United We Stand

We decided to fly to El Paso to begin our Mexico adventure.  Because we wanted to miss a minimal amount of school and work, and because the last thing we wanted to do was drive a long distance and arrive late, tired, and exhausted to begin our trip.
Cody to Denver, Denver to El Paso.

The STP set the alarm for 3 am.  So we would be on time for our 6:30am flight.  Which boarded on time.  And taxied to the runway on time.  And then it got complicated.  As in aborted take-off complicated.  And I admire the pilot for being able to make a decision between revving the engine and the end of the runway that allowed for a safe return to the airport terminal. 
So one airplane mechanic and two hours later, we tried again.  With great success.  And we arrived in Denver at 10:20am.  Too bad for us, our flight for El Paso took off on time at 10:17am. 
And then things got a little more complicated by the United computer fiasco.

Which was barely in service.  As noted by the long lines at customer service and the blank computer screens which should have been displaying departing flights.  45 minutes later the customer service representative, with the aid of 2 IT people and 2 computer manuals, managed to get me on a flight that evening, and the STP and the Goob on a flight late the next day or on standby, maybe.  Which wasn't really going to work for us.  So after 46 minutes, we told him to forget it.  I think he wanted to strangle us.  The feeling was mutual.  He gave me my boarding pass anyway.  I took it and thanked him for his trouble.  Which I think was only beginning.
How far is it from Denver to El Paso?  10 to 12 hours by car.

And can I just say that people in the travel industry should comb their hair, even if they have to work on Sunday mornings. 

 We paid extra for the GPS.  Because we really had no clue how to get from Denver to El Paso.

Me:  What states will we drive through?  Do we have to go all the way through Texas?  Texas is a big state.

STP:  Do we have any snacks?

Me:  No.  Because we are supposed to be relaxing in our hotel in El Paso before lunch.

Goob:  When is lunch?

Imagine our surprise to be welcomed to New Mexico.  And when we stopped to pick up a map at the welcome center, even more surprised to find El Paso  on the map.  Instead of having to drive the whole way through the great state of Texas we only had to drive about 20 miles into Texas.  And we really are good car travellers.  The STP did all the driving, the Goob slept and I took pictures out the window.

 We didn't see any muffler men, and the STP would not stop to take a picture of the giant pistachio nut. We arrived in El Paso before midnight. Having driven a great distance.  Late, tired, and exhausted.  Ready to begin our Mexico adventure and thankful that the only thing that crashed was a computer system.