We live in Colorado, but our lives revolve around Bristol Bay
This pretty picture came with the permit.
A few years ago, my soon to be father in law asked if I was going to be a fisherman. I scoffed and said no, because I couldn't imagine being away from home for the six-plus months out of the year that it typically takes to make it in commercial fishing. I think he was relieved, but also recognized that fishing was the job that his daughter and I found the most fulfilling, so he was worried about us settling into other careers. At the time I had vague aspirations of being a scientist, and planned to get my adventure fix by doing some kind of field work related to my bachelor's degree in snow geography, but soon realized scientific field work opportunities were apparently non-existent without at least a master's degree.
My now wife had begun a master's program in Washington, so I followed suit. Other than the month that I spent being her field assistant, I didn't feel like I was on my way to a career of adventurous and meaningful field work, instead it seemed like myself and the majority of my academic peers were being groomed for the opposite: staring at computer screens, fiddling with data collected by someone else.
I told myself that what a future in academia would likely lack in adventure, it should make up for in meaning. The data we were all wading through had to do with environmental problems, so we were all working to make the world a better place, right? That notion kept me going for a couple more quarters. What eventually became painfully obvious though, was that flexibility was key in searching for meaningful work, and in academia, flexibility is earned through reputation. Starting with no reputation, I found myself working on a project that was mostly making spreadsheets from other spreadsheets, and it seemed like it had been done a dozen times before, but there was funding for it so I tried to find meaning in it. Despite its environmental connotations, I couldn't see how the benefits of the grant would ever trickle out of academia to benefit the public, and when I proposed we conduct a survey of the potential users before completing the product, I was told there wasn't time, and I was advised to find a new advisor.
Now I'm driving a school bus in Colorado, and my wife is looking to get her teaching certification here, and we just bought a Bristol Bay permit. I like to think of driving a school bus as cross training for driving a boat, with the requisite early mornings, spatial awareness, and on the fly decision making. Plus I get full benefits, and summer break perfectly aligns with the Bristol Bay salmon season, maybe with a few extra weeks for seining if it's hot.
As for the meaning part, that's a bit more self evident too. "Driving the future", as they say. It may be wrong, but I've come to think of the rhythm of driving a school bus kind of like setting and hauling fishing gear. I like to think of it as setting the kids out in the morning so they can catch some knowledge before getting reeled back home at night. And it's mass transportation, good for the environment, right? I think I've sufficiently talked myself into doing this for a while.