3:30 am--Wake up, shower, dress
4:00--Hit the highway
4:50--arrive Lubbock airport
5:44--depart Lubbock on Embraer Jet
6:50--arrive Dallas; eat Egg McMuffin
7:45--depart Dallas on MD80 for Phoenix; look out of window at desert landscape. Even quarries, refineries, etc. can seem attractive at a height of 32,000 ft.
8:14 mountain time--Arrive Phoenix. Sit around a couple of hours waiting for American West Flight to Ontario, CA, then happen to notice on the monitor that they changed the departure gate without announcing it. I get to the new gate just in time.
10:29--Depart Phoenix on Airbus 320 for Ontario.
11:51 pacific time--Arrive at Ontario. Wait around for a couple of hours for someone to pick me up, then finally decide to call the supervisor of the library. Wasn't I told that a rental car was reserved for me? She gives me reservation number and directions to campus.
2:30 pm--catch shuttle from terminal to rental car place. Fill out paperwork etc.
3:00--Pull out of Enterprise parking lot and head down the freeway to Riverside. I was told by some Californians that Riverside is one of the scuzzier towns in the state; nevertheless, it's a sparkling Garden of Eden compared to west Texas. But once on Magnolia street I can't find the cross street I was told the university is on, and I end up 45 minutes later in Corona. Turn around and drive back, throbbing headache driving me to despair. I'm practically back to the intersection where I first turned onto Magnolia when I notice a quad of buildings that looks faintly academic. Drive down an unmarked avenue lined with palm trees to visitor parking.
4:30--Find the library, talk briefly with supervisor re. the job, bum some Advil. Head to the admin building for short interrogation by administrators. Am I comfortable with the conservative nature of the university? (Yes.) Do I think there are limits to what materials a librarian at a Christian university should purchase, even if strictly in support of the curriculum? (I say no, which I suspect was the Wrong Answer.)
5:15--I'll have to have a phone interview later, I'm told, given the truncated nature of this interview. Head back to the airport, worried I won't make it back in time for my 6:44 departure. I have to stop to fill up the car. Drop off car, take shuttle back to terminal, check in at American West counter (luckily there's no line), go through the security hassel, and make it to the gate with ten minutes to spare.
6:44--Depart on junky Canadair RJ for Las Vegas. Babies crying, floozy blond next to me talking with athletic guy across the aisle about busted relationships. Fly directly over spectacular mountain scenery. Vegas airport looks brand-spanking new. Nice shops, lots of slots machines. I spend a good five hours here without, unfortunately, getting the opportunity to discuss Reformed theology. Drift in and out of consciousness.
1:30 am--Plane boards over an hour late. Nice Boeing 757. Snooze a bit despite crick in neck.
6:30 central--Land in Dallas. Rush to make connection.
7:40--Fly to Lubbock.
8:45--Drive home.

Whew!