I am writing this letter having just finished an IAPE class in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and currently waiting for my flight home to Burbank, California. In many of the classes people ask me about my travels, the number of classes that I teach, etc., in fact so many have asked me about this subject that I thought that I'd write about it in this column. 

Back in 1983 I began my Property and Evidence instructing for the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP). Several years later I was invited to begin teaching for the International Association for Property and Evidence (IAPE). Since my first class back in ' 83 I have instructed 467 classes throughout the United States and Canada. As best as I can figure, there have been about 14,000 people who have attended those classes; some people have come back several times over the years. My class schedule averages about twenty-five classes per year. With that number of classes, how much traveling is involved? 

Each year I log about 75,000 flying miles for IAPE. I consider myself a bit of a "frequent sleeper" at many of the hotel chains; the usual year sees me sleeping at hotels from eighty to one hundred nights. Any of you who have seen me pulling my four bags to and from each class knows just how much "stuff" I take to each class. About every three months the airlines lose my luggage and, depending upon when it turns up, I've made very late night runs to Wal-Mart. I've learned to keep my computer and my projector with me as I travel. Also, about every tenth flight I get a delay or a cancellation. That certainly increases the stress level as I try to find an alternate method of getting to the class location. 

In all of those travels, only twice have I overslept; one of those times was this week while in Chicago. As I write this my flight home has just been delayed three hours. Looks like I'll be adding to my "frequent sleeper" miles in a hotel tonight!