Home...finally.

Timmy, Tara, and I got an early start the next morning so we could get down to Phoenix in time for Timmy's first race. I repacked my bags, we finished packing up the car and made a quick stop to drop Kunda and Simba off at the kennel (bye doggies!), and we were on our way. It took about two hours to get to the race; this particular race was spread out over three days and the first day was time trials. I'm used to being around running races, so it was really cool to see what the cycling races were like. Timmy got all of his stuff set up while Tara and I wandered over to the time trial start. After a little while it was Timmy's turn.

Vroom!

I wasn't kidding when I said he was fairly serious about cycling...he has the fancy aerodynamic helmet and super light bike and everything.

Tara and I hung out and watched the other racers while we waited for Timmy. He did pretty well and came in (I think) 6th in his age group. Nice!

I had to head to the airport to catch my flight shortly after Timmy's race, but since the race wasn't too far from the airport the timing was perfect. I had been keeping an eye on my flights and everything was still showing on time, so Timmy and Tara drove me to the airport and we said goodbye. I was sad to leave...I had such a good time with them! Hopefully I'll get to spend more time out there next time.   :)

I zipped through security and made it to the gate with no problem, and my flight was still showing on time so I figured I'd be good to go. Since I had a little bit of time to kill, I figured I'd make a quick bathroom stop before finding a seat. I was only in the bathroom for a few minutes; when I came back out I figured it wouldn't hurt to double-check the flight status on the departure screen.

Delayed.

WTF?!?!?!

I'll spare you all the details, but the flight got delayed twice before I even got out of Phoenix. Luckily (or not), my connecting flight in Denver got delayed, too, so I got to spend even more time sitting on my butt, fuming, in Denver. I finally made it home around 1:45am, two full hours late. Which was awesome, since I was supposed to be at work at 6:30am. I called in sick and went to bed, then spent all day Saturday feeling like garbage because I was so tired and jet-lagged. If I had known it was going to be that bad (and that I would have to burn an extra day of leave anyway) I would have just flown home on Saturday! I was thoroughly unimpressed with Southwest and I don't know if I'll ever bother flying them again. I'd rather spend the extra money and know that I'll actually get to my destination. Lame.

Aside from the airline headaches, though, I had an awesome trip. It was great to see Timmy and Tara again, and hopefully I'll be able to see them again sometime soon! Arizona was great, and if it wasn't so far away from everyone I'd probably try to transfer there...I really liked it out there, so I'm looking forward to going back!