Stop 4: Oh, Canada!

This has been a really crazy week for me, full of traveling and working and family affairs.

First, the good news:  I’ve accepted a part-time position as a paid Health &Safety Instructor for the American Red Cross in Southern Nevada.  While the pay isn’t high, I’m excited for the opportunity to teach lifesaving skills to members of my community.  The first question they asked me during the interview is why I want to teach this subject, and I answered that I strongly believe in the product.

What I neglected to tell them is I have several people in my family who died from heart attacks and strokes when I was younger, and I wonder how many of them would have had a fighting chance if those around them knew CPR and First Aid.  If by teaching people these skills, I can help spare one family from going through what my family has gone through, then this job will have been more than worth it.

My freelance training project is going well, and the clients are happy with my work.  I’ve also stepped up my writing, publishing several articles and submitting a story for the Chicken Soup for the Soul series.

Of all the things that have happened this week, I’m most proud of the work I accomplished while out of town.  My partner, his son, and I have spent the majority of this week in Bellingham, WA visiting family.  Today, we drove to Langley, British Columbia in Canada to attend a family member’s memorial service.  And I realized that I have managed my time extremely well and fit work into family obligations.

Now, I haven’t been able to fully complete the travel articles I talked about in my last stop, but I have done additional research for travel articles on this trip.  Once I get caught up in all my other deadlines, I’ll concentrate on making this a reality.

In fact, I’ve made the decision to freelance full-time a reality.  No falling back on unemployment benefits (the extensions haven’t been passed by Congress anyway), no more spending of the tax refund, just working to make this dream of mine come true.

And so, the train just chugs along.  Choo-choo!

Stop 3: Go North, Young Woman

Determined to travel last week, I hopped on a plane to Reno on Wednesday morning. My partner Ron was already in Northern Nevada for a series of client visits, having driven up there on Sunday. While he continued his work meetings, I worked away in the suite-like hotel room banging out some web articles and getting some work done for ASTD.

I was, however, momentarily distracted by the spa located inside the Grand Sierra Resort. Although expensive, I indulged in a facial, one of the best facial I’ve ever received. It was a true working vacation.

On Friday, we started our The drive back to Vegas started on Friday (it’s a holiday weekend) and we spent the night in Tonopah. While a small little town, Tonopah has some things to offer both stargazers and history buffs. We spent Saturday visiting the Tonopah Mining Park and Central Nevada Museum before making our way home.

But the adventure didn’t stop there. We visited a ghost town called Rhyolite outside of Beatty, Nevada and would have taken a detour to Scotty’s Castle in Death Valley if we weren’t so low on gas.

It’s one of the things I appreciate the most about Ron – his sense of adventure fuels and inspires my own. And it occurred to me that I should be writing travel articles about the all different places we visit if I want to break into the travel writing field. There is no reason why I can’t submit these articles for publication, absolutely none at all.

So my goal is to write several pieces about our trip last week and submit them by the end of next week. Think I can do it?

I’ll let you know on the next stop!