Driving around California

Yosemite High

Today I drove to Yosemite High school which is 3 hours south east. Yesterday I drove through Napa which is 3 hours north east. Everything is east since the only thing west of me is the ocean.

So hot the cows just standing in mud

I talked to 40 kids today about their futures. After I finished the counselor thanked me for traveling so far to make the presentation to the kids in her school. I told her thank-you for giving me a reason to travel to the Yosemite area.

Fields of flowers in the spring

Someone asked me yesterday what I like most about my job and just mentioned two things that I really like. My job is to take road trips every day to interesting parts of California and then help high school students investigate careers for their future. As I'm driving I listen to audio books, so the drive goes by quickly. I go through 3 to 4 books a week. Some are not interesting, and I don't listen to those for very long, but most are captivating and hold my attention as I drive. I am always thankful that my GPS has a voice or I would usually miss my turns.

Rocky mountains

When I talk to people from other states I often ask them what they think represents California. They usually think of Hollywood, or Silicon Valley, or San Diego. I went to California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo and one of the primary majors there is agriculture. It really made me understand that is an important business in California. They used the word Agribusiness. If you drive north of Sacramento you drive past rice paddies for 2 hours. Yesterday I was in the grape growing region and drove past vineyards for hours. Today I drove past many pastures with lots of cattle.

McDonald Bear Family

California is a large state that has only a few large cities. The rest is agriculture and mountains and desert. I have driven 40,000 miles around this state in the past year and predict that I will hit 60,000 miles by the end of the school year in June.