We Will Never Forget...

I'll never forget Sept. 11, 2001, nor will the many others old enough to have witnessed and understand the scope of the worst terrorist attack against the United States in all its history.

As a junior in high school, I didn't fully grasp what this meant at first.  Like many others, I was solely focused on those lives lost through this tragedy.  The images I saw on TV that day are forever burned into my brain, and each year they cycle through so I remember those affected and say a prayer for the children that will never see their mother or father, the husband that will never come home to his wife or the firefighter or police officer that will never again report for duty.

Each year I feel an overwhelming sense of patriotism, and I suppose, in a very callous way, I have al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden to "thank" for that. An event that was meant to tear us apart has united us even more, as evidenced by the countless acts of kindness following the horrific events.  From those volunteers that drove thousands of miles to dig for survivors and for those that helped victims and family members pick up the pieces of their lives, I salute you.

Now 10 years after the tragedy, I am now faced with lingering thoughts of a repeat of Sept. 11 every time I board an airplane — which is pretty damn often, given my travel schedule.

As I walk through airport security, I find myself being highly aware of those around me.  Admittedly, I get uneasy when I see a middle eastern passenger in the security line, and I don't mean to be prejudice, but that's the barrier I've built for myself.

However, I also now see several soldiers strolling through the airports I visit, creating a sense of calm for me, knowing they are fighting against those that planned, coordinated and continue to praise the events of 9/11.

I definitely get a chill when a soldier comes home, and fellow passengers take time to appreciate the soldier's service:

The events of 9/11 are always with me when I fly — which is quite often. I quickly get a sense of what confusion, panic an fear those passengers must have felt, though I will never know exactly what it was like.  

Much like I do walking through an airport, I tend to look around at other passengers to see which ones look too focused and intense for a flight to Raleigh, NC, and which ones look like they could whip some ass if the situation called for it.

I'm 5-9 and 145 lbs, but I always try and pick out someone that I think I could at least tackle if he/she were to rush to the front of the plane. HAHA!

Every time we're asked to put away cell phones, I always send a quick text to Rachel and to my mom that we've boarded, and I often think about the horrific phone calls passengers made to their loved ones that day. You quickly realize the many others affected by the attacks, and the mental anguish, sadness and confusion on both ends of the phone that day as people said their final good-byes.

The memories of that day live on in all of us, and some are even creative enough to pay tribute in special ways.  I was lucky enough to meet and interview a man in Lakeland, Fla., who is a railroader by trade, but comes from a family of firefighters, and was deeply moved by the events of 9/11. 

As an avid motorcyclist, he felt it necessary to pay tribute to those lost through a creative paint scheme. He rides this everywhere he goes, through all kinds of weather, just to make sure everyone he meets never loses sight of what happened that day, and how it changed our world forever.

Eight-hour drives...

Recent college graduates aren't that picky about their first job out of school, so long as it pays enough to get them by for a while until they can build their resumes and find a better, higher-paying job.  However, for a couple looking to start a life together, the initial job search can be a major game-changer.

Rachel and I were engaged the semester before graduating, so we had plenty of time to plan for our future. However, the economy didn't quite agree, and I'm sure our choice to be communications majors didn't help matters much either.  Regardless, we both scoured the state of Illinois for jobs to meet our skill sets, but we had no luck.

Seemingly out of nowhere came an opportunity for Rachel to join the exciting world of public relations.  A family friend worked for the company and suggested she apply for a position.  I thought it sounded like a great idea, but it had a catch...it was in Lincoln, Neb.  Of course, she got a good offer, so it was off to Huskerville for us.

It didn't take long for the distance to get to us, however, as birthdays, weddings and other family events started popping up that we had to miss because of the travel time.  Now, we're both very close to our families, so this became a very depressing reality.  In our three years in Nebraska, we did make several trips back home, but they all ended with the same depressing route back to Nebraska.

I am happy to report, however, that we only have one more of those in store the first weekend in August.

Rachel was again the guiding force in getting us home, as she accepted a position with the Illinois Farm Bureau.  Unlike our last move, I'm transitioning with a full-time job still in tact, and will be working from home.  We will be living with my parents when we move home until we find a house, which isn't exactly ideal, but we're excited to start another chapter in our lives, so it will all be worth it.

Welcome aboard!

I've been at my current job for nearly two years, and soon after beginning in August 2009, I had the idea to start a blog detailing my experiences on the road. As you might have guessed, I am a bit of a procrastinator, and am just now buckling down to get this going.

Actually, that's not entirely true. Most of my trips are spent working/driving 18 hours a day, so once I reach my hotel in the evenings, I tend to crash pretty hard.

I am a corporate journalist, and my company handles internal communications for various Class 1 and short line railroads across the country. My territory runs from Richmond, Va., to Miami, Fla., and everywhere in between. My role is to gather news for these companies' division-wide employee newsletters. On average, I travel every other week, gathering multiple accounts in the same five-day trip.

I spend quite a bit of my time in airports across the country, and have grown to appreciate the sport of people watching. I rarely come home from a trip without some interesting story about some disgruntled passenger complaining to the TSA, or a random act of patriotism as an entire airport welcomes home a soldier. Furthermore, the employees I interview on my trips have their own unique stories to tell, some of which I will share here.

This blog is meant to give you a glimpse into my world — the trips I take, the places I go, the people I meet and the obstacles I encounter along the way. It will be as much a tool for me to vent my frustrations as it will be a unique and entertaining reading experience for you.

While my job might seem repetitive, boring and stressful (sometimes is can be), no trip is ever the same, so keep your hands and feet inside the carpet and enjoy the ride...