I made my final trip of the year when I flew to and from Palm Beach a few weeks ago. To pay homage to this happy occasion, I put together a summary of my life on the road in 2005. With the exception of the total number of air miles I accumulated this year (because some of those were a combination of business and personal travel), this only encompasses business travel, which is why ‘strangest injury’ is not the broken nose I suffered in Hawaii. Otherwise, that would be the runaway winner.

So, to wrap up the year…

Air Miles Traveled:
68,936

States Visited (17):
California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah

Best (Nice) Meal:
The Yard House in Palm Springs, Calif. – outstanding food and no less than 150 beers on tap. Went with my friend Anthony, a Denver-based writer. Sat at the bar and had the orange peel chicken, along with some Belgian beer and red wine.

Honorable mention: Morton’s Steakhouse (Las Vegas); Bardenay (Boise, Idaho), Atlantic Seafood Company (Atlanta)

Best (Unexciting) meal:
The seven or eight times I ate at Noodles & Company while in Denver for two weeks. Yes, I ate the same thing every time – buttered noodles and parmesan. We’ve GOT to get one of these in Jersey.

Strangest injury:
One July day at a tournament in Ohio, I put on my shoes and socks and noted, without much fanfare, that I had 10 toenails. I then walked almost two full rounds (30 holes) on a ridiculously hilly golf course. When I returned to the hotel that night and removed my shoes and socks, I had nine toenails.

Somewhere along the way, I mashed my foot into my shoe so badly that I lost a toenail. Good times.

Worst flight:
Boise to Salt Lake City to Newark in March. I flew to Boise on a Wednesday and had what I thought was a cold by the time I arrived. I then sat in an arena all day Thursday, watching four NCAA basketball games. I was so sick by the end of the day that I needed to visit the medical center Friday morning instead of attending the meeting that brought me to town (basketball games aside, of course). Due to fly home that afternoon so I could be home for my birthday, I had the following exchange with a physician after he diagnosed my sinus infection:

Him: "When are you supposed to fly home?"

Me: "In about five hours."

Him: "Is that really necessary? You probably shouldn't be flying right now."

Me: (offer explanation of birthday, etc.)

Him: "Well, I'm not going to prohibit you from flying, but you should know that it is going to be painful. Particularly when the plane descends."

Me: "Ah, I'm pretty tough. But thanks for the warning."

That dirty rat bastard was right. It was awful. And I got to do it twice, as I had to make a connection in SLC. My ears didn’t pop for three days.

Most interesting outing:
The July evening I spent in Minneapolis visiting a childhood friend. My friend’s had a rough year, going through a divorce, with young twins. I told him I’d take him out to lift his spirits. There were a lot of spirits lifted, all right. The next morning, I had a matchbook in my purse from a place called Rick’s Cabaret. And by cabaret, they didn’t mean lounge singers.

Longest day:
June 15. The day after walking 36 holes at a complete circus of an event at a golf course outside Pittsburgh, I got up at 3:30 a.m. to catch a flight back to Newark. I was in the office by 8:30 a.m., worked for four hours, drove home, repacked, and was back at the airport by 3 p.m. to fly to Denver.

Most notable seatmate:
En route to Savannah from EWR, former NBA all-star Jayson Williams (who has since his playing days become more famous for more infamous reasons).

Most surreal moment:
This happened on my last trip. I was seated two tables from Donald Trump at a swanky reception at Mar-A-Lago, which is lovely and surprisingly understated given his usual style (see: Taj Majal, Atlantic City).

I marched up to him and introduced myself because I had to get a closer look at the hair. I needed to assess whether it really looks that way in person.

It does. In fact, it’s even better. It’s magical, in a horrifying sort of way.

And yes, I continue to kick myself for forgetting to bring my camera to the event. Bad, bad job by me.

Most surreal moment 2:
The flight I took from Newark to Cleveland with members of the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment). The highlight: when the entire crew cut in line at the airport to head to the front of the check-in counter and a 90-year-old man started screaming at them. The lowlight: a frightening Ric Flair giving me a “hey baby, how you doing” leer.

Most surreal moment 3:
Having my photograph appear in the NY Times, steps behind a golf wunderkind and an Ohio state trooper.

Favorite place:
The Oregon coast. Just lovely.

Least-favorite place:

Houston Intercontinental Airport. Perhaps the most hateful location in the country.

Most impressive driving feat:
I consider this to be one of my stronger areas of skill, so there are a lot of candidates. Let’s go with the late-night trip I made from the Atlanta Airport to Chattanooga, Tenn., in August, when I traveled 122 miles in 93 minutes. And that included a stop for dinner.

Honorable mention goes to the tap dance I gave in Reedsport, Ore., a month ago to get out of a speeding ticket I most definitely deserved.

State with the least regard for speed limits:
Georgia, hands down. You can be going 90 mph on Route 95 and people will be blowing by you.

And so ends the 2005 travel season. I can promise that 2006 will have its share of adventures, since I have two events in Oregon, one in Washington, another in Arizona, one in speed-happy Georgia and another in Rhode Island, which requires driving the entirety of Connecticut, one of the most loathsome states in the nation when it comes to vehicular maneuvering.