Your trip to the state of New Mexico

El Malpais ranger station near Grants, N.M., March 2011.

Continuing with our pictures of states you've been to, today I'd like to write about New Mexico. You were there for two days in March 2011 when we drove on I-40 across the northern part of the state from the Arizona border to Santa Rosa, N.M.

Along the way, we stopped at a national parks visitor center near Grants, N.M. They had a prairie dog colony there that you really enjoyed watching.

We also took a side trip to Crownpoint, a Navajo Indian community, and walked through their elementary school! We also stopped a truck stop outside of Albuquerque and got an ice cream cone as well as silly rubber band strings shaped like musical instruments!

Here are a whole bunch of pictures from your trip to New Mexico.

Your love for Smokey the Bear

Just finished editing a children's book called "The Best Bear Hug Ever" and that got me thinking about how much you liked Smokey the Bear as a preschooler!

You first learned about Smokey the Bear when we hiked the Angeles National Forest in California. We went to a fire lookout tower, and the "prize" for children who make it to the fire tower was a Smokey the Bear comic book and button.

You couldn't read, of course, so I told you the life story of Smokey the Bear. You were so concerned that Smokey might not escape the forest fire and were so relieved when the rangers rescued him and nursed him back to health.

You asked me to tell you the story over and over! You also wanted to know if one day we could go see Smokey the Bear's grave in New Mexico (One time when we did drive through New Mexico, though, I got you a Smokey the Bear stuffie.)!

We haven't yet gone to the forest where Smokey lived, but perhaps one day soon we will.

My service in the Army National Guard

My name tag (top), rank (bottom left) and
unit insignia (bottom right) from my uniform.

You might remember from our days of playing with toy soldiers that I mentioned I was in the Army. I think you once even used some Army stickers to create a picture of me!

I joined the Wisconsin Army Naitonal Guard in December 1982, when I was just a junior in high school! The following summer, I went to boot camp in Fort Benning, Ga. When I came back, I did my senior year of high school in 1983-84 and after graduating went back to Fort Benning in summer 1984 to complete boot camp with my Advanced Individual Training course.

My job - or "MOS" - was 11Bravo, meaning infantryman. I served at the armory in Menomonie, Wisconsin, and eventually reached the rank of sergeant. For a couple of years, when I lived in New Mexico, I served in the New Mexico Army National Guard in Deming. I got out in July 1997.

I am very proud of my service and of all others who've served, no matter what branch (Though the Army is the best!). Should you one day decide to serve in our nation's armed forces, I will be very proud of you, too!

States where I've lived!

You've probably noticed from all of the entries recounting my life that I've lived a lot of places! Here's a list of all of the state's I've lived in:
>>Wisconsin (1965-1989, 1991-92, 1994-2002, 2012-current))
>>Minnesota (1989-1991)
>>New Mexico (1992-94)
>>Iowa (2002-2005)
>>California (2005-2012)

Through the Army, I underwent training in the following states (I didn't include Wisconsin or New Mexico as I was attached to those units located there.):
>>South Carolina, Fort Jackson (1983)
>>Georgia, Fort Benning (1983, 1984)
>>Minnesota (1986)
>>Nebraska (1987)
>>California, Fort Irwin (1988)

My first teaching job in New Mexico

In August 1992, I switched careers and moved to New Mexico! It was quite a monumental year!

I had been in newspapering for three-plus years and with the economy hurting was having difficulty finding a job at a larger newspaper. A college friend of mine who lived in the Southwest convinced me to apply for a teaching job there, and I did. The school principal interviewed me by phone on a Thursday, offered me a job on Friday, and told me school started on Tuesday!

So I packed up everything and drove to my new home - Deming, New Mexico. It is very close to the Mexico border and in the desert. It was quite a culture shock!

I taught English and journalism there. The first here, I taught grades 9-12 at both the middle and the high school. The second year, I taught grades 8-9 at the middle school.

I am still friends today with many of the students I taught all those years ago!

My years working as a teacher

You probably remember from a past entry that I mentioned I was a teacher for a few years. When I first went to college, I earned a degree in education so that I could teach English and journalism to grades 7-12. While in collegeat the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, I taught for several weeks at Park High School in Cottage Grove, Minn., under Joe Adams, the head of the English Department there.

I decided to go into journalism after graduating but then went back into teaching. From 1992-94, I taught at Deming High and Middle schools in Deming, N.M. My first year there, I was named teacher of the year at the middle school thanks to an essay written by one of my best students ever, Chris Martin Briseno.

I then moved back to my home state of Wisconsin and taught at Merrill Middle School. I mainly taught English to eighth graders. During that time, I earned a master's degree in education at UW-Stevens Point. In 1999, though, I went back into newspapering.

Jobs I've held in journalism, teaching

In a previous entry, I mentioned that these days I work as an editor and a writer. That's been my career for most of my life!

When I went to college, I studied journalism so I could work at a newspaper. My very first job was as a newspaper reporter in Red Wing, Minn. I covered Wisconsin news. I met your mother while I worked in Red Wing.

For several years, I also worked as a teacher. I mainly taught English but also journalism to grades 7-12 (and mainly eighth and ninth graders at that) at a school in New Mexico and one in Wisconsin.

But my heart was in writing and editing, so I went back into journalism and worked at several newspapers and magazines for several years in the 2000s. The biggest newspaper I worked for was The Desert Sun in Palm Springs, Calif. I also was the top editor at two newspapers - the Prescott (Wis.) Journal and The Daily Triplicate in Crescent City, Calif. (You were born when your mother and me lived in Crescent City!).