Getting Home

On Tuesday, I left Provo for New Hampshire. Taking the train always proves to be an adventure, but I like doing it. This trip was no exception. I woke up early in the morning, and got ready. The first thing I did was call Amtrak to see if the train was running on time. They said it would be about 15 minutes late...close enough. The train did not come at its scheduled time, or even fifteen minutes later. By this time I was at the train station, so I called Amtrak again. As it turned out, the train had not yet left Salt Lake City. This continued for several hours. At one point, I talked to an Amtrak agent on the phone, and learned that they were having some mechanical difficulties with the train, and were trying to get a replacement locomotive. They were waiting on the Union Pacific, and they weren't sure how long that would take. The California Zephyr finally rolled into Provo, four hours late. It had Union Pacific #8072 on the head end, followed by a silent Amtrak locomotive, and then another working Amtrak locomotive. I wasn't sure what was wrong, but I guess they were not able to fix it on the road. I boarded the train, just in time to make the last call for breakfast. I had French Toast.

At breakfast I met several people who had interesting stories. One girl I ate with was from Australia. She had never been to the United States before, and she had figured that taking the train across the country was a pretty good way to see it. I think she was right. She was trying to hit 30 countries before her 30th birthday. This was her 27th country. Another lady at breakfast was from Ohio, and was travelling home by train from the west coast. She simply did not like to fly. I learned that I was the one who had traveled on that train the most in that group. I told them a little of what they would see on the train, and I guess they decided I would make a pretty good tour guide, so they asked about a thousand questions. After quite some time talking, we all went our separate ways on the train, and one lady, as she got up, just about ran into the Conductor. I heard her make a comment to him. She said to him, as she pointed to me, "You ought to be paying him, he knows everything!" I guess it helps when you have seen that a few times!

In Grand Junction, Colorado, I stepped off the train for a few minutes. That is a service stop, and a crew change point, so the train sits in the station for about ten to fifteen minutes. I stepped out there, took a few pictures, and walked around the station area a bit. I found the Conductor who was getting off there and asked him a bit about the locomotive. He told me exactly what was wrong with it. Amtrak #99 had been the lead unit to Salt Lake City. When the new engineer came on duty there, they began to have problems. He climbed up into the locomotive, as normal, put his reverser key and brake handle in the control stand, and got the thing ready to move. When he went to turn on the generator field switch, a fault message came up on the main computer on the locomotive. The fault message said the engine was failing to load properly. This basically meant it was not generating power for the traction motors, which are what make the train go. Locomotives are hybrid, the engine drives a generator, which powers motors on each axle. (The idea of Hybrid has been around since the 1930's, don't let Toyota make you think it is new!) Since the generator was not producing electricity, the traction motors were no working. After over an hour of troubleshooting, they were able to get the locomotive going, and the train finally departed Salt Lake City, at 6:16am, two hours and six minutes late. At 6:18am, about 150 feet out of the station, the locomotive stalled, and the main computer displayed the same fault message again. After some more troubleshooting, Amtrak decided to call Union Pacific for backup. They were unable to permanently solve the problem without a shop facility, even though the problem was likely an electronics problem, and not an actual mechanical problem. Union Pacific sent out #8072 to help Amtrak. That locomotive was coupled to the head end of the Amtrak train. The prime mover, or the engine, on Amtrak #99 was shut down, and it was towed dead, with the rest of the train. The train finally departed from Provo at 9:08am, just under four hours late. We had a good trip the rest of the way to Chicago on that train. We ran into one minor problem, which had to do with having a Union Pacific locomotive on the train.

Union Pacific runs primarily freight trains, and as such, their locomotives are geared to put out a lot of torque, but not to be very fast. Freight locomotives generally are capable of only 70 to 75 miles per hour. The Amtrak locomotives on the other hand are geared to put out less torque, since they haul smaller trains, but they have a much higher top speed. Their diesel locomotives, the AMD-103 P42 has a top speed of 110 miles per hour. Now, the Union Pacific locomotive we had and the Amtrak locomotives we had have similar sized engines and the same horsepower output, but the gear ratio is the thing that makes the difference. On the route to Chicago, once you get east of Denver, there are a lot of places where passenger trains are allowed to operate at 79 mph. Amtrak typically operates at that speed, and the schedule is made with that speed in mind. Since we had a freight locomotive leading the train however, the train could not go any faster than that locomotive. That meant that even though we were allowed to operate at 79 mph for nearly 1,000 miles, we could only actually go 70 mph. Over a short distance, this makes only a small distance. Over about 1,000 miles, this turns into hours. When we got to Denver, we had actually gained a little time, and we were not as late as we had been leaving Provo. The speed limits are lower across Colorado, due to the mountains, and they are easily in the operating capabilities of any locomotive. Once past Denver, we were operating at our top speed, but under the speed limit, and in the thousand miles between Denver and Chicago, we lost about another three hours. We pulled into Chicago at 9:32pm on Wednesday. Due to such a large delay, many people missed connecting trains, and other arrangements had to be made, which Amtrak took care of.

I was scheduled to leave Chicago on the Lake Shore Limited at 9:00pm, on Wednesday. One time in the past when I had to make that same connection, they actually held the train in the station because they had a lot of people making that connection. On this trip, I had a radio scanner, and I was listening to what was going on behind the scenes, so to speak. I learned that, regardless of the number of the people who had to transfer, they were no holding the Lake Shore Limited. They did not explain why, but basically if we made it in time for people to transfer, that was good, but if not, Amtrak would make other arrangements. I also learned by listening to my scanner that the Lake Shore Limited was running a little late. Despite the fact that it was supposed to depart Chicago at 9:00pm, it was just backing into the station at a few minutes after nine o'clock. I figured it would be a very short layover at the very best, if we were lucky enough to make it. I also learned that we would be arriving on track 26, and the Lake Shore Limited would be departing from track 28, which would be convenient if we made it in time, because then the trains would be across the platform from each other.

As I mentioned, we pulled into Chicago at 9:32pm, just over six hours late. When we pulled into the station, the Lake Shore Limited was still sitting across the station. They had not quite been ready to leave when we got there, so I got off the California Zephyr, and got across the platform and onto the Lake Shore Limited just as fast as I could. My layover was literally less than one minute long. The Lake Shore Limited did not wait long before pulling out. Fortunately, I had made the connection, despite the fact that it was a very fast layover. Those who did not make it were put in a Chicago hotel at the expense of Amtrak, and caught the same train the next day.

As we rode the Lake Shore Limited out of Chicago, I found out why they were not going to wait in Chicago, even though quite a few people were connecting to that train. Train crews are only allowed to work 12 hours at a time. After 12 hours, they need a minimum of eight hours off before their next shift. This is a safety regulation. Normally, the crew who brings the westbound Lake Shore Limited into Chicago in the morning gets their eight hours off during the day, and then operates the eastbound train out in the evening. That morning, the westbound Lake Shore Limited had struck and killed a pedestrian. The crew was not to blame for that, but they are required to take a day off to recover from that. Regardless of who is to blame, it is emotionally challenging whenever a train crew has a fatality on their shift, so a day off helps them recover a bit. The pedestrian had been a 17 year old high school student who thought he could make it across the tracks at a crossing before the train got to the crossing. The good news is he and the train tied in that race. The bad news is he still lost. After that incident, a new crew was notified that they would be taking the eastbound train that evening, and they came to get things ready. While they were making a reverse move with the train at one point, within the Chicago yard area, they ran through a red signal. That is a big no no. Running through a red signal is a mandatory drug and alcohol test, and three days out of service. So, the replacement crew was not allowed to operate the train east that night either. A third crew was called in, just a couple hours before the scheduled departure time. This is why the train was backing down to the station after it was supposed to be gone. They were not holding the train, because that crew was to take it to Toledo, Ohio, and they barely had the hours to make it there. They would make it, but they could not really delay in Chicago more than they absolutely had to, or they risked running into the 12 hour limit before getting to Toledo. When a crew runs into the 12 hour limit, they are required to stop the train wherever it is and wait for a replacement crew. There are no exceptions to that rule. Normally it is not a big problem, because Amtrak can get a replacement crew out there, and the delay is just a few minutes. In this case, if that happened, it would be two days before another crew was available, and the train would have to sit for two days. Obviously, that is not an option, so the train had to get out as soon as possible.

As I mentioned, we did leave Chicago a bit late. We hurried to Toledo, racing against the clock, and we actually go to Toledo ahead of schedule. Our crew was able to turn the train over to a new crew, and no one went over their hour restrictions. The train continued on, through the night, and I woke up the next morning. After a brief check of the train by the US Border Patrol, in Erie, Pennsylvania, we continued on to upstate New York. We ran through a blizzard there. Fortunately those cause only minimal delays to the train typically, and we only lost a few minutes there. The rest of the trip went fine. We did lose a little time before Albany, but there were no major delays. In Albany, the train split. Five cars headed east, to Boston, and the other ten went south, to New York. We made it almost all the way to Boston before we ran into any delays. As we left Worcester, Massachusetts, we got stuck behind a couple of freight trains and a commuter train, and we went pretty slow for a while. We got around them, and then we picked up some speed again. We had to slow down for a minute again, just outside of Boston, because someone had run their car off the Massachusetts Turnpike, which parallels the railroad. They had hit the guardrail so hard they went through that, and also through the chain link fence behind it, and out onto the railroad tracks. Fortunately they did not end up on our track, but there was quite a scene of emergency personnel, and we had to slow down as we went through the scene of the crash. From there, it was just another few minutes into Boston. We arrived in Boston, also at 9:32pm, Thursday evening, just about a half hour late. When I got off the train, I got on the Boston subway, the "T," and headed out to meet Steven and Michael. They drove me home from there. It was a nice trip. I enjoyed it a lot, even though it proved, as always, to be a bit of an adventure. Every time I take the train, I get a new story out of it. I still love travelling that way though. There is no other way quite like it to really see the country, and get a feel for the size and beauty of it. Harry S Truman once said, "You get a real feeling of this country and the people in it when you are on a train." I think he was right. It is a unique way to travel, and I'll keep doing it, even if it takes an extra 50 hours to get home!

