Sunday, October 7, 2007

The Ultimate School Trip: Maine - Part 1

Maine is a beautiful state...great coastline, wonderful people...but compared to Rhode Island, it's HUGE!

I have to get a new mindset in my travels. It takes a lot longer between schools that I thought...especially in a state like Maine. I drove Thursday to Belfast Maine, a town on the coast about 5 hours north. I chose to go to schools in that area first for two reason - better to get the colder and more distant schools before winter and I knew tha area because my best friend who passed away last year had a house there. So I was familiar with the area which I thought would be advantageous.

I stay overnight of course because of the distance and got out early enough on Friday morning...but it took such a long time between schools that I only ended up visiting a fraction of the ones I had planned on. But the ones I visited were good visits as all my visits to date have been and I'm grateful for that.

I have to also remember to note the time frame of my visits. Friday was the beginning of the Columbus Day weekend, a big weekend for people visiting Northern New England. That meant extra construction work on Thursday, and heavy traffic coming home on Friday. It wasn't as bad as the traffic going north to be sure which was bumper to bumper for easily 40 miles but it was nothing like the trips I remember coming home from Maine all the years visiting with my best friend.

But I have to also give myself a bit of a break. I'm new to this. I'm not a seasoned sales person, not used to driving almost 1000 miles in 3 days, not used to this new kind of planning. But every trip teaches me something new, something that I need to modify. Every trip brings beautiful scenery at some point, a chance to see our amazing country and a chance that maybe one more school will be able to benefit from a program that can really help them.

This coming week has only 4 possible travel days with Monday being a holiday and Tuesday being a day filled with meetings. I see a bit more of Massachusetts on the horizon...and maybe back to Maine the following week...if I can see 10 schools a week, that's 500 schools a year...if I can double that...well, let me just make it to 10 schools a week for now...