Our flight from Maui landed in Phoenix after midnight. We had flown directly from the finish in Hawaii and I hadn’t had time to shower, so I was still covered in sweat and road grime. Worse, I had slept only a few hours during the prior night’s flight to Hawaii from San Francisco. When we landed in Phoenix, a crew member’s wife was waiting. Jennifer and JB Benna lived in the area, and she had thoughtfully baked fresh peanut butter cookies for us. It was really hot outside, even though it was in the middle of the night, and after eating a warm, gooey peanut butter cookie, I crashed. It was all I could do to keep my eyes open to get in the cab that would deliver us to the hotel. I kept doing the tired traveler’s head bob on the drive, nodding off and then waking up with a start as my chin dropped. When we got to the hotel, we found no receptionist; the place was deserted. We looked all around for someone, to no avail. Finally, I lay down on the carpet inside the lobby. Naturally, I had just fallen asleep when the receptionist showed up and I had to get back up.
