A Week in Des Moines

One aspect of my current role at Microsoft is that I am occasionally called upon to travel. I have several customers to whom I dedicated as a support engineer, and I travel out to visit them at least once a year to make sure they know who I am, meet their staff, provide them with training, and so forth.

I say, "occasionally," but it seems like - lately - the word, "frequently," would be a better description. I've had an inordinate amount of travel lately.

This week, I'm in Des Moines, Iowa, visiting a large financial company that's headquartered here. Des Moines is an interesting city. As I drove into the downtown from the airport yesterday, I was struck by how seemingly quiet the downtown is. Granted, it was a Sunday afternoon; even still, there was hardly a soul walking the streets.

Part of this is probably inherent to the population. Des Moines is a city of only about 250,000. So, there's not a large population to be walking the streets to begin with. However, another part of it has to do with the (to me) innovative Skywalk system of footbridges spanning several blocks of the downtown area; the commuters were there, they were just out of sight.

I've never seen anything like it, though I've subsequently learned that they have them in Minneapolis, too. Many of the major buildings in the downtown area are connected to one another by covered footbridges. I'm five blocks away from the building where my customer is headquartered, and I was able to walk all the way from my hotel to their building indoors the entire way.

The footbridges are typically accessible from the second floor of the buildings here, and they provide a warm, covered walking path that must be a godsend in the winter. Since they're bridges, you don't have to bother with traffic, don't have to wait for a crossing signal; you can just walk. Stores, businesses, banks, and barbers line the Skywalk from end-to-end, as well; so you can stop at a bank, get your hair cut, have a bite to eat, and buy a tube of toothpaste as you walk from one building to another. It's quite fascinating, and it's made getting around fun. I wish more cities had something similar.

I don't expect to get out to do much sightseeing, though. I might take a stroll up to the state capitol if time permits, but typically, only my evenings are free, so most anything nearby is closed by the time I'm free to wander around. Basically, I get up, get a shower, visit my customer, come back to the hotel, hit a restaurant, and then lie in bed, watching T.V.

While business travel may sound grand, it is - in fact - not. Of course, it is not at all pleasant to be the spouse stuck at home with the kids (and it sounds like the kids are really giving Amy a run for her money today), living the same old routine. But business travel sounds more romantic than it is.

Business travel means lonely nights in a hotel room, with no friend but the T.V. It means sitting alone in a restaurant for dinner. It means having to meet and converse with a bunch of strangers. It means having most of your material possessions away, out of your reach, and having to live off what the hotel provides. If you're lucky enough to get to see any sights, it's only halfway fulfilling without your spouse or family to share it.

In short, it means missing your family and being alone. And when you hear that your spouse is having a rough day, it means feeling powerless to reach out and help.

Even for those times when I happen to be traveling with coworkers, my tastes and their tastes differ so widely that it's just as lonely. They'd just as soon go out to a bar and knock back a few drinks, but that's not my cup of tea. Come to think of it, a cup of teas is not my cup of tea either.

But I won't complain much more than that. Nobody wants to hear me whining. "Oh, Matt. Poor baby." I'm grateful to have work. And I certainly have been blessed to see different parts of our country, places I probably never would have seen were it not for my job. I mean places like Cleveland. Who the heck visits Cleveland? Well, I suppose if you're into rock-and-roll, that would be a reason. But what about Des Moines. Who visits Des Moines? Who lives in Des Moines? ;-) Soon, my friends Lynniece and Jeff; that's who.

And good for them. Des Moines is a nice place. I hear it's a great place for families. The people seem kind and happy. The housing is affordable. The downtown is beautiful; it has a nostalgic feeling, as if the whole downtown were an "Old Town," with architecture reminiscent of a bygone era, and a river running through it. You've got rain and tornados, but you've got beautiful green trees in the Spring and Summer, and I bet the autumns are gorgeous. I hear that the steaks are delicious, too; maybe I'll get to find out.

You can do a lot worse than Des Moines, and it's worth a visit if you're in the area. Still, I'll be glad to be getting home soon.