From the Road

Heading south in Nova traffic on a Friday is certainly one of life's comedies and, I'm certain, a clear representation of what Hell must be like. On a positive note, somewhere South of Quantico, Va I discovered a Hardees that had ham and cheese sandwiches that resembled those of back woods, mountain, West Virginian ham sandwiches. You know, the type of sandwich with so much meat on it, that you can't get your mouth around it, but when you do bight into it the juice rolls down your chin and into your lap. Fortunate to have found such rashions because at this point I may never get to where I'm going. Hence the fact, I'm blogging in traffic. Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

The morning started early at 4:30 a.m.  Astonished that my luggage had expanded from two carry-ons to a 52 lb. suitcase and two carry-ons, I made my way to the door.  Luggage was loaded, goodbye kisses and hugs made, and off I went. Augusta Regional is a small two gate airport with no 5:00 a.m. coffee bar (BUMMER).  I boarded the plane and took my seat next to the window, hoping for some sleep.  I recently noticed that I can't seem to keep my mouth shut.  No, I don't mean talking, I mean when sleeping.  As I faded in and out of consciousness, I would catch myself with mouth wide open, head back.  The older man next to me must have been mortified (oh well). Our plane arived in Atlanta to an airport that, I am sure, was still sleeping.  After a 10 minute hold on the tar mac and a power failure we were finally set free.  I enetered into concourse D and searched for some kind of coffee or food.  There weren't too many places open.  I finally settled on Starbucks vanilla latt...

We began our final descent into Augusta National airport around 11:45 pm. There was a sharp bank to the left, another to the right, and then a nose dive. An alarm began to ring, "beep, beep, beep". Like something out of the movies that warns of impending doom. I was seated in seat 1A in the front of the plane. The flight attendant was seated in the jumpseat, and tightened his seat belt as he muttered, "uh oh, were coming in too fast". "What? Is that what that alarm is," I asked. "Oh yeah, it happens like every other time we fly in here," he said. The plane continued its rapid descent, whining and screaming like a bad dream. I Could have done without the flight attendants explanation, I thought to myself, as we continued down. Finally, a thud, and a safe landing. I exited the plane in a hurry. I was anxious to get away from the curry smelling passenger next to me, and the fear of the final landing. Sticky Augusta air greeted me as I climbed down ...

Waiting to board my plane in San Antonio, I stumble into the waiting area. Exhausted, and a bit queezy from all of the tex-mex food this week, I pile my bags around me and settle in for the wait. To my dismay I realize that a young businessman has made himself more than comfortable across from me. He's tall with dark hair and chunky gold jewelry that screams for attention. He's reading a book, reclined, feet outstretched and (gasp) ....bare. I cringe, again queezy from tex-mex. Let this be a lesson: 1. I could be your future client/ boss. Eh, hemm dress to impress does not include bare feet. 2. It may make the person setting across from you become inexplicably ill and result in something much more disgusting and smell than your bare zapatos. 3. Men - this is really not a way to impress the ladies. Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

There is nothing like a big Texas welcome, and no better way to get it done than through a good ole fashioned Texas Rodeo. Our first night in town took us out to Knibbe Ranch. The ranch is a real working cattle ranch located in the Texas Hill Country and is more than 150 years old. Upon arriving we were greeted by Oreo the ranch long horn, which I took the liberty of riding across the lawn. It was a real experience complete with a 6 foot horn span and a borrowed cowgirl hat (hey I had to look somewhat Texan despite my bright pink shoes). Dinner was fantastic! Good ole BBQ brisket, green beans, and peach cobbler. Once our tummies were over full we rolled ourselves over the hill and into the valley for a real Texas rodeo. Cowboys and cowgirls from Texas and Mexico spent the next two hours showing off their roping and riding. There were several 8 second rides posted by the cowboys and a 14.6 second barrel ride posted by one of the cowgirls. The competition was fierce to the end, and sever...

Download now or watch on posterous IMG_0153.MOV (3913 KB) Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry -----Original Message----- From: candace.riddle@gmail.com Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2010 00:57:36 To: Mat R Reply-To: candace.riddle@gmail.com Subject: Fw: Bull Ride Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry -----Original Message----- From: J Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2010 20:06:58 To: candace.riddle@gmail.com Subject: Bull Ride

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