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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.
2021 CSMFO CONFERENCE | ANNUAL CONFERENCE MAGAZINE
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).
