This week yours truly is on the road. Sunday I flew from New Orleans to Blaine, WA. To put it another way, I could have flown to Europe quicker. I think. Well, almost. I left the house at 10:30 a.m. and got here at the hotel at 10:15 p.m. my time.

American from New Orleans to Dallas. Alaska from Dallas to Seattle and Horizon from Seattle to Bellingham, WA. From there it was a 30 minute car ride to Blaine. I’m told I’m only two miles from the Canadian border. Think I should try out the border security?

So what the heck am I doing up here? I was honored to have been asked to speak at Alaska Air Group’s management planning session. Actually this was the third year in a row I was asked to speak, but only the first year I’ve actually made it.

Let me explain.

Two years ago I had to cancel because my recovery from hip surgery was not as fast as my surgeon had predicted. (Then again if he hadn’t broken my leg in the process, I might have made it up here just fine.)

Then last year in September, there was the little matter of Katrina. Yep. Those tickets flying me out of New Orleans became pretty useless the third week of September.

So this year was the third attempt to get up here and hey, what do they say? The third time was definitely the charm.

Big excitement this trip. I got to fly on a new aircraft I had never flown before. No, not a Maddog. And not a 737-700 with winglets. Nope, it was a Bombardier Q200 operated by Horizon. And right at sunset no less.

More later. Meanwhile tonight it’s dinner with the folks from Alaska and Horizon and some folks with Boeing. Tomorrow I hit the skies again, as I travel down to Phoenix. Although, as always happens when I come up to the Seattle or Portland area, I really don’t want to leave.

Thanks to more than one PBB subscriber who wrote to me last week extending an invite to visit with you at Boeing while I was out here. Unfortunately I will just pass through Seattle tomorrow. Alas, this means no Museum of Flight and no Leonardo Da Vinci exhibit.

But I do need to get an issue out this week. And to do that, I can’t rely on hotel internet connectivity.

But I don’t need to be home either.

I’ll keep you posted on my further escapades.