Trip to Phoenix
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Tagged travel, eastgroup : Board meeting and weeekend in Phoenix
We had a good dinner with the EastGroup folks and the Board, then had a long Board meeting Friday. Rhonda had a massage and steam while I was out, then we went to the Petsas' for cocktails before dinner (great house!). Afterwards, all the hired help plus Pike and Lesley went out for Mexican. After we got back to the hotel, Rhonda and I had a nice Jacuzzi. We kept our swimsuits on the whole time....those were not my shorts by the Jacuzzi the next day.
The next day was our ATV tour (link is dead).
Whoa [1]
I was expecting a sedate ride up a dirt road, but our tour guide (Brandon) was hell on wheels. It was only Rhonda, Dave (an older guy with an RV who travels around the country), and me, so Brandon kicked it up a notch. We rode as fast as we would ride if we were by ourselves. It was actually too fast for me...we flew by some photo ops.
Brandon said he would take Brad on a tour like that even though the limit is 16 years old, assuming Brad could handle the ATV. Believe me, Brad would eat it up. I'll see what I can do...
That night, we went to Sam's Cafe[2] for a great early dinner, then back to our room to watch USM vs Cal.
USM moved Texas past Cal, but had a bad finish and lost 26-16 (You're welcome, Steve McMahon).
The next day was our trip home on the EastGroup plane. Around 11:15 or so, after more than an hour of flying, the windshield on the co-pilot's side cracked. Since it's safety glass, it wasn't as dramatic as it sounds, but after all, we were at 29,000 feet! The co-pilot put on his oxygen mask (we learned later it was for protection from the safety glass), but no masks appeared for us!!
We dropped down fairly quickly to around 8,000 square feet. The pilots picked out the closest airport - Roswell, New Mexico. In case you're not familiar with it, it's famous for UFO sightings.
After we were safely on the ground, I asked the co-pilot what we hit. He said nothing...no birds at 29,000 feet. He said that he and Dan were up there talking about UFOs...
We rented two cars (mine had no power or cruise control) and drove 200 miles to Albuquerque, then flew Southwest to Houston. That was as close to home as we could get Sunday, so we spent the night at an airport hotel. The next morning, we got home safely via a big Southwest plane. Thanks to Johnny and Liz for keeping the kids!
If you have a user name and password, you can view the gallery I uploaded. The gallery is long gone.