It's Cold

I know it has been a while since I have posted anything. There has been less to talk about since I left Alaska though. Everything exciting happened up there. I don't get people asking me the elevation here, while we sit on a floating dock, or asking which side to look at to see whales, when there is only water on one side. Now I drive a school bus, which is quite different. Most noticeably, it is very loud on a school bus. And getting everyone to sit down and buckle up is no small task either.

Lately, it has been cold. Actually, it was colder here than in Fairbanks yesterday. I need a bigger coat. Or two maybe. I am normally the substitute bus driver, but when it snows, I have to drive a normal route, because the lady who normally does also has a snow removal business. Basically, I get to drive her route in the worst weather. On Tuesday for example, the snow and traffic were so bad, we got to school an hour late, even with one of the other drivers picking up my last three stops. It was a crazy day. I am not a huge fan of driving in the snow, but I'll take that over crazy cold temperatures.

What else is news? Most people who read this probably already know what is going on in my life.

Well, I was back in Alaska for Thanksgiving. That was a fun trip. I went there the Monday before Thanksgiving, and returned the Saturday afterwards. Apparently I forgot to tell my dad, because he called just after I landed in Anchorage, and I guess he heard one of the TSA announcements at the airport in the background, and asked if I was at an airport, so I mentioned that I had just landed in Anchorage. I was sure I had told him I was going, but he was quite confused and surprised to hear that I was there. I guess it still surprises him when his son turns up on the other side of the world. I do blame my love to travel on him though. He decided when we were all very young that we needed to see the world, so we would understand, in his words, that "our backyard is not the center of the universe." Well, he doesn't always come anymore, but I am still going places! Alaska was a lot of fun. It actually snowed three times in the five days I was there. I also had my interview to work there again, which I am fairly certain was successful. I am planning on working there again. With my safety record, I didn't think there would be any problems returning.

I guess the only other excitement recently was more of a disappointment. I bought a car in October, so I could get to work. It is a 2002 Volkswagen Jetta GLS. I like it a lot. Well, on November 30, Tim and I decided to go to In-N-Out Burger, in Orem. It is only about a mile from our apartment. We stopped at a red light on State St., and then someone rear ended us. We were hit so hard that we got pushed into the car ahead of us. The police estimated that she was going 40 mph when she hit us. She totaled her car. Mine looked like it was still in good shape. Obviously there was some damage but it looked minor. The people we hit have some rear bumper damage. Well, a few things happened after the accident. First of all, Tim and I had to hang around while the police talked to the girl that hit us. The girls we hit also had to stand around and wait too. We made friends with them, they are Chantel and Krystal. We did end up going to In-N-Out, and they even came. Now we hang out with them a lot actually. It was the weirdest way to meet people! I took my car to a body shop the next day to get an estimate of the damage. Well, a hit at 40 mph is a big one, and it bent the frame of my car. It can be fixed, but the cost is $6017.76. The insurance company, which has been terrible to work with, has decided to total my car. So I had it for five weeks. I may take the money they give me and still fix it. It can be fixed, but it is a big job. Fortunately, I get a rental from them, so I have still been able to get to work and other activities. I hate the rental, it is a Ford Focus, but it is better than nothing. I do need to look around for a replacement car. I won't buy an American car. I would prefer a German one, they have a way of lasting longer than their drivers usually do! I really wish I had my car. I don't want to go car shopping again. I had a good car, which I got for a good price, and it was destroyed by some girl who wasn't paying attention, even though she was driving on a busy street during rush hour. She is lucky that no one was seriously injured! I hope she learned a lesson.

A couple days ago, Tim and I went over to the Spanish Fork Airport, to see if we could fin him a job there. We didn't find him a job, but we found him a cheaper flight school than UVU. He will be going there. While we were there, they asked if we wanted to go for an introductory flight. It was a half hour flight, and it was a lot of fun. Tim was the pilot, and there was an instructor in the right seat. I sat in the back and took pictures for Tim. It was a fun flight. Flying is a lot more enjoyable when you can see out the front! One of these days I'll get a pilot's license. It was fun, and the snow looked a lot prettier from the air than it does from the ground.

215

This is coach #215. As you can see it is a Princess coach. This represents a pretty typical coach that we drive around here, at least as far as the make and model go. The paint scheme is rather unique, only two other coaches in the world have it. Here are a few statistics about the coach.

This coach was built by a company based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, which is called Motor Coach Industries. We usually call it MCI. They are the builder of all but about seven of our coaches. Those seven are built by VanHool. MCI coaches are well known for travelling over a million miles very easily on one engine, with no major repairs. They are very durable and very reliable, and they handle great.

This coach is a D4500. D is a line of coaches that MCI builds, and they have a few different types of D's. The 4500 is a 45-foot coach. The 4000 is a 40-foot coach, and they also have the DL model, which comes in 40- and 45-foot models.

This coach has a diesel engine in it, which puts out about 450 horsepower. It is a Detriot Diesel, and it has a six speed, automatic, Allison transmission. The engine and transmission are both the size of a small car, and weigh more than a rather large car! What is the 0-60 time? Well, we don't like to talk about that. This is one of the faster coaches in the fleet though.

The total empty wieght of the coach is about 34,000 pounds, and the maximum weight rating is about 48,000 pounds. That total wieght includes 55 passengers and a driver, as well as all the luggage you can cram into just under 600 cubic feet of space below the passenger area. Individually, people do not weight very much, and neither to their suitcases. With a full load though, the coach handles quite a bit differently than empty. An extra 10,000 pounds is a very noticeable change to the driver!

I have talked about what makes this go, but what about stopping something this big? Well, the tag axle, the rear axle, has disc brakes, but the other two axles have massive drum brakes. These brakes operate off of compressed air. On a big hill however, this is simply not enough to control the vehicle. The brakes, in normal service, will get as hot as 400 degrees, and on a rainy day will be steaming. On a big hill, they can get much hotter, which can cause them to fail. To help prevent this, the coach also has an engine retarder, or a Jake Brake. That is the thing on trucks that makes them growl really loudly when they slow down. Or, in the movie Cars, it is the sound Mack makes when he falls asleep. I am not sure exactly how the thing works, but it is quite effective. I can go down a hill, even a rather steep one, with my Jake Brake running, and never actually touch the air brakes, and maintain a safe speed.

Now lets talk about some of the creature comforts on board. For the passengers, there are 55 ergonomically designed, reclining seats, with footrests and armrests, which can be folded away. Above each seat, there is an air blower and a reading light, which work, provided that the driver has remembered to turn them on. There is indirect flourescent lighting above the windows and in the aisle. At the rear of the coach there is a lavatory, which is loved and hated by drivers. They love always having a restroom within 50 feet, but hate emptying the sewage tank at the end of the day. Also, for passenger comfort when boarding of disembarking, there is a kneeling feature and lights on the steps which turn on automatically when the door is opened. The coach is actually kneeling in the picture. Look at how close the front wheel is to the splash guard, and compare it the the back, you can tell if you look closely.

For the driver, there is a comfortable, fully adjustable seat and steering wheel. It is quite nice. There are two air blowers below the dash for the feet and two above, which are on a seperate air conditioner and heater from the rest of the coach, which means if the A/C goes out, the driver may actually still be cool is his is working. There is an individual driver reading light, and a seperate light on a boom called a map light. There is cruise control, and driver speakers for the AM/FM radio. The only complaint I have is that the seat has no armrests. This may not sound like a big deal, but after 400 miles it is hard not to slouch when you have no armrests, and when you slouch for 400 miles, your back hurts.

In the way of safety features, this coach has a few things built into it. Every side window is designed to open in an emergency by simply lifting a silver bar at the bottom and pushing out. There are two emergency exit hatches in the roof as well. The door has a manual unlock lever which allows it to be opened by hand if necessary. There is a fire extinguisher on board, under the second row on the right side. In the first, lefthand luggage compartment inside, there is a first aid kit and a bodily fluid cleanup kit. I have used both of those at some point this summer. In the battery compartment, accessible from the outside of the coach, there is a lug wrench, three reflective triangles, and spare engine belts. The front bumper opens, and behind that is a spare tire. The spare tire, in addition to being an obvious preparedness item, is also part of the crash impact safety system structure. It is actually designed to help absorb the impact in a frontal crash. All the glass on board is double pane, shatter resistant safety glass, and there is emergency lighting on all the time under some of the seats, to light the aisle.

Basically, that is what I drive. I feel more comfortable driving that than a car now, even though it is 45 feet long and 20 tons. It is my car.

July 2, 2009

I am going to try to describe what a day as a coach driver would be like. Realize that every day is different, so it really is not possible to give an example of what a typical day is like, simply because there is no such thing. I was looking through old log books, and found one particularly interesting day, when we had no ship in port. It was July 2, just over two months ago.

Here is what my schedule looked like:

James O. AMEX(35W) AM Portage d17:00(2W) a17:09(21A)

So, what does that translate to? It is quite simple really. AMEX means AM McKinley Explorer, or morning rail. The 35W after it means I will be picking up 35 people at the Westmark Hotel, who will be getting on the train.

