Finally home!

After spending an entire week on the road near Seattle, WA, I got to come home for a couple of days only to turn around and hit the road (and the air) all over again. Early Monday morning Luis (my boss) and I flew over to Pittsburgh to check out that Storehouse. This one (and the one in Denver) are different because they are the International Distribution Centers for World Vision US. We got a good look at the operations and I spent most of the afternoon getting pointers from their volunteer coordinator.
That night we drove down to Philippi, WV. Things were going well until we entered the Twilight Zone! He wrote the directions down wrong, so we spent an extra hour and a half driving around Appalachia looking for a hole in the wall hotel. It seemed to be more like a dormitory than a hotel, but they did have an excellent restaurant connected to them - talk about some good home cookin'! Tuesday, we visited the Appalachia Storehouse and studied their operations and such.
The next morning, it was back up to Pittsburgh to catch a flight to Chicago. The hotel we stayed in here was like a five star hotel compared to the Philippi Lodge. Chicago was the first Storehouse and has been around for about 13 years, so they really had things down to an art. But, as with most operations, they do have their own problems - ones I do not intend to duplicate in NY.
Thursday night I finally made it back home around 10 o'clock, and there was one happy girl to meet me at the train station. I think that things are finally settling down and we might actually get to plan out vacations, have a budget, and not have to worry about making the rent on time (that is, after this month!). I don't think I am allowed any more business trips for a long time!