Article for paper

Upper Lake Main Street

On The Road Again …

I do a lot of driving in my job. I support Bravo and Delta Companies of the Recruiting and Retention Battalion of the California Army National Guard. My job is to visit high schools in Northern California and that covers 600 miles north to south and 200 miles east to west, 120,000 square miles! There are over 1000 high schools in my area, but I don’t visit them all. I go where I am needed to do ASVAB interpretations or where the recruiters ask for help. Since I drive a lot in my job I need to find ways to make my job interesting. I listen to audio books and travel with my camera. Once or twice a month I will stop at the local library and check out two or three audio books on CDs. One book could last me 2 or 3 days depending on if I have long distances to drive. Last year I went through 53 books. I have recently learned to download books onto my smart phone so I don’t have to worry if I can get to the library on time to return books or to get books for my next trip. I just browse for books when I have internet access.  Since I drive for long distances I need to find a way to force myself to stop every hour or so to stretch my legs. As long as I do that I am fresh when I get to my destination. I often take hundreds of pictures a week. I think the most I have driven in a one week period was last month when I drove 1500 miles in one week. On Monday I drove to Monterey and back to help a recruiter work with his high school.

On Tuesday I drove to Middletown, near Clear Lake, to do an ASVAB interpretation at a high school. Then I drove over the mountains to Novato and San Rafael to help a recruiter get school lists. On Wednesday I drove to Fresno and then Lemoore to do ASVAB stuff at the schools. That night I drove up to Upper Lake so I could be at the school at 0800 hours Thursday morning to work in the high school there all day. That night I drove home. Friday I was supposed to work in Corcoran at 0800, but the recruiter said he could handle the ASVAB interpretation by himself so I only had to drive as far as Fresno by 1000 and do the interpretation there.

One week of driving.

After Fresno I drove to Los Banos to work in a high school there before I could get home for the end of the week. I have the best a fantastic job, not only do I help guide students to maximize their potential, hopefully they see how the National Guard can help them achieve their goals, but I also am able to see the most beautiful parts of this wonderful state. From my 1500 mile trip I have included some of the trip here.