It all began when Diane and I received our final okay from the state that we had been approved to travel to California for a reading training.  Should I mention that we received this approval on Thursday, June 10th and the training was scheduled to start on Monday, June 14th?  We had to move quickly and make last minute plans. 

A fellow teacher volunteered to help book our plane flights, rent a car, and make motel reservations using the Internet.  Little did we know that it was going to take one whole afternoon to get plane flights booked and to make complete reservations for our trip.

Diane and I met at the Eugene airport to begin our California adventure.   We received our boarding passes, checked in our bags, and survived the first search.  The woman in front of us at the search station had a kitty in a carrier.  Even the kitty had to be taken out of its carrier and searched.  Finally, we were ready to board the plane.  We found our seats for our short trip to Medford.  However, I was a little worried when the flight attendant said, “We will be stopping in Medford to receive more passengers and we would like everyone else to remain seated on the plane, as this will make our departure faster.”  But, but, but I was supposed to be switching planes and not to mention having a lay over.  So, when the plane stopped Diane and I moved to the front to exit.  The flight attendant looked at our boarding passes and said, “Oh, I didn’t realize that you weren’t continuing with us.”  I’m glad we were observant and knew our agenda!

A few things stuck out in my mind as I sat in the Medford airport waiting for our next plane.  It was quite interesting watching individuals as they ran to and fro carrying their belts, shoes, and jackets.  What a sight!  They all seemed a little rattled, but happy that they had passed the frisking station.  It was there that I saw a young couple sitting anxiously in anticipation of fulfilling their stand-by tickets.  As this couple was just standing to board the plane and beginning to think that their mission had been fulfilled, here came a very sun tanned middle-aged man and woman waving their boarding passes eager to catch their plane.  The young couple stepped to the side with a sigh, long faces, and drooped shoulders as the other couple rushed by with a smile.  It was that entire arrogant sun tanned couple’s fault that the young couple didn’t get their seats they had anticipated. Then some of the airport workers were afraid that we had missed our plane, but we reassured them that we were waiting for a different flight.  However, this did make my inquiring mind a little nervous. 

Now, we boarded a plane to head to Portland to catch our plane that would take us to Ontario, California.   Little did we know that we wouldn’t be sitting with one another.  We had some interesting conversations with our new seat partners.  My partner asked, “Why are you on this flight?”  I proceeded to explain my situation when I realized that the two of our destinations were the same.  I then replied, “Why are you on this flight?”  It was kind of like Diane and I were taking one step forward and two steps back.  We were now in Portland and ready to make our final plane change to take us to California which was our destination.

It seemed like the long way around, but beggars can’t be choosers, and we had successfully made it to the Ontario airport.  We picked up our baggage and followed the signs to pick up our onsite rental car.  We didn’t realize this meant boarding a tram and going to another building in the airport complex.  Dragging our entire luggage with us, we boarded the jam-packed tram to retrieve our onsite rental car.  Ha, ha, ha I thought to myself, “Isn‘t this going to be fun?”  We then proceeded to the rental car desk to wait in a line.  Where a single man was trying to run two computers with a failing system and receive single comments from his supervisor who seemed to be little or no help.  While other individuals came and left other agencies we remained in line and watched the line grow behind us.  It was nice to know that other individuals must have used the Internet to find the best rates too.  As my partner in crime was ready to sign the final paperwork the man behind the desk said, “We are all out of our economy compact cars, but for no extra charge we will give you a PT Cruiser.”  Well, did we have a choice?  We needed a car, so we accepted the offer.  However, Diane was the assigned driver as I am not old enough to rent a car and she has never driven anything larger than a hatchback Civic.  Oh well, at least it was red and they could see us coming.

We found our car and began reading the maps to get us to our motel room.  The roads were busy and people drove fast, but I read the directions aloud and helped read street signs.  Finally, we were in the town of San Bernardino, which was our destination. It was then, that second thoughts started crossing our mind as we saw a blue tarp on the roof of the motel and noticed some holes in the hallway roof.  This wasn’t what the motel looked like in the picture on the Internet.  But, we decided not to make judgments without checking into it further. 

We received our keys and we were off to check out our room.  As I began approaching our door, I noticed a toilet plunger sitting next to it.  I turned and looked at Diane with a puzzled look on my face and she looked at me.  She said, “It is wet.”  I began thinking that this was a terrible idea and that it was going to be a really long week.  As I opened the door and entered with caution there was an outrageous, stale smell that lurked in the room.  Diane assured that she would take care of it with her secret potion, which included herbs and oils.  She sprinkled some over the air vent and turned on the fan for ventilation.  The air in our room became tolerable.  Now, the smell in the room was of strong vibrant spearmint. 

It was now time to find the school where the training was going to be held.  We were on our way when we noticed our first landmark, the Bobbitt Mortuary, across the street from our motel.  “This must be a very special place,” we thought.  The streets were lined with liquor stores, cemeteries, and health services.  There were also lots of boarded up businesses and garage doors to secure storefronts.  We found our school and noticed some upcoming dates on the reader board.  Certainly, the children were still not attending school, we thought (ha, ha, ha).  Little did we know that California has some year round schools.  And sure enough this was one of them that were on a track system.

As we headed back to the motel for the evening, we thought we would stop by the Carousel Mall that looked like a nice place to shop and was a landmark on our map.  I noticed as we pulled in the parking lot that there were quite a few security guards around and a lot of young to middle aged individuals.  We entered the mall to find more security guards and lots of stores that were closed.  However, we saw a gorgeous carousel!  But, decided quickly that this really wasn’t the place for us as we looked around.  Not to mention, Diane and I were the only white non-Hispanic individuals in the entire mall.  This made us a little apprehensive.  But, we had agreed not to make judgments.

During class the next day, everyone was introducing themselves and stating which district and school was their place of employment.  When it was my turn, I simply said, “My name is Tiffanie, and I am from Oregon.”  Everyone looked at me with puzzled looks and said, “Where is that.”  I stated “I am from the state of Oregon.”  Then the questions began.  “Why are you here doing this on your summer vacation?”  The teachers in California thought it was absurd for me to be spending a week of my summer vacation taking a class that I didn’t have to take.  I just always thought it was good to learn about the curriculum that you were expected to teach. 

The Californian inquiring minds were curious of where I had been and what I planned on doing while I was visiting California.  I explained to them that I had visited the Carousel Mall last night.  Their faces looked mortified.  “You did what?” they exclaimed.  They continued, “Do you know that people get kidnapped, raped, and murdered there?”  Dumbfounded I state, “Well, uh know, I guess I wouldn’t have gone there if I knew that.”  They proceeded to tell me that I was staying in the town in which had the highest homicide rate in the state of California.     

This was nice to know.  I wish I had known this ahead of time.  I suppose I would have chosen a different location.  This explains why the streets look the way they do I thought.  Well, I guess booking your reservations using the Internet and choosing the lowest prices isn’t always the best idea after all.  Thinking to myself, “This is going to be the longest five days of my life. “  Needless to say, Diane and I survived and are sure to remember this trip for a lifetime!