July 3, 2008, 8:00AM- I missed my flight home and now have to wait 7 hours to wait and see if I can get a seat on the next flight to Sacramento. What a perfect time to update my blog. I have a lot to catch you up on! …While Scott and I were in West Texas, Scott got recruited by an oil and gas company based in Denver. They also have an office in Southern California, but Scott would be able to work from home doing landman work in the Sacramento valley. He thought and thought and thought about it and asked what I thought and I thought he should do what he thought was best for him. There was a lot of thinking. He decided to accept the job offer. It kinda sucked that Scott and I had finally learned to work together well and now we wouldn’t get to, but at least we had the experience. Unfortunately, our Houston broker, Randy, was expecting us, as a team, to go back to West Texas, so phone calls had to be made.
Randy was very gracious and, even though Scott was leaving him, he told me he’d be happy to keep me working. There was no work in California, however and I would still have to go to Texas if I wanted to keep working. I’d be without Scott, but other landmen from CA were also headed to Texas. I had my reservations, but told myself to buck up and go. Since I don’t have a trust fund, it would be stupid of me to turn away from a decent paying job in an industry that’s in demand with an employer offering to keep me working as long as I’m willing to travel, especially in this economy. In addition Randy said that I’d be able to fly home every 4-5 weeks to be home and see friends and family and, of course, Scotty.
My mom’s birthday was coming up, but I was expected in Texas, so I booked a flight to Amarillo and started to pack. I was upset about missing mom’s birthday, but hoped I could make up for it. She was very understanding. 2 days before I was supposed to be in Amarillo I got a call from the Sacramento project manager, Diana, saying that they wanted me to come to Houston instead. I’d never been in Houston before. Scott is from Houston though and Scott’s family still lives in Houston. I also found out that a girl I’d worked with in California, Jennifer, was also headed for work in Houston. I’d be going to the Cinco offices and seeing Diana and Randy and other people I’d met before. I felt better about not being so isolated in rural Texas.
When I flew in to Houston the 1st thing I noticed was how green it was. West Texas was brown. Granted, it was February, but I didn’t see many trees and I imagine, with the exception of agricultural crops, there is still not a lot of green and I bet West Texas has never been called lush. Because I had prepared myself for West Texas and more of the same, I was delighted to see all the green and all the homes and buildings. It was a completely different world than West Texas. 
I arrived at George Bush Airport (Don’t laugh Katie), picked up my bags and rental car and headed to my hotel. By this time it was dark out.
Houston, I’ve heard from proud Houstonians, and have yet to verify because I don’t really care, is something like the 4th largest city in America. There are a lot of freeways and a lot of signs to read and I was trying to read my directions, but as soon as the big city skyline came in to view I was distracted. I love cities and city lights and skyscrapers. Cities are so shiny and I’m easily distracted by shiny things. Houston is really pretty at night. Even with the distraction, I was able to navigate myself to my hotel through and around the crazy freeways, without any incident.
(View from my hotel @ night)
(View from my hotel the next morning. Yay, Construction!)
I didn’t mention in my last post how different the Texas freeways are than anywhere else I’ve ever driven. Thank goodness I had my 1st experience with feeder roads and underpass u-turns and left lane freeway on-ramps with Scott, an experienced Texan driver, in little bitty Amarillo where traffic was sparser and slower than in Houston. Scott can correct the following if I’m not remembering this right: A u-turn had to be made in Amarillo from a one way feeder road on one side of the freeway to a one way feeder road going in the opposite direction on the other side of the freeway by way of a freeway underpass. I was trying to figure out what lane was what and read a sign showing me how to make this strange left u-turn that, legally, should be to the left of the oncoming traffic lane, but that didn’t make sense to me so I swung the car right, but I don’t think I was right enough to be in the correct lanes. I think I ended up driving the wrong way. All I remember is Scott yelling, “What are you doing!?” I was just trying to move quickly to get where I was supposed to be and I don’t remember seeing any cars coming my way, regardless, we were safe. I have to say, as complicated as this sounds to those of you that’ve never been to Texas, with the exception of driving towards oncoming traffic, this underpass u-turn thing is totally normal for Texas freeways and I’m sure covered in Texas driver’s ed classes, which I’ve never taken. Scott completely did not understand why I was so befuddled at every underpass and on-ramp. I have to note that after just a couple days with this strange traffic routing, I think the Texan freeway engineers are brilliant. I wish CA did the feeder roads and underpass u-turns and left lane freeway on-ramps. I’m certain that if anyone has ever moved from Houston to Los Angeles, they think our freeways are retarded. You have to drive it to believe it.
