I arrived and the gal showed me the space. It was a basement room, and no way would it work. She was polite though, and handed me her card. My good meeting suddenly went flat. She had used White Out to cover up a former title or something on her business card. Sigh. What is wrong with people?

3:30 p.m. I hit up the last stop of the day. I had to drive across downtown and as I did I realized that I was getting into the older part of town. Not a bad thing, just noticeable. I pull up to the hotel and it doesn't look all that bad. I mean, we've stayed in worse. I walk in and it smells like a smokey bar. The guy at the front desk was helpful and the sales manager came right out to greet me. I shook her hand and it was like taking a slip of paper from someone. Not a good sign. This gal was eager to help. Very eager to help.

I will preface this by saying that "Convention Center" in the title of a hotel can be very deceiving. She had one room. One. "I can put you up in the bar, and I'm sure I can arrange to not have it smell like smoke," she said.

I was polite because it was obvious she was trying very, very hard to sell me and she treated me the best out of all the properties I visited. I'm just not sure the hotel would fit our needs.

4:00 p.m. I roll out of Amarillo and head north. Finally.

5:00 p.m. Going through Pampa, Texas it looks like the weather is starting to brew to the west. By 5:20 there was a line of cars driving 55 mph in a 75 mph zone with hazards on as we white knuckled it through the torrential rain.

6:15 p.m. I decided to wait it out at the Dairy Queen in Perryton, Texas. At this point in my day I needed to eat my weight in fries.

It was a little wet in Perryton. The construction area was full.

7:00 p.m. The sun is shining and I'm back on the road. The storms are well to the east and I can see a few rainbows and lighting strikes off in the distance. I'm hoping for a smooth couple hours.

7:30 p.m. I drive through Bryan's Corner, Oklahoma. I pass a guy standing near his pickup door with his pants down. I roll my eyes and wonder why he felt the need to take a leak right in the parking lot, but then realize there is a pile of baby wipes near him. Apparently there was an emergency. That level of gross is over my head and I quickly drive right on through and pass on stopping. Yikes. The things you see from humanity while on the road is not for the weak.

9:30 p.m. It's dark. It's late. But, I'm back in Dodge.

I tallied up a few things on my trip: