Rainy Day Travels

I decided to put a day between travel days when possible to catch up on other business items, to drink lots of water (tough to do when you're on the road especially in some of the more rural areas) and to create more of a sense of balance.

So I worked in my home office on Thursday catching up on my other business - web design and internet marketing. Thankfully the web design is bringing in income because to date, the school curriculum has not for the most part. I learned (and am still learning internet marketing) to help schools find my website and it's a fascinating addition to my business which hopefully will help support me and pay for these trips to visit schools.

Today I took my Mom with me on the road and I went back to catch some of the schools I missed two days ago. This time I started on the Cape at Sandwich High School followed by an attempt to get into Bourne High School (front door locked, rang the doorbell 3 times - must mean no one was in the office), Wareham and then up the east coast of Massachusetts to Kingston, Norwell and of course whichever one I forgot. I never made it to Scituate and Hingham for despite being on the road at 9:30, I ran out of time to catch the last two.

The biggest dilemna today was the rain. The forcast said cloudy with occassional showers. I know when the showers happened...every time I pulled up to a school! I was like a drowned rat by the end of the day! My Mom couldn't believe that the hardest rain fell every time I got out of the car. Don't know if I'm being tested to give up...but it's only a little water...and I'm not done yet!

Anyway...five more schools know more about this program than they did this morning...a good day all things considered especially when the secretary smiles and says, "You're thanking us? No one every thanks us!"

Thank you...to all the people who make a high school run! Our teens (and often their parents) may not say thank you...but know that your work matters!

Eastern Massachusetts

Another spectacular day! Got on the road early and headed to Hull Massachusetts, a penisula that faces north with the city of Boston across the water. The high school there was at the tip of the peninsula with jets flying overhead on approach to Logan Airport, the sun shining on the water...a view out of every window I'm sure. Wonder if they need help...No! I'm not taking a teaching job 90 minutes from my house. I'll have to get my water view on the road!

And I did...along the whole coast south of Boston and north of Cape Cod. Cohasset, Marshfield, Duxbury, Plymouth. Oh yeah, Plymouth. I had the GPS today which made life a lot easier. But only when you program in the right address. I dropped my goody bag at North Plymouth High School and then programmed in Plymouth High School South. Off I went along the coast, up by Jordan Hospital and into the parking lot of the school. I couldn't find the front entrance but finally decided that I could probably drive around the other side. I looked at the building and thought to myself how interesting it was that both schools had the same design. In I went...and found the same lady sitting there. Thought she had traveled to the other school. I had gone in a huge circle and come back to the same school!! Yikes!

Guess I'd better bring all the addresses with me! As usual, things to learn...but this sure is fun! The look of surprise on the secretaries/teachers faces when I thank them for all they do is priceless!

Not sure where I'm going tomorrow...more east coast Mass or maybe the Berkshires...depends on weather...but now after all these miles...some sleep.

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...

The Rest of the Cape

Back on the road again but not as early as I would have liked. This is taking much longer than I thought...the searching for the schools and their principals, the directions, the actual travel between schools. I have to streamline this procedure. It's already a daunting task - to visit the high schools of America. But the more schools I see, the better the chance that I can help change the lives of teachers and teens for the better. I'm hoping the principals of the schools I do make it to tell their fellow principal friends...

So what changes do I need to make?
*I need to stop revising everything I'm giving out. I'm only going to revise if I learn something that tells me that what I have needs tweaking. I'm printing in relatively small quantities from home so I can make changes as needed.
*I need to get the candy bags together sooner and keep them in a big box in the trunk. Same with the outside of the bags. I can combine them with the letter to the principal last minute which makes storage much easier.
* I need to get a GPS. I'm good at directions...in fact, it's one of the things I'm best at. But I'm wasting valuable time looking up the directions to each school...time that could be spent on the rest of what I'm doing with my life...web design (which will pay the bills for now) and of course regular life.
* I need to leave much earlier. As much as I don't miss getting up early like I did when I was teaching, I either need to be on the road by 7 from home or stay overnight in the area i'm trying to reach so I can be on the road by 7 there.

So I'm done for the day because high schools close early but I did make it to Falmouth HS, Mashpee HS, Rochester Regional High School in Mattapoisett, Dartmouth High School and one other.

I haven't decided where I'll go tomorrow...it's either middle Maine (near where my friend Annie has a house) or western Mass. Better to do far away now while the weather is still good...and the foliage is beautiful!