AM Portage is the name of a tour. We run a Portage Lake Cruise Tour every day, with departures at 9:00am and noon. The 9:00am departure is known as AM Portage. It is about a seven hour tour, so I would have known I would be back at or just after 4:00pm.

d17:00(2W) might not be so obvious. It means I have an airport shuttle, which departs at 5:00pm, with two passengers boarding at the Westmark.

a17:09(21A) actually has to do with the airport as well. It means there is a plane arriving at 5:09pm, with 21 of our passengers on board, which are going to all of the downtown hotels. I would meet these people at the airport, and run them to their hotels downtown. Once I complete this assignment, I would be finished with the assignments dispatched to me, and I would be expected to radio into dispatch to see if they had anything else for me to do.

Here is how the day actually went:

6:00am, Anchorage, AK

Arrive at the coach yard on Interstate Circle, begin the pretrip inspection.

6:30am

Depart the coach yard, head downtown and stage on railroad hill, E St., until the Westmark is ready to have me pull up to the curb and begin loading.

6:45am

Arrive at railroad hill, begin staging.

7:15am

Westmark calls me to their curb. Depart railroad hill and head over there. It takes just a couple minutes to get there even if every light is red. Once there I get in position on their curb and begin boarding passengers. Once they are all aboard, I depart the Westmark by 7:30am.

7:30am

Arrive at the Alaska Railroad depot. I check in with 924, Miss Ellie, our rail dispatcher to find out where in the train the rail car is, and if there is space available for me to pull up. She gives me information via the radio, and I pull up to the rail car as soon as possible. I disembark my 35 passengers, and they board the train to go to Denali. Miss Ellie is our morning dispatcher, and always does rail. She is 86 years old but she has more energy than a lot of the drivers. Everybody loves her.

8:00am

Once everyone is off the coach, I do a check and cleanup of the interior. This gets my coach ready for the next group, and lets me find any lost items which I can put on the train immediatly. If they get on the train, the chances of the owner getting them back is high. I take a few minutes to do this, putting foot rests and seat backs up, and arm rests down. I also pick up trash, which that early in the morning is about 85% coffee cups. I check the overhead luggage bins for jackets, hats, or possibly bags left behind. Once I have finished this sweep of the coach, I leave the rail yard and go back to railroad hill to stage for my Portage Tour.

8:15am

I left my coach on the hill and I went to a nearby cafe to get myself some breakfast.

8:45am

I returned to the coach and pulled it around to the Hilton curb to pick up the passengers for the Portage Glacier Tour. I also had a few to pick up at the Westmark.

9:00am

I departed from the Westmark after picking up guests there too, and then I headed out of Anchorage. I began driving south on the Seward Highway, along Turnagain Arm.

10:30am, Portage, AK

Arrive in Portage, at the terminal for the M/V Ptarmigan, where we board the boat and go on the glacier cruise. I parked the coach and shut it down for this, so I could join my seven passengers on the boat.

11:30am

Arrive again at the boat terminal. The cruise typically lasts an hour, and was operating right on time. We did get to see a few spectacular calves while we were out on the lake. We all got back on the coach and left the boat terminal.

11:45am

Arrive at the Begich, Boggs Visitors' Center, on Portage Lake. We spend a bit of time both here and at the Portage Glacier Daylodge. Lunch was at the daylodge, and since I had guests, however few, my lunch was free.

1:45pm

Depart the daylodge and the visitors' center, and begin heading north again. We returned to the Seward Highway and followed Turnagain Arm back towards Anchorage.

2:15pm, Girdwood, AK

Arrive at the Alyseka Resort, and drop off the guests at the tram. Once they have disembarked, I take the coach to a parking area and then go up the tram myself.

3:15pm

Depart Alyeska, and head back to Anchorage. Once in town I drop off the guests at the hotels where they boarded, and then continue on to other assignments.

4:25pm, Anchorage, AK

Arrive at the Hilton, and disembark the guests that boarded there.

4:30pm

Arrive at the Westmark and disembark the guests that boarded there. I stayed on the curb there since I was shuttling two people to the airport at 5:00pm from that hotel.

5:00pm

Depart the Westmark with two passengers aboard, heading to Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.

5:20pm

Arrive at the airport, and drop off the passengers at the terminal they are flying from. From there I pull around to the C Concourse where I park the coach until I am needed to pick up guests from the 5:09pm arrival. Once they have collected their luggage and themselves, I am called up to the loading area and we board.

5:30pm

Pull up through the security checkpoint and to the loading area. It takes just a minute to load everyone since they had been grouped together inside the airport by the employees there. As soon as everyone and their luggage is on board, I back out of the loading area and head downtown.

5:50pm

Arrive at the Captain Cook Hotel and let a few people off there, with their luggage being given to the bell man.

5:55pm

Arrive at the Hilton Hotel, letting a few more off there, and again, giving the luggage to the bell man to bring to the rooms.

6:00pm

Arrive at the Westmark Hotel and let the remainder of my 21 guests off, and just as before, passing their luggage off to the bell man to deliver to the rooms. At this point I am empty and finished with my dispatched assignments, so I radio dispatch to see what is next. They tell me I am done for the day, so I leave the Westmark for the coach yard.

6:15pm

Arrive at the Interstate Circle yard. Conduct my post trip inspection and figure out what my hours of service look like for the next day. Finish up the paperwork, and leave by 6:30pm.

August Statistics

For anyone who is interested, these are the statistics of my driving for the month of August. This is only commercial driving which I did for Holland America | Princess-Alaska.

Miles Driven: 4,219

Passengers Carried: 1,794

Hours Driving: 145.25

Hours Worked: 283.25

Average Speed: 29.05 mph

Percentage Driving: 51.3%

Average Hours/Day: 9.76

Days Worked: 29

Incidents/Accidents: 0

Destinations included Whittier, Seward, Talkeetna, Wasilla, Portage, Girdwood, and many local Anchorage locations.

Evening Rail

Last Thursday, I was assigned to do an evening rail transfer from the location where the train drops off, to the Anchorage Railroad Depot. I parked my coach on Railroad Hill, where I would wait for a couple of hours, until the train arrived. I would just wait there, as usual, until they called me down the hill to the rail lot, where I would meet my passengers. As I was sitting on the hill, I told Sarah I should be off by 9:00pm. I had been on since 9:00am, and she was picking me up from work. As far as I knew, the train was operating on time. As I was sitting there, I got some news, which I knew would change the evening a little.

One of the other drivers came to my coach to inform me that the train, which was in Willow at the time, had just had a collision with a vehicle at a grade crossing. Details were unknown, but a fatality was suspected. I heard this, and immediately knew the delay would be at least two hours, so I called Sarah back and told her to expect me no earlier than 11:00pm. I continued to sit on the hill, expecting that we would just be called down the hill a couple hours later.

After waiting a while, dispatch called out seventeen different coach numbers, told all of us to listen up, and then told us the new plan. First they explained that the train had hit a car, and would be delayed. They then explained that we were not going to wait in Anchorage for the train. We would be meeting it somewhere else. We were all instructed to go to Wasilla and wait either in the Target, Fred Meyer, or Carr's parking lots, since those were rather large ones. One of the drivers, Martin, was designated as the leader of this operation, and it would be through him that dispatch would contact the rest of us once we were out of town and out of radio range. We all started our coaches and hit the road. There was a line of 17 coaches driving up the Glenn Highway and into Wasilla. Once there, we all scattered. Martin, Clint, and I all ended up going to Carr's. I talked to Martin there, and he asked me to sort of be his assistant in this whole thing.

Most, if not all of us, figured we would be meeting the train at the Wasilla depot. We figured they would clean up the accident and bring the train down to there. I thought it was a little strange that they would bring it to Wasilla and not all the way to Anchorage. As it turned out, this was not the plan. Dispatch had just wanted us to hit to raod, so we would be able to be underway at least before they had everything figured out. In Wasilla, we got a few more details. We were to continue on to Willow, where they wanted us to stage at the Willow Community Center. In the evening like that, the parking area would be empty, and would be about the most space we would have in that place to put 17 coaches. You have to understand, Willow is a very small place. Only about 1,600 people live there, so this was the biggest thing that had happened to them.

At about milepost 66.5, on the Parks Highway, there is a small laundromat and sort of truck stop. There are bathrooms and showers available there too. It is closed at night. Actually, I wonder if it is ever open. It is located next to the railroad tracks, and is about three miles south of the downtown area in Willow, of you can even call it a downtown area. There was a parking lot there, which was big enough to stage a few coaches. I saw this place, with a different coach in it, and suggested to Martin that we use that as a place to stage as well. The Community Center parking lot was not big enough for all 17 coaches. I pulled off there, as did several other drivers, and well all got in position quickly there so we could leave without much delay if necessary. We surveyed the area and talked to dispatch, who was in contact with the Alaska Railroad. It was decided that we would use this location as the place where we would disembark the train. It was three miles from the accident, so the train would pull up to there as soon as possible, and we would transfer everyone to the coaches, and take them back to Anchorage. It was also the only reasonably flat area around the railroad right of way, and therefore the safest place to be letting people off the train. The only problem was there were 755 people on the train, and the area we had to let them off was only about 15 feet along the track. Once away from the track a bit, there was quite a bit more space. This meant we could only use one door on the train at a time.

As we remained in contact with the railroad, they estimated that investigations would end and they would get the train to our location at about 10:00pm. I called Sarah again to give her this update, and tell her about the earliest she could expect me to get off was about midnight. That would be if there were no further delays, and if I was able to head back to Anchorage fairly quickly after the train pulled in. She decided she would go to bed and just get up when I got in. I would call her, and she would come get me.

We all waited for the train, and as we did so, more support arrived at the scene where we would transfer everyone to the coaches. The entre Willow Volunteer Fire Department arrived with their fire truck. They came with two ambulances following. We did not expect any major injuries on the train, but we figured there may be some minor ones, and they were there to help with that. Several railroad employees also arrived to help out. We started setting up lights in the area where we would unload the train. We also cleared the area of obstacles, which were mostly larger rocks. We did have to move one 40 foot segment of rail out of the way as well. Fortunately there were a lot of people there to help with that! We got that out of the way. We also got some shovels from the fire truck and filled in holes in the ground so there would be as few opportunities for someone to trip or twist an ankle or injure themselves in the dark. After a collision, we were looking for as little additional incidents as possible.

Ten o'clock rolled around, but the train did not. Several of us talked about the logistics of unloading the train. Each railcar is 85 feet long, and has a door at just one end. The train had a baggage car on the front, with wbout 1,400 suitcases on it, followed by two Alaska Railroad first class cars. behind that there was a Club Car, Dining Car, and four Alaska Railroad coaches. Behind those, we had five McKinley Explorer coaches and five Princess Tours coaches. There were 19 cars on the whole train, and 755 passengers on board. We would be taking everyone off the train, whether they were travelling with the Alaska Railroad, Holland America Tours, or Princess Tours. All passengers would go to Anchorage by coach. As we discussed the best and most organized way to unload the train and get people to the coaches, we had a few important things in mind. First, we wanted to fill each motor coach before sending it away, since the number was limited, and additional coaches were nearly two hours away. Also, we wanted to be able to escort people as much as possible from the train to the coaches, and give them as few opportunities as possible to get lost or hurt. We also decided that we were going to make sure no luggage was lost as a result of this.

Since the baggage car was the first on the train, we decided that we would unload that, and then make rows of luggage which people would walk through on the way to the motor coaches. They would claim their luggage and bring it to the coach they boarded. Other drivers and a few of the railroad personnel would help load each bag in the coach its owner boarded. This way, it would not be lost. After that, we would pull the train up a couple cars at a time, and unload a couple cars at a time, rather than try to unload everyone through one door. Also, everyone helping the passengers would have at least one flashlight. Small groups of people would be escorted through the luggage area, where they would be able to claim their luggage, and then on to the coaches. The motor coaches would all be idling and have their lights on, to add as much light as possible to the scene. The one handicapped person on board would be personally taken off the train by the firsfighters. She would have to be carried off the train to a motor coach since there was no way to get her off in her wheelchair, and it would be very difficult to roll it across gravel. At the motor coach, she would be put back in her wheelchair, where she would get on an accessible coach.

The train did not arrive at 10:00pm they way the railroad had predicted. The investigations and clean up took a little longer than anticipated. At about 11:05pm, the rails began to sing, and a rumble coule be heard. Pretty soon the whole area was lit quite brightly by the headlights of the train. One of the headlights was out, and as the train got closer, it became apparent that it was broken as the result of the crash. There was, among other things, a hub cap from the car, still stuck on the nose of the locomotive. The hub cap happened to be the biggest remaining piece. Besides a couple minor scrapes in the paint, the broken headlight, and some more gruesome details, the locomotive was not injured. There was no damage to the actual body of the locomotive. The rest of the train showed no signs of a crash.

As the train pulled in, the Conductor stepped off the locomotive with his radio to spot each car. We had him pull the baggage car in first. We created two lines of people, on at each door, and began unloading. Four people climbed up in the baggage car and started passing luggage to someone at the beginning of each line on the ground. Each piece of luggage was passed down the line until it reached a spot it could be placed for claiming. I happened to be the first one in line, catching luggage as it came off the baggage car. I am not sure why, but I had a surprising amount of energy at that hour, 14 hours into my workday. One of my supervisors actually commented on that. I was unloading four bags for every one he unloaded. He told me to share! We got about 1,400 bags off that car, with no injuries, in less than 15 minutes. It was remarkably fast. It takes more time to load and unload when the railroad uses forklifts normally!

Once the baggage car was unloaded, we pulled the train up two car lengths, to unload the Alaska Railroad first class cars. I then helped people find their luggage and get onto the right motor coach. Once the first class cars were confirmed to be empty, we pulled the train up three more car lengths and unloaded the four Alaska Railroad coaches. Once those people were on the right motor coaches, we pulled the train up four car lengths and unloaded the first three McKinley Explorer cars. This procedure continued until every car of the train could be confirmed empty.

My motor coach filled up with people form the McKinley Explorer cars, and I left the area at 12:15am. Most of the people on board were tired, and with one exception, all were just happy to be going somewhere again. I turned the lights inside the coach off and let them sleep. I did have one woman who was quite irate about the whole situation. She kept telling me she was from New York and should not have had to deal with this. She was hard to take seriously really, especially when she told me, through some rather foul language, that I ought to be ashamed of myself for letting such an accident happen. Apparently she thought it was my fault the crash happened at all. After several minutes of her yelling at me, swaering at me, and reminding me that she was better than this, because she was a New Yorker, I finally had enough. I told her (pardon the French) that I didn't give a damn where she was from, but she could quietly board the coach or she could start walking. Perhaps it was not the most polite way to finally handle the situation, but it worked surprisingly well. She shut up and boarded. I did not hear another word from her the whole way back to Anchorage. She had been awake less time than I had been at work, and had been responsible for no more than sitting on her butt all day. I had run out of patience for her nonsense, and her attitude about being from New York.

Aside from her, well, to say complaining would be polite, the trip was uneventful. I really did not have any complaints besides this woman. Everyone was just happy to be on their way to Anchorage again, and happy to get a two hour nap. It was a very quiet trip into town. I dropped most of my passengers off at the Hilton, and then the remaining four at the Alaska Railroad Depot. At that point, it was after 2:00am, and it was time for me to call it a day. I called Sarah, and told her I was headed back to the coach yard. I went back there, did my paperwork, and went home.

The next morning, I got up about 7:00am to drive Sarah to work, and then I went to work myself just after 10:00am. By the end of that day, I felt like I had been working two solid days, with just a couple of naps here and there. I was quite exhausted. The whole thing was an interesting, though rather intense experience. It was a lot of hard work, late at night, after a more than full day of work.

If you are interested in the details of the crash, it happened on Willow Station Rd., in Willow. The woman driving the car was a 66-year old Talkeetna resident. She was driving a standard transmission vehicle, which was new to her. When she stopped for the train, the vehicle rolled out in front of the train. The train broadsided the driver's side of the car, going 63 mph, and killing the woman on impact. The vehicle was dragged under the train, which finally came to a halt just about a mile later, with the vehicle then under the 18th car of the train. Sadly, almost every passenger on the train had witnessed part of the accident since the vehicle had been dragged under most of the train. There were no injuries reported on the train.

Carnival Chaos

Today the Carnival Spirit was in Whittier again. That ship is almost done its summer voyages in Alaska. Today however was a weird day as far as that went. I was assigned to take some of the crew from the ship to the airport, and later to take dock employees to Whittier. I left Anchorage at 4:00am, and got to the tunnel a while before it opened. Actually, the opening was delayed because of maintenance. I was only in Whittier for a few minutes. The crew boarded very quickly and several people loaded their luggage, and we were ready to leave in less than five minutes. I was surprised at how fast it all happened. On the way back things were weird. It was a truly strange trip. First of all, on the Seward Highway, I crushed a rabbit, and when I got into town I also made contact with a cat, which was probably the family pet to someone. The cat probably did not like that kind of contact. That was my first double kill trip. In fact, those were my third and fourth this week, and I've never had more than one in a week.

Apparently that was not quite enough excitement for one trip. One thing about large vehicles is that they take significantly longer to stop. Most yellow lights do not give you enough space to stop, so you run an alarming amount of red lights. That is where the air horn becomes very useful! That happened twice between Minnesota Drive and the airport, which is only about five minutes. It seems that killing two animals and running two lights, in an hour, would be enough excitement.

It was not over yet. I went downtown, so I would be nearby for my next departure, from the Hilton. Once I parked the coach, I went to pick up trash and generally tidy things up for the next group. I discovered as I walked back that someone had, as we call it, left a presentation. I discovered a nice puddle of vomit on a seat and the floor beneath it. It had been just over an hour since I had left Whittier, and that was the end of the trip. Some way to end! Well, I got out the biohazardous waste cleanup kit, and, trying to hold down nearly a pound of M&M's I had eaten to stay awake, scooped up all the vomit, disinfected the whole area, and myself several times, and then returned the coach to the yard for a much more thorough cleaning. It had to go out of service until it can be completely sanatized.

I got a new coach and went about my assigned duties. The rest of the day was a little less rediculious! I drove the afternoon crew down to the dock in Whittier, and then brought a few of the morning crew back. One of the morning crew was Merry. That was just weird. I'm not sure what to think of her anymore, but that is a different and unrelated story. I drove her and some of her associates back into town, and then did an airport shuttle. Everything went just fine, until I got back to the yard.

When I returned to the yard, I realized I was fortunate to not have had a major fire. As I was doing my port trip inspection, I discovered that the seal over the wheel hub had come off on one of my rear wheels. With the seal missing, all the oil in the hub had come out. I am pretty sure it came out on the highway, because there were black dots splattered all over the back of the left side and the rear end of the coach. I guess that is where the oil went, probably while I was going 60 mph. With no oil and an enormious vehicle on that and seven other wheels, there is a pretty good chance the bearing will overheat and set the remaining oil residue on fire. Fortunately, that did not happen! I reported that to the mechanic, put that coach out of service, and went home in Kate's 1966 Mercedes! Of all the vehicles I came in contact with today, the Mercedes worked the best!

Tough Life

Last night was significant because it was the first time I was home in several days. On Monday, I went to Whittier and picked up 43 passengers who had just disembarked the ship. They were the Green disembarkation group. We left Whittier and went through the tunnel, to the Begich, Boggs Visitors' Center. We spent a couple hours there and at the day lodge right next door. That was also our lunch stop. When we left there, we headed out to the Kenai Princess Wilderness Lodge, in Cooper Landing. We made a rest stop on the way, but other than that we went to the lodge. This is where they started spoiling me. I was put up for the next two nights at the lodge. Of course, I got paid for all the driving I did, but in addition to that, I got an extra $18/day for being out of town. At the lodge, I stayed the two nights for free, had my meals all available to me for free, and all the amneties of the lodge available to me for free. As if that was not enough, the tour available to the guests were also available to me for free, with an understanding that I would tip the tour providers. It was a tough assignment, but someone had to do it!

We arrived at the lodge in the middle of the afternoon on Monday. I dropped everyone off at the lodge, and then went and parked the coach. I brought my stuff up to the driver rooms. I had my own room, so I left my stuff there, and then went with Ben, the other driver on the same run, and we washed our coaches. It took a couple of hours to do that, but we got it done well before dinner still. Again, dinner was free in the employee dining room. We could eat in the restaurant too for a good discount, but we decided to go for the free food. The Kenai lodge has good food for the employees. After dinner, I went to a sled dog demonstration. One of the dogs there had raced as the lead dog in four Iditarods. That is a lot of runing. Each race is 1,050 miles, and this dog completed all of them. She had also raced in several other big races. There were several dogs there, and three puppies as well. The puppies were eight weeks old, and they had a lot of energy! Actually all the dogs had a lot of energy, but the puppies were the noisiest about it. It was actually a very interesting demonstration. I liked it a lot.

On Tuesday I had the day off at the Kenai Princess Lodge. That was great. I got to clock in for four hours to clean my coach, even though I had done it the afternoon before. I also got the $18 just for being away from Anchorage. I decided to go on a tour on Tuesday afternoon. It was a 12 mile rafting trip on the Kenai River. This was not white water rafting or anything, just a gentle float trip really. It was quite interesting though. It took about two hours. We saw a lot of Bald Eagles as we floated. We also saw a Brown Bear catch a fish, which was about the coolest thing in the world. I had always wanted to see that. There was no way to get a picture though, it happens so quickly. The bear just grabbed the fish right out of the water, and walked off into the woods with it. We also saw the combat fishing on the Russian River. The joke here in Alaska is that no one has trouble catching fish. There are so many fish that you don't need to fight for them. You just need to fight for space in the river to be able to put your line in the water. We saw some of that in the Russian River, where it met the Kenai River. It was very crowded. People here call that combat fishing.

On Wednesday I got up and got my coach over to the luggage loading area. Ben and I loaded all the checked luggage for our passengers under our coaches. We went around and picked up everyone at the lobby area of the lodge. We were both heading to the Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge. We had the same passengers again, which was nice. They had seen us around the lodge, and so it felt like I was getting to know some of them. We stopped for a brief photo stop on the Seward Highway on the way to Anchorage. In Anchorage, I dropped everyone off at the Captain Cook Hotel for a couple hours to give them the time to get some lunch. Two people left me there. That was as far as their trip went, but everyone else was back on board two hours later.

During lunch, I went to get a bite to eat, and then just staged with the coach on railroad hill. While I was staging there, Sarah texted me to ask if I was back in town. She knew I would be gone for a few days. I told her I was, but just for lunch. She asked if I was home, so I explained I was staging downtown. She asked what my coach number was, so I told her I was in #197. I knew when she asked for the coach number that she would probably visit in the next couple minutes. Sure enough, she and Crystal came along and visited for a little while. Sarah is a girl who works as a Guest Service Host on ship days, at the Hospitality Center, and Crystal is a girl who works in Property Claims, who I really only know because she has been around a few times when I have hung out with Sarah. They're fun to hang around.

After a couple hours and some food, it was time to get underway again. I told Sarah and Crystal that they ought to visit me at McKinley Lodge. Sarah said they would think about it and text me. There was a short discussion about what we would do there, since the mountain would not be out to look at, and she decided we ought to use the hot tub. I told them I did not have a swim suit here, but we could probably think of something. They left the coach at that point and I went back around to the Captain Cook Hotel to pick my guests up again. They were all happy to be back and underway again. We headed right up to the lodge, which is about 15 miles north of Trapper Creek. It was a good trip. I explained to everyone as we were arriving at the lodge that I would be leaving them there. They would get a new driver up to Denali, because I would head back to Anchorage the next day. A lot of them told me I should call my dispatcher and keep driving them. It was good to hear that. They wanted me to keep going with them. As they got off, they tipped really well. I have never had such a big pile of tens and twenties! Those people paid my rent for the month of August and then some! I dropped their checked luggage off to be delivered to their rooms, and then parked the coach. When I parked, I had a message from Sarah. She and Crystal had decided to come visit, and by then were on their way. Apparently Crystal knew how to get there.

I got my coach put away and got my room key. While I was walking around to take care of all that, I got a call from Sarah. She didn't sound so happy, and she was asking for directions. I guess they had gotten to the Talkeetna road junction, and Crystal did not remember if the lodge was in Talkeetna or father up the Parks Highway. We always say it is in Talkeetna, but it is actually about 45 minutes from there, further north on the Parks Highway. So I gave Sarah directions to get there. It made me laugh. I think she was a little frustrated with Crystal's driving. After that I got my stuff put in my room. I was the only one in there, even though there were three beds. I met up with Rachel there, who was also at the lodge overnight, and we went to eat in the Employee Dining Room. The food there is not that great. It is not good at all, but it fills you up, kind of. I didn't like it, but it was free. While I was eating, I got another call from Sarah. They were there. I asked where at the lodge, and they had no idea, so I was a little confused, and asked if they were really there. It was funny. We had a weird conversation about that, but then they came to the employee dining room while I finished my meal.

After dinner, the big question was what to do. Well first thing, we went to my room. They had a car, and I didn't want to walk all the way back up that hill. I already had twice that night! When I was in the car, Sarah handed me a bag and explained that she had bought me a swim suit, so I could go hot tubbing too. I guess Crystal thought that was a bit awkward, but it really didn't bother me, and it certainly didn't bother Sarah! We decided to go in the hot tub for a litte while and then figure out what was next after that. We all changed, and then walked down there. We ended up sitting in the hot tub for about three hours! When we got out all hiked back to employee housing to change. The original plan was that Sarah and Crystal would just use the two empty beds in my room, and leave really early in the morning, since Sarah had to work in the morning. The decided it would probably easier to just stay up and drive home late, rather than get up early to go back to Anchorage. So they left just before midnight, for the 150 mile drive back to town. They made it back.

Yesterday, Thursday, I came back to Anchorage. I had a 2:00pm departure from the lodge, heading to the Captain Cook Hotel. That went fine. After that I had a few hours to kill downtown, and then evening rail. It was probably the least exciting day this week, but it was still good.

A few other notable things happened this week. I drove my 5,000th passenger, and I drove my 12,000th mile in a motorcoach. So basically I have driven the same as about halfway around the world in a motorcoach!

July Statistics

For anyone who is interested, these are the statistics of my driving for the month of July. This is only commercial driving which I did for Holland America | Princess-Alaska.

Miles Driven: 4,952

Passengers Carried: 1,902

Hours Driving: 154.25

Hours Worked: 265

Average Speed: 32.10 mph

Percentage Driving: 58.2%

Average Hours/Day: 9.81

Days Worked: 27

Incidents/Accidents: 1

The incident was a gentleman who accidentally cut his hand on one ov the overhead baggage compartment doors. It was minor, but he still needed a bandage, and so it was considered an incident. After a quick wash of the cut and a bandage, he went on his was without any more problems.

Destinations included Whittier, Seward, Talkeetna, Wasilla, Portage, Girdwood, and many local Anchorage locations.

Accidents

This has been a good week. I have worked a lot, but my hours have, for the most part, been good ones, and I have had enjoyable shifts. Really there is not a lot out of the ordinary to report on, at least no that has directly involved me.

On Friday, the m/s Ryndam was in Seward again. I had stayed overnight there on Thursday, so I brought people back to Anchorage in the morning. In the afternoon, I went back to Seward, and then returned to Anchorage again. When I got to Girdwood, my Low Fuel light came on. That was the first time I had seen that light. Now, in a typical car, I knew I could make it back to Anchorage and refill. With a coach, I had no idea how long I had left to drive before I would be dead. I knew the D model coaches, which I was driving, typically get about 600 miles to the tank of fuel, so I quickly started thinking about all the places I had driven the coach since it was last fueled. I concluded that at that point, 40 miles from Anchorage, I had driven around 550 miles on that tank, and someone else had put about a dozen miles on that tank before me. I thought about fueling in Girdwood, which would have meant buying diesel out of pocket and hoping to get reimbursed. I decided to bypass the Tesoro station in Girdwood. There was one more fuel station about ten miles away, in Indian. I figured I would stop there and put ten gallons in if the coach struggled at all. The coach did fine, and I bypassed that stop too. At that point, I grabbed the wheel a little tighter and thought to myself, "I hope you can make it 856, its nearly 30 more miles!" She made it back to the yard, and I let her idle for a minute to help cool the turbo off before shutting down. The next day, Saturday, I was assigned to the same coach, and I checked the fuel log. They had pumped 150.3 gallons into the tank, meaning I had less than six gallons left when I had parked on Friday! That was close. I would have had a dry tank if I had gone another 30 miles!