So now I’m in Houston. Everyone at the Houston office was very nice. Of course, everyone in Texas is friendly, but there it was no different. I was going to be filling in for a girl who was going on vacation, so was asked to do office work and spreadsheets. The work portion of this part of my travels is extremely boring, so I’ll leave that out. The exciting thing in Houston the week I got there was the Houston Rodeo. I was asked several times in my 1st few days if I was going to the rodeo. I’d tell them I didn’t plan on it and they’d gush, “YOU GOTTA GO!” The Houston Rodeo, I’ve heard from proud Houstonians, is the biggest rodeo in the world! Okay, maybe I’ll go. When is it? It lasts for a whole month? Really? Why? I guess everyone goes and there are concerts every night after the official rodeo activities and some really big artists perform. Several people told me a list of “big name artists”. Not being a huge country music fan, I didn’t recognize but a few. Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, Fergie, and Hannah Montana were some and no, they’re not all country singers.
Anyhow, one day Diana tells me she has free tickets to Friday night’s rodeo and she’ll take me if I want. I totally fell for the hype and was actually very excited. I know I grew up in small town Grass Valley and I know rodeos have happened in towns near and around me, but I’d never been to a rodeo. From movies and TV shows and advertisement pictures I’d seen of these rodeos near and around me, I had a picture of what they were like. I knew they were in a dirt field of sorts with white painted fencing in a big oval shape with wooden bleachers to sit in and lots of horses and bulls and cowboys in chaps. Are you all on my same page? So, Diana picked me up and as we’re driving to the rodeo she tells me to keep an eye out for the exit. I saw to the right of the freeway these big bright stadium lights like you’d see at a ballpark and asked if that was the rodeo. She asked if I’d ever been to a rodeo and I told her what I thought they were like. She laughed and said I was in for a treat. The lights I’d seen did end up being a group of baseball or softball fields.
As we followed the signs to the rodeo all I saw of the event were acres of parked cars and trucks- lots of trucks- lots of trucks with silhouettes of Texas longhorn heads. We found a spot to park and followed the migration of people to a pedestrian overpass. When I climbed the steps and saw over the crest, I’m pretty sure I my eyes widened and I probably said something like, “Oooh”. To the right were ferris wheels and other midway rides whirling and twirling around covered in colorful neon and flashing lights. 
This carnival midway covered a huge area, but I didn’t get to look too much because Diana pointed to an enormous many storied glass and concrete building and said, “That’s a rodeo.” It was indoors! I was amazed. Apparently this is the stadium that the NFL team, The Houston Texans, play in. It’s like a 5 story complex and we went up several flights of escalators before we got to our floor and we walked into a special lounge type skybox area where there were big windows overlooking the stadium. It was impressive. 
The whole football field area was covered in dirt and the stadium was packed with people. 
Honestly, way too many men in excessively tight pants and ridiculously large belt buckles. Also, way too many women in rhinestones and fringe. By the way, I’d asked Scott what I should wear to the rodeo and he told me not to go out and buy what I thought was “western wear” because I would look like a tourist. I don’t think the belt-buckled, fringed people were necessarily tourists, but I was happy to see mostly “normal” people there.
Diana is late for everything and the rodeo was no different. By the time we got our 1st glass of wine and got to our seats, the rodeo part of the rodeo was over. I saw the last bull rider on the TVs in the skybox when I was in line for my wine. But we sat down in our seats while they brought a big rotating stage to the center of the arena. Toby Keith was performing that night. His name was familiar, but I didn’t know quite who he was. When the show started it was a regular rock concert, except with a country twang.
(They had fireworks indoors!) I actually knew a bunch of the songs from the time I’ve spent in bars with Karaoke. Karaoke singers must be big Toby Keith fans. Now I know why. With songs like, "Should've Been a Cowboy", "Beer for My Horses", and "I Love This Bar", he was fun. He sang all about getting drunk and skanky country women and partying with Willie Nelson. I still haven’t bought his CD, but I might.
A few nights later I met a couple through Jennifer. Jennifer has a friend in Southern California who is dating someone in Louisiana. Through those people Jennifer met J.C. and Josh because they are friends with the SoCal girl’s boyfriend. Got it? Josh and J.C. live in Houston. Jennifer let Josh and J.C. know she was in town. J.C. was out of town, but Josh offered to meet up with us. Josh is from Louisiana. He has a fabulous low drawl that I can barely understand sometimes. His girlfriend, Barbie, came to meet us. Yes, she's blonde(-ish) and pretty and skinny, but nothing like Malibu Barbie. She’s more like Rock Chick Barbie with a country twang and a NYC haircut. I could go on about how much I liked Barbie and Josh, but they might read this and get big egos. 
