8 Oclock Meetings

In the 90s while Lee and I ran our industrial equipment business, we began to build relationships with companies in Mexico. As the NAFTA pact was hyped and later ratified those relationships became business streams. We put a store in Laredo and I traveled regularly to support it. This is a story about a trip for a single meeting.

Most trips to the border involved me either driving Sunday afternoon or super early Monday morning. The 8 hour drive became a once a month schedule with me returning after a half days work on Friday getting home about bedtime. Not what we wanted but necessary for what we were doing.

Now I had a meeting with a group from Mexico City in Laredo that began with an 8:00am breakfast during a non-travel week. Bad schedule but important. So since I had a travel voucher for a trip on Delta I decided to fly to San Antonio…rent a car…and drive. I worked that day till 5:00pm then drove to DFW for a 7:45pm flight. Schedule was to arrive in SA around 9:00pm, take a rent a car and make the 3 hour drive arriving around midnight. With room reservation at a cheap place I normally stayed in…making the breakfast sounded easy.

7:45pm

Everything went according to plan up to and including the boarding of the aircraft. Being in the wheelchair, they have an “aisle chair” that I ride while they stow my chair in the belly of the aircraft. Done it a bunch of times…no problem.

While we were boarding a line of storms approached the airport. By the time we were in the number 2 position to take off, the storm hit and they closed the airport. So we sat on the ramp for about 45 minutes before being sent back to the gate area.

9:00pm

When we got back another plane had pulled into our gate position. We wait for about a half hour parked in sight of the gate where we started. When the airport resumed operations we were told we could start the process to finally take off.

By now there were a bunch of flights needing to depart and we waited in a queue for about 30 minutes. The captain announced that the electrical storm had knocked out one of our instruments and we would have to return to the gate to have the repair done before we could depart.

10:15pm

I knew it was not going to be a quick fix when they allowed passengers to deplane. Now I have about a 4 hour bladder and being after 10:00pm means I have used about 3 hours of it moving 20 feet. So I request the aisle chair explaining that “I had to go” and not able to use the on-board facilities. This is the reason I don’t do international flights (except Mexico City). They were gracious and I was provided a transport chair at the door of the aircraft.

This transport chair was about 4 foot wide (made to accommodate really large people) and had 4 small wheels rather than the two larger ones that can be used to push yourself. So the “lady” attendant took me to the men’s room where I used the wall to creep along till I came to a spot…took care of business and creeped back to her. Then re-boarded the plane.

12:00am

Sometime around midnight about half of the people who started this trip lifted off for the 55 minute flight to San Antonio with all of us knowing we would have been at our destination a couple of hours earlier if we had driven. Arriving in San Antonio I located the poor girl from the Alamo car rental that had been waiting to hand me the keys to the rent car.

1:30am

Following Interstate 35 I pass the Alamo and downtown San Antonio as I start the 3 hour drive to Laredo. I stay awake by rolling my window down, regularly slapping myself and loudly singing Roy Orbison songs.

5:00am

I arrive and they have given my room away and I have nowhere to sleep. I find that the motel next door has a room available…but the bathroom is behind a 24″ doorway. I take the room and fall on my face in my cloths for a 1 hour nap.

Getting up to an alarm on my watch…an alarm on the clock radio and a wake up call from the desk. I clean myself up, shave and put on fresh cloths and head out to my breakfast meeting.

8:00am

Four very fresh Mexican businessmen stand when I roll up and one says…”thank you very much for taking our meeting this morning.”

To which I respond “no problem”.