Lift Up Your Hearts!

The life of a travelling businessman is not easy, but rain brings rainbows, at least if you look from a favorable angle.  My recent trip to Phoenix was such a rainbow. You'd think that an introvert like me would not be eager to leave home so soon after having been away for a month, but this was the time that was available—and it turned out to be perfect.

Fly Southwest airlines in the middle of the week, and you can get away with forgetting to print your boarding pass until four hours after check-in opens, as I did once and still got a boarding slot in the A-30's.  Fridays, however, are filled with savvy businessmen anxious to return home; Porter still snagged an A-30's number for me, but had to check in during the first couple of minutes to do so.  Due to his many flights on Southwest, his own A-list number is guaranteed.  Southwest is currently my favorite airline, they having so far been able to resist charging for normal luggage, drinks, and snacks.  Little things, I know, but their value in generating positive feelings toward the airline is disproportionate to the cost, at least in my case.  Conversely, I feel a lot worse about USAirways than their extra charges would actually merit.

Be that as it may, I enjoyed the flight, as I usually do.  You can tell I'm still a novice flyer:  I love observing the ground and the clouds; I love having an extended time when I can pull out my World of Puzzles magazine without any guilt feelings.  Well, not many anyway.  I know there's work I can do sitting in an airplane, but I generally give myself permission to ignore it when I'm flying.  After four hours in my seat, however, I could see why these little perks don't have the same thrill for those who fly frequently on business.

Our flight landed about 7 p.m., but as Arizona is a "free" state—refusing submission to Daylight Saving Time—my first ride through Phoenix was in the dark.  Despite the darkness, navigation to our hotel in Tucson was a piece of cake, thanks to the Hertz NeverLost GPS system in our rental car.  We had come prepared with physical maps from AAA and Google Maps printouts, and indeed they were also useful at different points during the week, but the NeverLost was a very helpful—not to mention fun—toy.

Porter had chosen to stay in Tucson to give us a head start on the drive to Saturday's destination:  Chiricahua National Monument.  One doesn't normally associate Holiday Inns with luxury, or at least I don't, but having frequent-stayer status hath its privileges, and we had a nice little suite—not that we had time to enjoy it much.  Jet-lag was making its presence known, and we had a big day planned for the morrow.