I later learned that just moments after I passed Turnagain Pass on that last trip back from Seward, there was a major crash. There was a head on collision which was fatal for an 11 year old passenger in one vehicle. Several of our coaches were stuck for several hours on the wrong side of that crash. Since it was fatal, cleanup took a long time, because of the investigations that were conducted by the state. The cause was determined to be a bad attempt at passing someone.

Today I did airport shuttles, but I learned of another accident on the Seward Highway. I heard of it at about 7:00pm, from a driver who was caught on the wrong side of it. This one was near Girdwood, and was another head on collision, caused by alcohol. When I first heard of it, the drivers stuck in traffic had already been waiting a couple hours. When I got off work, at nearly 10:00pm, nobody had moved yet. It was another fatal crash, for at least two people, which means another investigation. The Seward Highway is one of the most dangerous highways in the world. I have driven that road hell over a hundred times, and never had any incident, although there have been one or two close calls. Nearly all the other drivers have driven it as often as I have, and yet none of our vehicles have been involved in any accidents on that road this season, which is nothing short of a miracle. As a fleet, we have logged hundreds of thousands of miles on that road in the past three months, with no incidents. That's more than lucky.

Carnival Week

Last Monday, the Island Princess was in Whittier again. As usual, I made a few trips there. My last trip was in the afternoon, and I was asked to stick around to bring home railroad employees. I had a few hours to kill there. I spent some of it in the terminal, but when I eventually got bored there, the train was just pulling in with its 900 passengers. I went out to the platform, across the street to watch the train pull in. Once the crowds started coming I decided to go somewhere else. So I got in my coach and drove over to the railroad yard, where I had to pick up the employees.

Once I got to the yard, I still had some down time. It took a bit of time, as you can imagine, to completely unload 900 people and get them to the ship. Once the train was clear of passengers, they pulled up into the yard. I took a couple pictures as the train approached, and the engineer leaned way out of the window and waved and gave me a thumbs up. The employees still had to clean up and put things away on board, so even though the train was there, I had a bit more time. I left the coach open, and walked the length of the train, towards the head end. The engineer had the cab window open, so I talked to him for a minute. He invited me up into the cab to take a look around.

When I got up there, I also met the Fireman, who was a woman, and the Conductor. They were getting ready to uncouple the locomotive, and run it around the train. They were going to couple it on the back and run the cars, empty, back to Anchorage. The Conductor and Fireman both left the cab to go set the brakes and uncouple the locomotive. I got up to leave and told the engineer I'd let them get back to work, and he told me there was no reason I couldn't ride with them. Well, he didn't need to ask me twice! None of the employees had gotten off yet, so I took the Fireman's seat, and sat down to enjoy the ride! We uncoupled, and ran forward to the far east end of the railroad yard. Then, we switched tracks, and ran back to the west end of the yard, almost back into the station. We changed tracks, and headed forward, to couple to the rear end of the train. By the time we pulled up to the rear end of the train, all the employees were off the train and on my coach. I figured if I had to wait that long for them, they could wait a few minutes for me while I rode around on the locomotive! Once we came to a stop, I thanked the engineer, and climbed off the locomotive and got on the coach. No one on the coach said anything about me being on the locomotive. Actually no one said anything at all about the delay, so I didn't either! The ride back to Anchorage was uneventful.

On Wednesday the Carnival Spirit was in Whittier. I had a busy day. I made three trips to Whittier, which is more than usual. In all those trips, I only had about five white people on the coach! That was interesting, and a lot of fun. I found that black people are very generous with tips! I made over a hundred dollars in tips that day! It was a long, but a fun day. When I went home, I had been at work for just under 19 hours. Needless to say, I was quite exhausted! It had been a good day though.

On Thursday I had a shorter day, though still a busy one. The Pacific Princess was in Seward, but that was not a big deal, because it was just a port of call. No one was getting off to go anywhere. They all stayed in Seward. I had some local assignments in Anchorage. Friday was another pretty short day, but it was a good thing, because I only had a few hours available.

The Sapphire Princess was in Whittier on Saturday, and I made two trips there. In four trips through the tunnel, I waited for five trains. That tunnel was really working against me at the end of the day. I was supposed to pick up railroad employees in Portage, but I had some time to kill in Whittier. I went with Shannon, who was picking up the rail employees in Whittier. I saw the engineer who had let me ride with him again, on the same train. Later, I got in line for the 7:00pm tunnel opening, so I'd be in Portage on time. That tunnel opening was delayed because of a train, and then it went on as usual. Well, just before I was supposed to enter the tunnel, it was closed, and the next tunnel time was posted for 8:00pm. I was stuck in Whittier with only a few hours left to legally drive. If for some reason I could not go through the 8:00pm tunnel opening, I would not make it back to Anchorage without running out of hours. Before the 8:00pm tunnel opening, I had to wait for two more trains, but I did make it through. Since I had been delayed an hour, all the rail employees were waiting for me when I arrived in Portage. There were only a few of them. They all boarded and we got underway. One of them had brought me dinner from the Dining Car, and at the end, when I dropped them off at the yard in Anchorage, one of them gave me a tip! That was not expected. It was nice though. When I got off work, I only had 15 minutes still available to drive!

Sunday, despite only having about 10 hours to work, I was still scheduled. I was scheduled for about 18 hours of work though. My evening assignments all got dropped because they were after my expiration time. I was assigned to be the Alaska Railroad's motor coach connection from Portage to Anchorage. I have done that before, it is a pretty easy run, and there is a bit of down time in Portage. Since we had the m/s Veendam in Seward, the Cruise Trains were also running. I passed one on the way to Portage, and I knew it would be coming through while I was there. I heard it, and stepped out in the rain to take a couple pictures as it came by. As I was out there, and thrain rushed by, the engineer leaned out the window and waved. It was the same engineer that had let me ride around Whittier with him. I think he may have recognized me, that being the third time I saw him that week. The train from Grandview, which I was meeting in Portage, was running late. That set me back on my schedule, which was bad, because I was almost out of hours. I started driving towards Anchorage, but I was forced to pull over at the weigh station by Potter Marsh, because I was out of hours. I had hit the 80 hours per week limit, and I could no longer drive a commercial vehicle under any circumstances. Dispatch knew this was going to happen, and they were already on the way to meet me. I explained what was going on to my passengers. One lady about fell over when she heard I had worked 80 hours in that week! Jason, from dispatch came in a van, and basically we switched vehicles. I could drive the van still. By the time I left for home at the end of the day, I had logger 80.5 hours of work for the week!

Yesterday was a short day, at only 10 hours. And today I am off, probably because I do not have a very many hours available. Having today will help to get me more hours for the rest of the week. This is my second day off this month!

Two Weeks of Silence

Sorry about that by the way. Things sort of got going around here. Well, that is nothing new I guess, I just lost track of time.

This weekend was a little interesting. On Thursday, I was sent to Seward, to overnight there and then head back into Anchorage with a load of people from the m/s Ryndam. That worked out quite well. When I got back into town, they asked me if I would mind going back to Seward for the night. I had no problems with that, as long as I could wash my coach first. I had to do it myself, since it was the middle of the day and the wash crews only work nights, but I took care of it. It takes a while when you have to do it alone! My coach had become quite disgusting from some road construction on the way back from Seward, and I wanted it cleaner. After I finished giving it a bath, I went to the airport and picked up a group, and headed back to Seward. They boarded the m/s Ryndam. I stayed overnight again, and on Saturday morning, I drove right to Whittier, where I picked up a group heading to Anchorage. Once back in town, I had driven over 600 miles with that coach. They have enough fuel for about 600 miles, so I needed fuel. My plan was to stop by the shop, get fuel, and then head back out to Seward, the way I had been scheduled. When I got back there they told me to change coaches. So I got a different one, and headed back to Seward, for another night. On Sunday morning, I got up and did the Seward shuttle all day long. After a long day of driving in circles, I headed back to Anchorage, for a night back in my own bed! That was a nice change!

On Monday, the Island Princess was in Whittier. Much to my surprise, I did not work until the afternoon. I headed to Whittier with a group of people who had just flown in, and dropped them off at the ship. They were not a very responsive group, so I was not sure if they actually were interested in my tour at all. We made a picture stop at Portage Lake, and then we went through the tunnel. As we exited the tunnel several minutes later, one guy, close to the back of the coach, shouted out, "Hey James, do you accept tips?" Jackpot! Whenever someone else mentions tips, it gets everyone thinking about it, and then they generally tip better!

After I unloaded everyone I moved the coach out of the way. I had several hours to kill in Whittier because I had to bring train employees back to Anchorage. Rather than sit in the coach, I went in the terminal to see if there was anything to do or someone to talk to. As I was milling around in there the supervisor came out and told me that she had met one of my guests. Apparently this guest absolutely loved the tour and the transfer to the ship and wanted to make sure someone in charge knew that I had done a great job. That was nice to hear. I guess I had a great group, even if they were a little unresponsive.

The Strangest Trip to Whittier

On Wednesday, the Carnival Spirit was in Whittier again. I went into work at 5:30am. When I arrived at work, I found a nice, large brownie in my box. Merry had come in at 4:00am, to head to Whittier, and had left that for me. I was so excited for that. Normally everyone at the shop at 5:30am looks like they just got out of bed, and they don't look very approachable. I felt a little funny, because I had been so excited for that brownie, and walked around the shop with a big goofy smile after that. I'm sure several people thought the smile was strange at that early hour! Once I had inspected my coach, I headed out to Whittier. I ate the brownie while I waited for the tunnel into Whittier to open. I made the comment to another driver who was also waiting that I had found a brownie in my box, and I guess for the rest of the day, Merry had nearly all the drivers asking her where the brownies were! Word gets around in a hurry!

