Getting out of Texas

Here I am in Odessa, Texas, again. Midland/Odessa is a very nice city out in the middle of nowhere. Too bad it is so hard to get to. I have to take United from Denver to Dallas, then take American from Dallas to Odessa. Coordinating the departure and arrival times is quite a challenge when using two different airlines. Well, I finally got caught. I made it here okay on Monday, even with an hour and a half delay leaving Denver. There was a 3 hour layover in Dallas anyway. But today I checked my AA ticket to see what time I was leaving on Thursday. It said that I leave Odessa at 11:20 a.m. Now I knew that I was getting to Denver at 1:00 p.m. Suddenly I got a funny feeling - how can this be, with a layover in Dallas??? Well, I discovered that I land in Dallas at 12:30 - and I leave Dallas for Denver at 12:01. Impossible! How could I do that? Well, changing my United flight to later would cost more than $900. And changing to an earlier flight from Odessa would be over $300. But there is another option. I bought a one-way ticket from Odessa to Dallas, leaving at 7:15 a.m. for $130. A new flight is cheaper than the $150 flight change fee! I'm glad I caught the mistake earlier than the night before I leave - which is when I usually check. I'm sure I'll be much more careful in the future!