(Barbie, Me, and Jennifer) Anyhow, I really liked them when they said they could take us to Rodeo! Yes, I wanted to go again. I hadn’t got to see very much the 1st time.
I don’t remember what Jennifer or I was doing that got us there so late again, but we missed the rodeo event and just saw the concert again. It was some guy named Clay Walker. I didn’t know any of his songs and he was one of those guys that wore his jeans too tight. The other ladies in the audience seemed to like him though and squealed with delight when he wiggled his ass at the audience. He was not as Rock-n-roll as Toby Keith so I got bored pretty quickly. I was happy when Jennifer told me they had a “dance” after the concert and we decided to head that way. It was in the old Astrodome. There was a country band performing. We mostly waited to dance until the band took a break and they'd put on DJ club music. This is more like what Jennifer and I are used to, but it was a little surreal to be dancing to Ludacris, Lil Jon, and other hip hop artists and then look across the floor to see some old guy in Wranglers and a cowboy hat gettin low while his dance partner, also in Wranglers and cowboy hat, is trying to move her body like a cyclone.
Unfortunately most country dancing is couples dancing, but Barbie used to teach country dancing and when the group dancing songs came on she tried to show us a couple line type dances, but they weren't line dances. I guess people don't do that anymore. These dances were where everyone kinda marches and jumps and skips and stomps in a big ring. It was kinda like at weddings when you have to do the Bunny Hop. Here it’s not one after another in a conga-line row though, but several people shoulder to shoulder, with another several people shoulder to shoulder behind and in front of you. I’m describing this really badly, but I can’t quite describe what 300 people doing the “Cotton Eyed Joe” looked like, especially with fools like me stomping when I was supposed to be skipping and turning when I was supposed to be kicking. Oh Well.
July 3, 2008, 2:00PM- I am sitting at the gate waiting to see if I can get on a flight home. When I sat down there were many many seats available to sit in at the gate. A gentleman sat to my left and shortly after an older couple grabbed the 2 seats to my right. I looked around and saw there were lots of seats still left, so I am a little annoyed that I’ve been sandwiched by these people and none of the 3 is petite in the least bit. I’m sorry, but I’m tired and cranky. I can stand to be a little annoyed, but the couple to my right have colds or allergies or something and keep coughing and sniffling and blowing noses. It’s really gross and makes me want to wash my hands. Now the phlegmy lady sitting next to me is fanning herself with her boarding pass. Is she sending her virus my way? I wish I had one of those medical masks to put on right now. I’d get up and move, but now the closest seats are a good ways away and I’m on standby and have to make sure if my name is paged, I’m right here at the desk so I can get home today, and besides, I was here first. Next time I’ll have to remember to spread out better and put my purse and bag and lunch and whatever else I can find on the seats next to me. Oh, they just called my name! I gotta go home now. I have more to tell you about Houston, but now you're caught up through March 2008 anyhow.
Shopping on Westheimer near the fabulous Galleria Bought way too much stuff, even a big silver belt buckle with a lone star that says '
with Barbie and Jennifer and Jennifer's mom 
Had some guys who looked pretty normal (none wore really tight pants or huge belt buckles) show me the two-step and the half-step and some other kind of step that I couldn't do now if I wanted to. 
I had to buy warmer clothes and a jacket and a hat and closed toed shoes. It still was below freezing some nights and we were lucky to break 70 degrees on most days. I asked a local when it started to feel like summer and he said about Fourth of July. It was cold and rainy and depressing. 
It was beautiful country, but it didn't feel like summer. 
Pretty green rolling hills.
View from my hotel of the local auto detail shop
Pennsylvania oil refinery
(Kristen, "Mike", and Me)
Square little 2 story monopoly house.
Texas Hot Diner
Lake Erie
Minneapolis-StPaulAirport was pretty
Pennsylvania Wildlife
So I got to experience law enforcement in another state. I had never been on that road before and didn't realize what the speed limit was (I think it was 50 or 55). 'Well, it's not 68', he told me before he wrote me a warning ticket. He was nice.
Street in Pittsburgh 
a cafe we ate at 
Finally some sunshine 
I was happy that it felt like a sauna there, but really just wanted to be home.
We took a ferry from Vallejo to the Ferry Terminal Pier, shopped for a little while and then went back.
Bay Bridge 
View from Ventura Hotel
(View from my hotel the next morning. Yay, Construction!)
(They had fireworks indoors!)
(Barbie, Me, and Jennifer)