In Whittier, I picked up a group that was headed to the airport, and we drove back to Anchorage. The trip back was a pretty typical ride along Turnagain Arm, and into town. I dropped people off at the airport. There, they needed someone to take people downtown to the Egan Center. Since I already had a few people going there, I volunteered to do that. I picked up a small crowd there and made the trip downtown. I then called dispatch, and they told me I would be doing a trip from the airport back to the ship, a few hours later.

I left the airport at my scheduled time, and headed down to Whittier. I left the airport with enough time to make the tunnel, but not with any time to spare. Things started out pretty normal. I had a good group of passengers, who were engaged in my narration, and had plenty of questions. As we headed down the Seward Highway, things began to get interesting. Only a few miles out of Anchorage, a pickup truck was off the road, against a cliff face, and appeared to have rolled several times before it got to that cliff. That caused a minor delay, as everyone slowed down to look at the damage and drive around the police cars out there. Once we passed the scene of that wreck, traffic picked up speed again, and we were on our way. That was the first accident I had seen on that road, despite it being one of the country's more dangerous ones. Things were going great again as we got farther from that accident. We got past Indian and Gordwood, and then traffic began to slow down again. As we came around a curve, we found a motorhome on it side on the left side of the road. Only one lane was open though there, so traffic came to a crawl. It took a few minutes to get through there, but things went well again as we got underway. There were a lot of emergency vehicles on the scene of that wreck. By this point, I was looking at my watch, and figured we would still make the 2:30pm tunnel opening, but just before it closed for the hour. That was no problem, as long as we made it!

When we got to the tunnel , we had made up a little time, so it was just a couple minutes after the tunnel had opened. I pulled up to the toll booth and handed the attendant my prepaid tunnel card, as usual. That was when things got interesting again. It would not scan. That morning, it had worked fine, but this time, it had no more trips left on it. I checked the reciept from my earlier trip, and it said I still had three more trips. We could not get it to work at all. I radioed to the coach behind me, and asked if he could run his tunnel card up, and I would go through on that. He cam up with his, but he had the same problem. That was strange. There was one other coach behind him, but that driver did not answer the radio when I called to them a few times, so we were not able to use that card. This all took quite a bit of time, and a bit of a line began to form behind us, because anything bigger than a car without a trailer is supposed to use the lane we were in. Another lady came out from the main office building there to see what was going on. She asked if I had received my new tunnel card. I told her I had no idea what she was talking about, and explained that the one I had was working just fine that morning! She said that all the coaches were supposed to have new cards. Well, mine had the same card it always had. She ran back to the office and got a card, and scanned that to pay my way through the tunnel. Luckily I did not have to pass the hat to go through! It was really frustrating.

We went through the tunnel without any further delay, and made it into Whittier. As we were driving from the tunnel to the ship, which is maybe a mile, there were three guys standing on a large rock next to the road. They had their backs to us and were looking out at Passage Canal. I thought they were going to go swimming. As we drove by, they mooned the coach! That really got everyone on board laughing! I made a joke about how they just got to see the Alaska wildlife, and then we arrived at the terminal in Whittier, where everyone got off.

When I arrived at the terminal, everything went just as it normally does, and everyone made it to the ship. I was informed that a vehicle which had been behind me in the tunnel had broken down, in the tunnel. That effectively closed it temporarily. I was supposed to head back to Anchorage through the 3:00pm tunnel. I got there at 3:15pm, and it still had not opened, because they were trying to get the stalled vehicle out. It finally opened a half hour late, at 3:30pm. Somehow, I got stuck behind a motorhome whose top speed in the tunnel was 15mph. I timed the trip through, and with that motorhome moving as slow as it was, it took 17 minutes to get through the tunnel. Normally it is six or seven minutes. After that long, you are pretty sick of the tunnel, and I was happy when that guy pulled over at the end, because I didn't want to go that slow the whole way back! The rest of the return trip was uneventful. The two wrecked vehicles were still there, but the emergency workers were gone, and the vehicles just needed to be towed. I did a few airport shuttles when I got back into town, and that was it for me. It was about a 13 hour day.

Yesterday I did a morning rail transfer from the Hilton, at the top of the hill, to the train station, at the bottom of the hill. That was fun actually. We had to wait a while, so I entertained the passengers and did very well on tips for a rail transfer! There was one kid, who was probably five or six, who was hilarious. He loved attention, and he loved joking around. His commentary was so funny. He wanted me to sing to everyone, so I offered him the microphone. He changed his mind about singing then. It was awesome. After a short breakfast break, I did the morning Portage tour. We first went on the M/V Ptarmigan for the Portage Glacier Lake Cruise. That was very nice. The sun was out and it was very warm, and the glacier calved spectacularly for us. I had seven passengers on that trip, and I got talking to them on the cruise. We had a lot of fun together. Two of them were flight attendants. One of the flight attendants had flown her daughter up here for the day so she could do this tour. I couldn't believe it. If I had just a day in Alaska, I think I would feel quite overwhelmed! There is so much to see and do here that many people say two weeks is too short! And she was here for a day!

When we left the lake cruise, we went to the Visitors' Center and the day lodge for lunch. I had a voucher for everyone on the trip to get into the Visitors' Center, which was really nice. Then we had lunch, which was also good, and several passengers bought fudge. That fudge is so good! After a little over an hour there, we went over to the Alyeska resort. As usual, I parked the coach, and took the tram up myself. Rather than just look at the view, I decided to hike around a bit. That was a lot of fun, but I am definately not used to high altitude anymore. At 2,700 feet above sea level, I was dying. I felt like there is no air up there! This is sad, because I lived for three years at 4,500 feet! It was still a lot of fun to hike around up there though. From the resort, we headed back into town, and dropped everyone off at their hotels again. It was a fun day.

I was then asked, spur of the moment, to do a few airport shuttles, since the coach on that assgnment was running over 40 minutes behind schedule. The shuttles run every hour. I ran one out to the airport, which was enough to get the hotel to airport shuttle back on track. At the airport, they asked me to run one to the hotels. After that, I returned to the yard, and put the coach away for the night. I got a "Star of the Moment" award for being willing to help out with that.

June Statistics

For anyone who is interested, these are the statistics of my driving for the month of June. This is only the driving I did for Holland America | Princess-Alaska.

Miles Driven: 3,994

Passengers Carried: 2,156

Hours Driving: 143.75

Hours Worked: 249

Average Speed: 27.78 mph

Percentage Driving: 57.7%

Average Hours/Day: 9.22 Days Worked: 27

Incidents/Accidents: 0

Destinations included Whittier, Seward, Denali, Talkeetna, and many local Anchorage locations.

Volcano!

This has been an interesting week! As I mentioned in my last post, we had an earthquake to start the week off. That was one of three statewide. Well, the next few days were pretty quiet. I mostly did airport shuttles, and stayed in town. I did make it down to Portage once.

On Thursday, I was assigned to shuttles until late at night. At 10:00pm, I was supposed to be picking people up from all the hotels and making a run out to the airport. Well, that turned into an adventure. There was no one at the Hilton who needed to go to the airport. From there, I went on to the Westmark, where I had two people who were supposed to be riding with me out to the airport. When I got there, they were nowhere to be found. I waited for about fifteen minutes, since I was ahead of schedule anyway, but they never turned up. A group of four other people did show up though, and they asked me how to get to Wal-Mart. I explained to them that it was not within walking distance. My next hotel pickup was at 11:30pm, and I had absolutely nothing to do until then, so I offered them a ride to Wal-Mart, if the Captain Cook Hotel had no one for me right then. They sat down on a bench while I radioed to the Cook to see if they needed me. They had no one waiting for that shuttle, so I told the four on the bench to board, and I would run them over to Wal-Mart. They wanted to buy some snacks for their ride to the ship the next day, and this little illegal run seemed more exciting than sitting somewhere for over an hour. They were happy because they did not need to pay a cab, and they thought it was a fun little adventure to take a 55-seat motor coach to Wal-Mart. I figured I would not get caught, because we normally do not drive past there, and there was only one other coach out at the time. Well, I dropped these four off at the front door, and told them I'd wait there for them, since it was only going to be a few minutes. As I was waiting there, with the door open, someone came running on with no warning whatsoever. It was Rob, my roommate. As it turned out, all my roommates had decided to eat at Pizza Hut, which is right next to Wal-Mart. Naturally, seeing one of our motor coaches pull up, they wanted to see who was the driver. I think they were a little surprised to see me, but it was funny. Once the four guests came back, we headed back to the Westmark. When they got off, they gave me a bigger tip than their taxi there would have cost. They were happy, and had a fun adventure too!

Last night, I was doing airport shuttles again. Both Thursday and Friday were late nights, getting me done after midnight both nights. Yesterday's shift ended just a half hour before people started arriving this morning for transfers from the ship. I got done at 1:30am today. Before my last shuttle from the airport to the hotel, I learned that Mt. Redoubt, which is located about 100 miles to the southwest, actually began to erupt again. Now, this is not a Mt. St. Helens style eruption, but there is a bit of lava and smoke and ash flowing out of that mountain pretty steadily now. We may get some ash today or tomorrow, but the wind is not blowing it directly towards us. That should be interesting. I hear it looks a lot like snow falling, except it is still hot when it lands. If it hits here, I'll let you know what it is like!

