9/17/2014

Once Upon a Time

This is a short story that for the most part happened.  The details have been colored with a brush to make up for the shortened memory of the author.  Go with the intent not the details.

Many years ago, I attended a workshop in San Louis Obispo, California.  There is a California Specialized Training Institute at the old Fort near Morro Bay.  They put on many interesting classes that are for City Planners and County Emergency Preparedness personnel.  They always like to have a National Guard Officer or two attend to help us understand the State/County response and the ability of the guard to assist.  This is generally a one week course with the last class day spent in an exercise where the staff stage a map exercise that presents a natural disaster and a Civil Disobedience occurrence at the same time.  It generally taxes the students to meet many requirements at the same time and the good news is there is no loss of property or life.  The Military would call this a Command Post Exercise (CPX) and Map Exercise combined. 

If you have never traveled to San Louis Obispo, be prepared to either drive there fro LAX or rent a car there as it isn't the center of the world for transportation.  It is one beautiful place and well worth the trip.   On this trip, I had a vacation planned in LA following the training so I rented a car in LAX and drove up.  The drive on the coast is a trip in itself and one I highly recommend.

After a full day of travel, I was given a room in a local Motel and back in my drinking days, I was known to frequent the local bar of a cold drink, or two.  I am not the most observant person in the world, but shortly after entering the bar, I noticed that several of the people there were armed.  It was all concealed carry but not by much  Lots of guns under a light shirt or ankle holsters.  The more I looked, the more I saw.  I finished my first drink and went to the car to fetch a bottle to drink in my room.  I figured that the bar there in the Hotel was a place I didn't want to hang out in.

The next morning, I decided to ride the bus out to the training center and there on the bus I figured out why so many people were armed.  There was a class of California Highway Patrol Officers (CHPs) training that week and off duty officers in California are required to carry at all times.  Well, I guess they probably can sleep without one but outside and in the rest of the world they are armed.  My class mates all laughed at the simple guy from Kansas that was scared of a few guns. 

The other part of the story I like to tell is that because they were two time zones ahead of Kansas, I would wake up at my normal Kansas time and have time to eat and then watch the sun come up on the beach at Morro Bay.  Lovely place to visit but I am not sure I would want to live there.

MUD

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