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!
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
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!
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!
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Turn and Burn
On Tuesday I got assigned to one of the longest single runs in the division. I was assigned to the Park Connection run, which is a service to Denali. I left Anchorage with passengers in the morning, stopped in Talkeetna, and then ran up to Denali. After about an hour to kill in Denali, I returned to Anchorage, again, with a stop in Anchorage. It was over 500 miles and 15 hours, in one day, doing one run. Among drivers, it is known as the Denali turn and burn. Staying awake the whole time is the challenge! It was a fun ride though. It was a very long day.
On Wednesday we had the Carnival Spirit in town again. That was a pretty good day actually. I had my assignment changed part of the way through the day, do the Portage Glacier Tour, which I love doing. It was great, and I had a lot of fun. That was a nice change in plans, because I had only been assigned to airport shuttles during that time.
Thursday and Friday were both days off, because I ran out of hours I could legally work on Wednesday. On Thursday I still had only a few hours, and on Friday I gained more hours. Today I was back to work. The Sapphire Princess was in Whittier, and I went there early this morning. They put me on the dock again, which is cool for being that close to the ship, but I would still rather be put in front of the terminal instead. I actually had a good, though a little bit crazy run back to Anchorage. As far as the airport, everything went well. Once at the airport, things got interesting. Several passengers had no idea where they were going, but we got them to the right place. A few had to go to the other end of the terminal, to claim their luggage, so I drove them down there. When I got there, about a dozen people approached my coach and asked if I was the shuttle to downtown. One of them told me that their driver had hit a sign, and told them to catch a different coach. I took them, and then I looked back to see the other driver, to see who it was. It was a girl who has already had three other incidents, so I'm not sure that she will last much longer.
This afternoon, I picked people up at the airport, and drove them to the ship. Again, it was a good trip. That one went a little more as planned, and I had a great time on that. I had a good group, and I think we all had fun. A couple of girls, who looked like they were about 19, asked where I was from as they got off at the end. They suggested that I move to California, because they liked my tour. I'm not sure how that relates to my tour, but I think I know what they were getting at. I laughed, after they were gone. From there, I deadheaded back to Anchorage, and took the coach back to the yard.
On Wednesday we had the Carnival Spirit in town again. That was a pretty good day actually. I had my assignment changed part of the way through the day, do the Portage Glacier Tour, which I love doing. It was great, and I had a lot of fun. That was a nice change in plans, because I had only been assigned to airport shuttles during that time.
Thursday and Friday were both days off, because I ran out of hours I could legally work on Wednesday. On Thursday I still had only a few hours, and on Friday I gained more hours. Today I was back to work. The Sapphire Princess was in Whittier, and I went there early this morning. They put me on the dock again, which is cool for being that close to the ship, but I would still rather be put in front of the terminal instead. I actually had a good, though a little bit crazy run back to Anchorage. As far as the airport, everything went well. Once at the airport, things got interesting. Several passengers had no idea where they were going, but we got them to the right place. A few had to go to the other end of the terminal, to claim their luggage, so I drove them down there. When I got there, about a dozen people approached my coach and asked if I was the shuttle to downtown. One of them told me that their driver had hit a sign, and told them to catch a different coach. I took them, and then I looked back to see the other driver, to see who it was. It was a girl who has already had three other incidents, so I'm not sure that she will last much longer.
This afternoon, I picked people up at the airport, and drove them to the ship. Again, it was a good trip. That one went a little more as planned, and I had a great time on that. I had a good group, and I think we all had fun. A couple of girls, who looked like they were about 19, asked where I was from as they got off at the end. They suggested that I move to California, because they liked my tour. I'm not sure how that relates to my tour, but I think I know what they were getting at. I laughed, after they were gone. From there, I deadheaded back to Anchorage, and took the coach back to the yard.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Seward
This weekend was good. As I mentioned previously, I went to Seward on Thursday night, so I could be there for shuttles on Friday. The Ryndam was in port on Friday. After several hours of shuttles, I got to board the ship for dinner. Myself and four other drivers went to the Lido Dining Room for dinner. The food was great, and I think we all left there a little overstuffed! I think I can understand how people eat so much on their trips! We had prime rib for dinner, as well as just about anything else we could get our hands on. After eaing, we disembarked and most of us drove back to Anchorage.
On Saturday, I drove a coach back to Seward, in preparation for the arrival of the Statendam on Sunday. I was supposed to return to Anchorage on Sunday morning, with a load of passengers heading into town. At the last minute, my assignment got changed, and I got reassigned to the Seward Shuttle run again. That was the third time in a row, which meant it was old before it even started. That was about the biggest disappointment I have had in a while. I did that all day again, and then drove back to Anchorage. I did not even get to eat on the Statendam.
Today we had the Island Princess in Whittier. I started today off with a run to the train station, and then I wated around at the airport for an arrival. Those people arriving were accidentally put on a different coach, so I just went back downtown. I took a load of passengers to the ship. It was the cheapest group I have ever taken. I got tipped one dollar from 44 people. If I had know it would be like that, I would not have said anything, because obviously they did not care that much anyway. When I returned to Anchorage, I was supposed to be bringing people to the train station again, but they scheduled more coaches than needed for that. There were fifteen people going, yet three coaches assigned to it. I did not do that, and ended up finishing my day like that, with only one additional dollar to show for it.
