Run for the Border
by Rebecca on 2008-06-12
The Texas Workforce Commission sent me on a business trip this week. With my
boss Debbie, fellow supervisor George (who only has one hand), and previously
unknown fellow TWC employee Ed, I went to Laredo, Uvalde, and San Antonio in a
matter of two days. We had meetings in each city and visited workforce centers
in Laredo and Uvalde. It was a whirlwind trip but a good experience. Here are
some interesting tidbits from the trip.
- Debbie almost drove us into Mexico on accident. We were looking for the
office where we were having our meeting, and all of a sudden, we came to
Exit 1 on I-35 and a big sign that essentially said, “Get in line here
if you want to go to Mexico.” But she managed to exit just in time, so
crisis averted.
- I ate caldo de res for the first time in my life. Itʼs nothing more
than fancy chicken broth with one layer of an onion floating in it, so
Iʼm not sure why it needs such a long, fancy name.
- I finished at least 8 easy sudokus. But it still takes me a long time to
finish one. Sigh.
- We were stopped by Border Patrol at a checkpoint south of Uvalde. They
looked in the car and at each of the passengers (three gringos and one black
guy) and waved us through.
- I ate the worst shrimp of my life in Uvalde. Iʼm not sure how they
managed to botch it, but it was truly awful, and I didnʼt bother to
eat all of it.
- We saw a store with a sign that read “GUNS/LIQUOR”. Well. I can
see how that would be a bad idea on many levels.
- I saw the LDS church in Laredo. It looked like any other LDS chapel.
- After visiting Laredo, my new favorite phrase is “hotter than
sin.” Try it sometime — itʼs quite handy!
- I racked up 3 hours of overtime because of all of time we were on the road.
So, I can leave early tomorrow and head back to San Antonio with William.
Hooray!
- The diner where we ate lunch in San Antonio was once featured on the Food
Network. Iʼm not really sure why, but at least my hamburger was good.
- I learned that Google Text was less than helpful when we were trying to find
a Sea Island location in San Antonio. There are at least 7 locations, and
evidently, none of them are anywhere close to downtown San Antonio. Oh,
well.
- South Texas has more cornfields and sunflower fields than Kansas, if what I
saw was accurate.
- There is a rest stop somewhere between Laredo and Uvalde that has an honest
to goodness barbecue grill. As George rightly pointed out, who would drive
out to the middle of nowhere, meat in hand, to use that grill?
Gotta love Texas!