The bane of every businessperson is the business trip.  It is the sole reason I haven’t written a new post this week.  It seems so glamourous to leave the office for a few days and visit exotic places like Junction City, KS.  But, once you’ve done it a half dozen times or so you realize this is still work and you don’t get to sleep in your own bed and you’re away from your family and your daily routine is all screwed up.  Plus, you get to travel with colleagues – some who you like and others you can’t stand – and learn more about them then you ever really cared to know about.  Fun.

I flew out of Portland on Monday morning.  Changed planes in Minneapolis and arrived in Kansas City on Monday afternoon.  After a 3-hour drive West from the airport through farmland, the state capital, and Fort Riley, I quickly realized I had discovered a place where I will never live.  Remarkably, there was a winery along I-70, but I wasn’t about to ruin my Napa-influenced taste buds on Kansas’s finest swill.  Sorry, but the Agricultural Museum is not on my bucket list.  Even the one Adult Entertainment center just outside of Topeka looked like a converted barn.  I didn’t even want to imagine the Heifers inside.

We ate dinner at a surprisingly swanky downtown Manhattan, Kansas restaurant.  The only one in town and certain to pull in only out of town guests or the local rich.  The building was erected in 1914 and the architecture had all of the character of the last century especially the wood paneling, limestone staircase, and antiquated light fixtures.  The bathrooms had black and white photos above the urinals of Kansas State football players tackling each other with leather helmets and heavy wool uniforms. All white, they looked small and slow.  High top cleats and padless shoulders made me think of Johnny Unitas lookalikes playing Rugby.  After dinner, we did a quick drive bye of the Kansas State campus but made sure to visit the Football Stadium, which was undergoing a massive renovation on the West Side, and the baseball stadium.  Ironically, Oregon State was playing Kansas State that night back in Corvallis.  A game I would most certainly watch despite the 2-hour time difference.

The weather was hot 40 degrees hotter than what we left behind in Portland.  After checking in to our hotel and aligning on when to meet the next morning, there wasn’t much else to do but unpack, change clothes and go on a run.  The college baseball game wouldn’t start for another 30 minutes.  I ran 3 miles and sweated out the Rib Eye, mashed potatoes, and Maker’s Mark I had ingested just a few hours earlier.  Returning to my room, I watched college baseball and read, processed and replied to about 200 e-mail’s.  Sitting in my boxer shorts, sweat pouring out of my pores, drinking a $3.00 bottle of water, I was quite a sight.  Not one my team could even imagine…or want to.  It was 2:30 AM before I finally turned off the laptop and went to sleep.

Up at 6:30 AM meant just a brief nap, shower, breakfast and visits to a customer and several vendors in Kansas and Missouri.  Returning to Kansas City yesterday afternoon, the highlight of the trip was going to Kaufmann Stadium to watch the Royals vs. the Tigers.  Dinner was all American – a hot dog, peanuts, Cracker Jack, and 3 beers.  Sweltering in the 98 degree heat, I sure wished I’d packed shorts.  I snapped pictures of MIguel Cabrera and imagined what it must be like to win the Triple Crown.  Returning to the hotel after the game at 11:30 PM, one would hope my body would crave rest and it did, but mentally I just couldn’t pull it off.  Sleep wouldn’t come.  I lay down on the bed overwhelmed with concern over what might await in my Inbox.  Back to the work.  Another 175 new messages read, processed, responded to.  Another night of 4 hours sleep.

More meetings today, then to the airport, BBQ ribs and french fries lunch.  Through Security and we pushed on to the gate for our 1st leg back to the Twin Cities.  In Minneapolis, we raced from B to G gates (about 1 mile) to barely catch our return flight to Portland.  Take off was uneventful and here I sit now 30,000 feet about the ground.  Writing.  Writing because I’m now a writer.  Writing because you, my fans, want another blog.  I can hear you chanting, clamouring for my attention, just like my work e-mail.

I’m an athlete first, a businessman second, and a writer third.  It sucks that I wasn’t able to work out but once on this trip.  The work, while necessary and good and had to be done, messed me all up for the rest of the week.  Can you say, catch up?

My writing is like therapy, the job pays the bills and the sports keeps me sexy.  The business trips aren’t really good for anything other than to meet new people, understand current processes, and to help solve problems now or in the future.  All in all, this wasn’t really a bad trip.  In fact, the colleagues I was traveling with weren’t bad companions at all.  The point is there is no glamour.  I’m away from home.  Away from family.  Away from routine exercise.  Away from sleep.  Away from writing.  I’m just away.  This is what global business, instantaneous communication, and air travel has done to our way of life.  I’m not complaining, mind you, I just need to not be away.  I need some sleep.