Today, I went in to work at 10:00am, and I was assigned to make a run to Whittier, where the Diamond Princess is tied up, and then return to Anchorage to drop people off at the Cruise Train, and then pick people up off the train from Denali tonight. When I went in, I did not have enough hours to do the McKinley Explorer pick up this evening, but I was going to do everything except that pick up. I got to the hotel, to pick up passengers going to the ship, and they did not need me. The needed a coach with a lift. I called dispatch to see what to do, and they decided to have me come back to the office to check in with them. They decided after a little discussion that it would probably be best to just send me home and find someone else to cover my assignments. I guess they need me more tomorrow than today. So all I did was drive to the hotel and back, empty in both directions. It was fun! This evening I am going over to a friend's house to hang out and eat. Her name is Merry. She usually works on the dock in Whittier, in the mornings, and she invited me over this evening. That will be fun, and it is a free dinner, and a much better dinner than I would probably eat if left to my own creativity!

Earthquakes, Pocahontas, and Million Mile Coaches

My weekend was pretty good. Sunday we had the Veendam in Seward. I made a run down there with a group of people who were getting on the Kenai Fjords tour before boarding the ship. Then, after a little break, I went out on the dock to pick people up from the ship. They were some of the later disembarking people. I met their tour director first, and actually I knew her, but she did not know me. A couple of weeks ago, when I ate dinner on the Ryndam, the three of us who drove back to Anchorage were supposed to also be driving a tour director back when we got done with dinner. Well, we forgot, and left her in Seward. That girl was the tour director on this trip. Luckily she did not remember me! I was not the one who promised her a ride though. I drove her, and her group of passengers, to the Alyseka Resort, in Girdwood. I also had a few other tour directors who rode in back because they needed to go to Anchorage. One of them was Lauren, who I also knew. She was a tour director twice for me in the past. They moved up front when we left Alyeska, and we had a fun trip from there to Anchorage. I was going to drop them all off at the Egan Center, downtown, because I figured that would be a good central location in town. Lauren ended up talking me into driving them all to their individual apartments, which was interesting! At places where there was no space to turn into their apartment complex, I just dropped them off on a nearby street corner. It was funny, because they would ruch off the bus, open a baggage bay, grab a suitecase or two, and close the bay, all in a huge awkward rush, to try to beat the traffic light, so I could move as soon as it turned green!

On Monday, we had the Coral Princess in Whittier, although I wouldn't have known if it was not listed on the dispatch. Monday was actually a bit frustrating. I wanted to go to Whittier in the morning, and pick people up at the terminal. I was instead assigned to do morning rail. Than involves picking people up at their hotel and driving them to the train station. That is where I met Pocahontas. She was actually the tour director for the group I took to the train station. She had worked for Disney before working here, and that is who she played in the parade that they apparently have at one of the Disney parks.

After morning rail I was assigned to do a Portage Glacier Cruise Tour, which I normally like a lot, but I really did not want to do for some reason on Monday. Well, only two people were booked on the Portage trip, so it was cancelled. We need four to run it. Dispatch said they would probably have me do a shuttle from the hotels to the airport and then send me to Whittier with people getting on the ship. Well, I did the next three airport shuttles, and then I was assigned to do a shuttle from the Egan Center to the airport. On one of the hotel to airport shuttles, we had an earthquake. I was actually stopped at the airport, waiting for some cabs to move so I could get to the curb, and the whole coach was rocking. It was not violent, but very easy to feel it. It is notmal for the bridge at the airport to shake a little if another coach drives by, but I was the only one there, and I noticed all the other cars up there were also rocking a bit. I learned later that it was a 5.41 magnitude earthquake, and it was actually only one of three that Alaska had that day. There were two other unrelated earthquakes felt in the Aleutian Islands, which were about the same size. A half hour later, we had an aftershock which was about a 4.0, which is just a small vibration. You would hardly notice that.

After the shuttles, and the earthquake, I waited at the airport to do the Egan to airport shuttle. They used me a couple times to bring people downtown from the airport. Then I went over to the Egan Center, only to learn that dispatch had told them I was a back up shuttle, and I was not actually needed over there. I went back to railroad hill while dispatch sorted out my next assignment. I learned over there, while talking to one of the supervisors, that the earthquake had completely shut down the Alaska Railroad. There would not be any trains running to the ship, and ten additional coaches would be needed to go to Whittier. To the north, the train to Denali was terminated in Talkeetna and all the passengers were transferred to motor coaches, and the train to Anchorage, from Fairbanks, continues, but at a restricted speed, simply because here was no place for them to transfer to coaches. All trains to Whittier and Seward were cancelled. Bridges needed to be inspected before trains could be running again. I figured that I would definately be going to Whittier when I heard that news. Finally, dispatch got back to me about the assignment. They told me to return to the yard and call it a day. I was a little disappointed, because I felt like I had done nothing, and it had been a really frustrating day. When I got back to the office, they did give me a "Star of the Moment" sticked and thanked me for my flexibility.

Yesterday, I was assigned to do a couple of early morning hotel to airport shuttles, and then morning rail again. My first shuttle, at 5:00am, was inadvertantly given to the only other coach out at that hour, so I had an hour to kill until my next one. At 6:00am, I left the Westmark with the most people I have ever had on an airport shuttle. I had over 50 people on there, which would be a lot in the middle of the day, with stops at all three hotels! They had more baggage than most people see in a year! I had to load the baggage from both sides, and nearly every cubic inch was taken when I was done, but it all did fit! I took them to the airport, and it took a few minutes to get all that luggage off the coach, but they were patient. I actually did pretty well in tips from that run, probably just because of the amount of luggage. I got more from that one airport shuttle than I normally get from a whole day of airport shuttles! After that, I headed over to the Captain Cook Hotel for a morning rail shuttle. I had a full load on that trip, but that is less common. Once mornng rail was done, I had no more assignments, but I checked in with dispatch. They told me to head back to the yard, but to see them in the office before shutting everything down. I headed towards the office, and part of the way there, they called me back into town via radio. They said they would be needing me for the morning Portage Glacier Cruise Tour. I am not sure what happened, but I think they gave it to me because it had been cancelled on me the day before. That is one of my favorites, and I think they felt bad that I had been expecting to do that and then got stuck with shuttles on Monday. Whatever the reason was, I was excited for that assignment. I headed back into town and went to the Hilton.

At the Hilton, I had a bit of time to kill, so I ran across the street for some breakfast, which had accidentally been forgotten over the previous six hours. I was supposed to be picking up two people at the Hilton, but I had a little time before I was scheduled to leave. As the departure time neared, they did not show up. We checked the hotel lobby for them a few times and tried calling their room, but we could not get in contact with them at all. They never showed up, even after I waited a few additional minuted for them, so I went over to the Westmark, where I was supposed to be picking up two other people. They were there. Normally, we would cancel the trip for fewer than four people, but in this case, there were four booked. We will not cancel the trip at the last minute on people, so I went, with a 55 seat coach, and only two passengers! They thought it was rather amusing that I had such a large vehicle for such a small group. I did too.

The Portage Glacier Cruise Tour went great. These two passengers were excited to go, and wanted to know everything! We went straight to Portage Lake, because we wanted to make the 10:30 sailing, and we had left a little late because we waited a few minutes for the no-shows. We made the boat, and the cruise was great. First of all, it had been pouring the whole way to Portage. As the boat backed out of the slip, the rain stopped. At the end of the trip, wehn the boat docked again, the rain started, but it did not rain while we were on the Ptarmigan. We got out to the glacier, and got to see some great calving. This was like what you see in movies about Alaska. Several large pieces of ice broke off the glacier and fell in the lake, hard enough to make the boat rock half amile away. That was great. The whole tour actually was great.

When we got off the boat, we went over to the Begich, Boggs Visitors' Center. My guests offered to pay my pay into the visitors' center, but drivers get to go in for free. As it turned out, they had a membership with something that also allowed them to get in for free. That worked out well! When we had all had enough time at the visitors' center, we went to the Day Lodge, for lunch. My guests offered to buy my lunch there, but whenever I bring people there, they give me lunch for free. We had lunch together, and then I ran into the people I had driven to Alyeska on Sunday. They recognized me, and I had all there people that I did not know seeing me and saying things like, "Oh hey James, how are you?" And I would tell them I was great, while thinking, "I have no idea who you are!" I could not figure out how any of them new me, because most of them were not close enough to see the name tag! Then I ran into their tour director, and I recognized her. Then everything made sense!

We left the Day Lodge, and headed up to Alyeska. I dropped them off at the tram, and parked the coach. As they stepped off the coach, they offered to buy my ticket for the tram, but I explained that I get to ride as a chaperone if I bring people, so my ticket is complimentary. I parked the coach, and then met them up at the top of the mountain. We spent a little while up there, on the mountain, and in the round house, and then we headed back down. They walked to the coach, rather than wait for me to pull it around, and we headed back to Anchorage. We took our time getting back to Anchorage, because the Bore Tide was schedule to come in, and yesterday was the biggest it was supposed to be all year. Sure enough, as we got to Beluga Point, we could see it headed our way. They looked at it with their binoculars, and guessed that it was probably about five to six feet high. That was my first time seeing that. I told them that most people who come here do not get to see that. They were excited. On the way back to the hotel, we went around Lake Hood, at the airport, so they could see the float planes. I figured we could do that, even though it was not part of the tour, since they were flying out later and would not have time for the tour that goes there. They really had an awesome tour, and got to see several things that most people do not, including the Bore Tide and a massive calving of the glacier. They loved the trip, and they were glad they had gone on the trip. It was a lot of fun for me, and I had a great day! When I got back to the yard at the end, the odometer on the coach said 059988. It is old enough that there ought to be a one out there, so it had 1,059,988 miles on it!