I’m gonna warn you upfront that the following post will be rather gross at times. Those with queasy tummies you’re ill advised (hah!) to not read the following.

The reference to albatross is a bit of an inside joke. I say it’s an albatross day when shit has gone sideways. This post will document my albatross adventures. I use other water fowl to classify other types of days but those shouldn’t get involved here.

A bit of information about me without going into a lot of detail is that every month I travel. Typically around 2 – 2.5 weeks nonstop. This is part of what I do for work.

August 12, 2025 –

The day before on the 11th I had a feeling I was getting sick. This was confirmed that night when my stomach decided to go on strike. Refunding if you catch my drift. Did this twice. I managed to fall back asleep. At this point I wasn’t aware of the adventures the day would give me.

I finally decide to get up at 8 because I have a 2 hour drive ahead of me before I get to do my 8 hour shift. On my drive to my next stop there was A LOT of roadkill, which isn’t crazy but one was a HORSE. I have no idea what happened. It still had its horseshoes on. That’s initially what grabbed my attention when the sun glinted off the horseshoes. Also there was no blood. Obviously there’s more to what happened here but what I don’t know.

I make it to my next stop. My job requires WiFi. At most of the locations I go to this isn’t a problem. I go and start doing my job. I’m automatically connected to the WiFi so that’s not a concern. Initially the photos I’m taking and uploading are going through no problem. And then out of nowhere it stops. The pictures just sit there and don’t disappear once uploaded. I spend the better part of an hour and a half trying to get this thing to work. Long story short I wound up having to use my data plan to get it to work correctly. Now I’m massively behind so I gotta motor to pickup time.

Finally I go to lunch. Which I always have in my van. I only get a half hour so I never really have a “normal” meal for lunch. While I’m sitting there in the driver’s seat I hear a DINK. I look to my left at my window and see this yellow jacket gone aggro. It’s literally flying fast at my window fast enough to make a sound when he lands. Obviously he wasn’t flying fast enough to hurt himself. At one point he’s hovering near my window and looking at me. Something’s has gotten a bug up this bug’s ass. My lunch ends and I’m scoping the situation to see if I’m clear to go back inside. For now he’s absent. I gather my stuff and book it. At this point I’m running inside. It’s not enough. I hear a buzzing behind me. It’s getting louder. He’s getting closer. Now if you know me and my history. I’m a klutz. And this is proven again now. As I’m running I fall. BUT I apparently pulled off the damsel in distress look well enough for some random dude to come to my aid. Before the yellow jacket gets me he swats it ferociously with his baseball cap. And then he comes over to me and helps me up. I tell him thank you of course. He asks me if I’m ok. My knee is a little scuffed but that’s nothing. I hobble inside and complete my shift.

You’d think that would be the end. But you’d be wrong.

I drive to the hotel and go to check in. A little info that’s relevant here is that I have a cart that I take into my hotel rooms so I don’t have to do multiple trips to the van. I check my vitals every morning. Helps me know where I’m starting the day at. Hell now that I think about it all my vitals were elevated this morning. Not sure why. I’m guessing my sickness that I’m pretty sure is a flu now. Anyhow it’s become a thing that I bring the cart with me. This requires an elevator when I’m booked on anything above floor 1. So my boss when booking these rooms for this tour that the rooms only be on the first floor. Well so far that hasn’t happened. Including this hotel. So now I have to pick and choose what goes upstairs with me. Thankfully only 2 floors.

I’m still not done.

One last tiny thing that is inconvenient and annoying. The stairs are at one end and my room is at the other. And when I enter….WHAM!!! I’m hit with a wave of sweltering humidity. It’s been humid today. And rather hot. And the AC in this room has been off. Probably for most of the day.

Ok now I’m done. At least for today.