Nashville

Pablo and I got up at 3:15 a.m. Monday August 22nd to get to the DSM airport for our flight to Minneapolis on the way to Nashville. A minor miracle occurred when everything went smooth as silk - a first for flying this year. In fact I was sound asleep when we took off - something that never happens! We got all situated for our next flight - set for 9:30 or so, when they announced that it was overbooked and they were looking for volunteers to be bumped.

Paul and I looked at each other - hey, we didn't have anything set we had to do that day. So I hot-footed it up there to put our names in, and was told to wait until everyone boarded and they'd let us know if we hit the jackpot or not. The flight boarded, and sure-nuff. We won! When it was all said and done, we ended up with $1,200 in flight coupons, plus $32 in lunch vouchers. We headed to TGI Fridays for lunch, and then awaited our 3:30 flight. Free Florida tickets - here we come!

View from our "handicapped" balcony

We ended up hitting Nashville about 5:30 p.m. and took the fancy shuttle bus to our village. When we checked in we learned that we got an "upgrade". Yeah..to a handicap room - with a view. Two very low queen beds instead of a king bed. A zero entry shower. But hey we had a balcony and a huge ironing room! Vacation Village was really Gaylord's Opryland Hotel - 49 landscaped acres under a dome. Pools, restaurants, various pods of motel rooms with fountains. Little shops and bars with escalators going to them. The convention center was on one end with Opryland beyond that. I only got lost about 10 times, but Paul was even loster (is that a word) than I was! I'm now very worried about him hunting elk in Colorado next month - good thing he has GPS!

Outside the pizza shop - our friends the horses..

When we first got there we hunted up my old pal Christine, who was the engineer for the Union County Landfill when I was the manager. We got to be buddies through all the (insert bad word) we went through. I had a lovely drink in the "Library" lounge. Then Laura a project consultant from Dallas hunted us down and we went to Fuse to get a bite to eat in a sports bar that only had about 52 TVs. Then it was off to find our room...after several false starts we did!

Sara Bixby cuts the ribbon

In the a.m. we found a little shop where I could purchase granola and skim milk, and Paul could get a roll and coffee - all for $16. Then we hit the ribbon-cutting ceremony for WASTECON. I know...awful conference name - but descriptive - no? I had not slept well, nervous for my speaking gig at 2 PM. But I managed to drag myself around the display area where vendors had their wares, and picked up a few cool freebies. I also attended a session on Rural Recycling that was excellent.

We choked down some lousy pizza at lunch and it was time to head for my gig. The others I was talking with were beginning to gather outside our room. Kathy, Mary, and Laura all got to talk before I finished up. Sara - another Iowan, who spent the year as the president of the whole international organization, was scheduled to introduce us.

About twenty people showed up to hear us - not too bad considering we were scheduled in a room off the beaten path. Paul was there for moral support. Our PowerPoint was superb. When it was my turn, I spoke a few words and my mouth turned to the Sahara. Gummy! I struggled along for a while...but had to excuse myself to get a drink. Of tea. Otherwise it went pretty well. Not as well as it did in my kitchen all by myself the Friday before, but oh well...