PHL - ABQ

6 am, Philadelphia: My alarm goes off. My lover/ride-to-the-airport doesn’t even move. I have to get up now to make my 8:20 flight. I wonder why I agree to do these conferences.

8 am, Philadelphia International Airport (PHL): My flight is delayed one hour. Fuck.

11:15 am, Tucson International Airport (TUS): Since my first flight was delayed, my one-hour layover is now a fifteen-minute layover. I grab a disgusting chicken sandwich from the only food counter without a line, grab a bottle of water and run to my flight. I’m so hungry I’m angry, and I’m really wondering why I do these conferences.

2 pm, Albuquerque International Sunport (ABQ): I finally land. The chicken sandwich sits like a weight in my stomach; I managed to sleep very little on either of my flights; it feels wonderful to get off the plane. Crystal’s employee, Angela, picks me up curbside. In her silver Honda Civic she has the huge box with the booth and a second large second box with the art for the booth filling the back seat, pushing our seats forward. The trunk is full with nine boxes with brochures, posters, magazines, pens, stickers, and everything else needed to set up the APP booth. We have three hours to get to the convention center and set up everything for the exposition at the American Dental Hygienist’s Association (ADHA) conference, which starts tomorrow.

It’s hot as hell. It was light jacket weather when I left Philadelphia. It’s in the mid-nineties here, now. Angela and I drive around and finally find where to unload. The boxes, while not too unwieldy in moderate weather are unbearably heavy in the heat. I wait on the sidewalk in the hot sun with the boxes while Angela parks the car.

The booth set-up is easy; I’ve done it often enough, and air conditioning makes anything easier. We escape by about 4 pm. We head to Evolution where Crystal warmly greets me in the parking lot in back; I feel a lot better. We head to her house—it is very red—and then go out to eat. She goes out, and I stay at her apartment to check my email; I’m soon asleep on her sofa.