I Guess I Never Knew How Important Bobby Flay Would Be to a Cross-Country Trip. Phew. East Coast to West Coast Ain't Easy, But I Made it to @NCTE

I awoke at 5 a.m. and checked the roads. They were already delayed, but I guessed if I hit them by 6:30 a.m., I would make my flight in Westchester by 10:30 a.m. - I didn't consider the fact that the parking company would have inaccurate locations for where to park the car (thanks Google Maps) on SUNY Purchase's campus nor that I would leave my phone on the the shuttle after paying the guy (Crandall is a dork). Lucky for me he found it and quickly returned with it where he dropped me off. 

Flying out of (even the) wealthiest part of the U.S. is like shopping at Walmart on a Saturday. It's just insane. 

Alas, I was in an exit row on lag one, so I had good leg room.

This was not the scene, however, once I arrived to Atlanta. 1) I had to sprint across two terminals in 15-minutes and 2) I was the last guy on the plane before they shut the door. There was no space for my overhead (it ended up being shoved in a space meant for flight attendants. Then we sat on the runway for an extra 75 minutes because, ready for this, catering forgot to load food for First Class. Many great comments from the gallery, "Let them starve," but it didn't seem to matter. Metaphors exist everywhere.

I did not pee or eat until 6:30 p.m PST (which is 9:30). That is 15 hours, and I thanked al my years of KY teaching for offer practice in holding my bladder. I was in agony, but flight two was so packed (no leg room) and I wasn't going to bother those next to me. Of course I sat in the middle with my long legs.

I watched an entire season of cooking against Bobby Flay. Their were 11 episodes at 21 minutes a piece and I got addicted. I forgot my headset, so all the books I downloaded for the flight were useless (apologies to Tiffany Jackson...she's up next and I love when anything she writes in queue.

Needless to say, I arrived to Los Angelas and hour late and was glad I ordered a shuttle, because it was another hour and 45 minutes to go 28 miles. The contact high from my driver's marijuana smoke, however, lightened the roadtrip and put a smile on my face. How could I not laugh.

I made it to my hotel at the exact time I was scheduled for my first dinner meeting. I arrived 30-minutes late. This is all to say that traveling across county is not fun....I'm ready for a new style of transportation to get me there quicker and easier. I'm hoping Detra Price figures out molecular transportation by the time were in Columbus next year, so I can beam to Ohio as the Great Whatever intended.

Meanwhile, I slept and hoping my body will adjust. Oof. This was a rough one.

And yes, Valerie Kinloch is still brilliantly beautiful and beautifully brilliant. Eating with her and the entourage last night was pure bliss. The scallops were insane!

But it's time for the first meeting so I'm off. See the rest of you when you get here.