Presidential Roadtrip

BY MARCUS PIMENTEL, 2021 CSMFO PRESIDENT

Road trips. Truth be told, I’ve not yet had a memorable road trip. They have all focused on the point B destination and never on any of the points along the way. Honestly, I can be pretty frugal and would rather spend my time than my dime. So, when my “squiggle” plan to thank the Host and Program committees was shut down by COVID, enter plan B. A thank you CSMFO California road trip.

The challenges. First, how would I get my wife Laurie to agree? Second, how could we create a delivery route for locations across our great state? Third, how would I keep this a relative surprise to everyone?

Mostly because my wife Laurie is pretty amazing, the first part was a bit easier to get to “yes” than I originally thought. The second part took some serious creative planning and calendar coordination between work, family, and all the places across the state where Host and Program committee members lived. The third “surprise” element served both to create some hopefully unexpected happy moments while balancing the real health precaution of social distancing during a high COVID risk period. The four-stage master plan (1,192 miles/19.5 hour drive time). Stage 1: Date night and a flight in the Bay Area. Laurie and I started a date night game where we cycle through the alphabet to find new restaurants that we wouldn’t otherwise eat at. That, along with timing a trip to pick up our daughter at the airport made this a fun route. But the first real rain cut our trip short. Nonetheless, it was fun to surprise and see Wing-See Fox and Board Member Grace Castenada and connect over the phone with Past Presidents Mary Bradley (1999) and Jesse Takahashi (2015).

Stage 2: SoCal & Kaitlynn’s 21st Birthday. Aided by my daughter’s remote location for her 21st birthday and returning to her home in LA days later, we pulled together the Southern California loop surprisingly easy. It began with connecting with now Past President Steve Heide, his wife Gabrielle, and a few of their animal friends. We looped through stops at Terry Shea and Past President Laura Nomura (2012) and the striking orange groove in the middle of their neighborhood. And, with support from Marisa Anticevich on how to navigate her mom’s (Teri) gate security system, we showed up at her front door just as she was ending a conference logistics planning meeting. We went on to Yorba Linda and Brea, swinging by President Elect Scott Catlett and grabbing a few minutes with David Cain just before he started his MPA class lecture. The SoCal loop ended with a middle of the street “hello” from Marisa and witnessing Past President Margaret Moggia’s (2018) incredible collection of board games. Stage 3: Sacramento and Baby Sanger.

As soon as we learned Laurie’s sister had a new Portuguese water dog named Sanger, it became easy to pull together our loop around the state capital. It provided us the opportunity to deliver the Distinguished Service Award to Melissa Manchester in person and to stop by and connect with Past President Joan MichaelsAguilar (2019), with CSMFO’s creative genius David Garrison, to say Hi to Lily Ng in a US Post Office Parking lot and end with surprise visits to SMA’s Sara Erck and former Past President (2004) and M&AMS Manager Janet Salvetti. Stage 4: East Bay Tour & Skee-Ball. This final stage was our return loop from the Sacramento tour. It began with finding Communication Chair James Russell-Field working on a holiday and continued with us spending some extra fun time in Lafayette’s downtown, sandwiched around drop-offs to current Board Member Craig Boyer, former Board Member and Membership Chair Jennifer Wakeman, and East Bay Chapter Chair and Program Committee Vice Chair Margaret O’Brien. This final stage ended with witnessing a full size Skee-Ball machine at Rich Lee’s place and saying hello to Dave McPherson and his wife Suzanne. Like any road trip, there were a few moments where it felt like I was perhaps a bit too ambitious. But with some distance now between then and today, it was an unexpected gift to create my first real road trip. This will be a 2021 memory I know I will cherish and never forget.