View from the Road

 

I will admit when I started this job to really enjoying my life on the road. Having grown up somewhat sheltered in my small Michigan town, the thought of traveling to many places throughout the Midwest WAS exciting. What I longed for in those early days was the airline trips. Each time I packed my bag and was headed to the airport it was truly an adventure. Though I will admit exotic locations such as Atlanta, Cleveland and Spartanburg do not seem to head up everyone’s locations under exotic, it all was an adventure to me. In those early days I was given over to the road and driving. Logging sometimes 50,000 miles in a year behind the wheel and only seeing an airport for personal vacations and the twice yearly trip to Atlanta for training or a sales meeting.

The world and our group has gotten smaller since then. With especially the second one changing each part of our group and how I work. We have gone from 10 to 4. That means less car rides and more plane rides. It also means a few less stays in hotels and many more frequent flyer miles. This must be even more exciting to my eyes you might think.

In those early years when we got together in sales meetings I would hear the grizzled sales veteran say how difficult the travel was and I had to stretch to believe their stories. You board a plane and 2 hours sometimes less sometimes more you are someplace outside of the Midwest and not behind the wheel anymore. The topography is different, the weather is different and sometimes-even people look different.

Now I am the grizzled vet and know the terminals of some airports by heart. I know the short cuts through Atlanta and O'Hare. Where the Gold Star Chili is in Cincinnati. I know too many 3-letter airport names. I know when I'm going to eat healthy and I know where I am not. I know pretty much where the TCBY's are; I can even name a few of the people that have helped me at some airports. I've drunk too much OJ on flights and too many Delta cookies. Mostly I opt for the peanuts. I'm away more than I'm home I find the mattresses better at hotels than my own and those chocolates can be quite tasty if savored properly at the Ritz-Carlton.

The good part is what I see, the customers I contact and where I go. Do I have complaints, well yes we all do with what we do, but mostly when I step off that plane even when I'm tired and caught an evening flight to catch my son or daughter in some school function or just put them on the bus to get to school in the morning. I want to be there. I'm happy to be there and I want to help the customers who have entrusted the company I work for with their business. I miss my family, but this is what I do. The stuff at home, I hope I do better, but that next baggie of peanuts will make a nice snack, Oh and can you top of my OJ and add some ice please?



Picture taken with my iPhone at some airport somewhere.