Tomorrow I am doing a run to Denali and back. It is over 500 miles in one day. It has the nickname turn and burn, because of the length of the trip. Tomorrow will easily be over twelve hours long, most of which will be driving. It should be fun though.
On Saturday, I drove a coach back to Seward, in preparation for the arrival of the Statendam on Sunday. I was supposed to return to Anchorage on Sunday morning, with a load of passengers heading into town. At the last minute, my assignment got changed, and I got reassigned to the Seward Shuttle run again. That was the third time in a row, which meant it was old before it even started. That was about the biggest disappointment I have had in a while. I did that all day again, and then drove back to Anchorage. I did not even get to eat on the Statendam.
Today we had the Island Princess in Whittier. I started today off with a run to the train station, and then I wated around at the airport for an arrival. Those people arriving were accidentally put on a different coach, so I just went back downtown. I took a load of passengers to the ship. It was the cheapest group I have ever taken. I got tipped one dollar from 44 people. If I had know it would be like that, I would not have said anything, because obviously they did not care that much anyway. When I returned to Anchorage, I was supposed to be bringing people to the train station again, but they scheduled more coaches than needed for that. There were fifteen people going, yet three coaches assigned to it. I did not do that, and ended up finishing my day like that, with only one additional dollar to show for it.
Tomorrow I am doing a run to Denali and back. It is over 500 miles in one day. It has the nickname turn and burn, because of the length of the trip. Tomorrow will easily be over twelve hours long, most of which will be driving. It should be fun though.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Heading Out
After a few days back at home, in Anchorage, it is time to leave again. Today I ride down to Seward and stay overnight. Tomorrow the Ryndam will be in Seward, and I will be running the shuttle again. I really do not know how long I will be in Seward. I could come home tomorrow or Saturday. At the same time, we have the Statendam there on Sunday, and it is not impossible for me to stay there for that, and possibly come home Monday. I have no idea what will happen, except that I will be there for at least one night.
This afternoon I am riding there with Rachel, and we'll probably have some adventures once we get there. We were thinking about going back out to Exit Glacier, and this time hiking up to the Harding Icefield, just to see what that is like. The few people I know who have been up there say it is the coolest thing in the world. It is a hike up to 3,700 feet above sea level, but you are on this huge sheet of ice. A few of the mountains stick up through it, most by only a few hundred feet, and who knows what lies below it. It is still shaping the mountains there. It sounds really neat to me.
Tomorrow I will do the shuttle all day, just like I did on Sunday. At the end of the day, when I put the shuttle away for the night, I already have a dinner plan. I was given permission to board the Ryndam and go eat on the Lido Deck, for free. I am SO excited for that. I have been wanting to just get on one of the ships for a long time now, to see what they are like. I have never been on a cruise ship before. This will be sweet. It is an all you can eat meal, and I get it completely free. And I get to see the ship, which will be awesome. I will be taking a bunch of pictures!
Chances are that on Saturday I will be driving out of Seward, and heading to Whittier to pick up people disembarking from the Diamond Princess, and bring them into Anchorage. I do not know that though. I could also have Saturday off in Seward and then be working out of there on Sunday. I could also to the Seward to Whittier to Anchorage thing on Monday for the Island Princess. As I said, I am not really sure what happens after tomorrow evening. I could also head back here tomorrow night. I would say servicing the Diamond Princess is the most likely, but it is hard to say. I will know more tomorrow. I am packing as if I am staying until Monday though.
This afternoon I am riding there with Rachel, and we'll probably have some adventures once we get there. We were thinking about going back out to Exit Glacier, and this time hiking up to the Harding Icefield, just to see what that is like. The few people I know who have been up there say it is the coolest thing in the world. It is a hike up to 3,700 feet above sea level, but you are on this huge sheet of ice. A few of the mountains stick up through it, most by only a few hundred feet, and who knows what lies below it. It is still shaping the mountains there. It sounds really neat to me.
Tomorrow I will do the shuttle all day, just like I did on Sunday. At the end of the day, when I put the shuttle away for the night, I already have a dinner plan. I was given permission to board the Ryndam and go eat on the Lido Deck, for free. I am SO excited for that. I have been wanting to just get on one of the ships for a long time now, to see what they are like. I have never been on a cruise ship before. This will be sweet. It is an all you can eat meal, and I get it completely free. And I get to see the ship, which will be awesome. I will be taking a bunch of pictures!
Chances are that on Saturday I will be driving out of Seward, and heading to Whittier to pick up people disembarking from the Diamond Princess, and bring them into Anchorage. I do not know that though. I could also have Saturday off in Seward and then be working out of there on Sunday. I could also to the Seward to Whittier to Anchorage thing on Monday for the Island Princess. As I said, I am not really sure what happens after tomorrow evening. I could also head back here tomorrow night. I would say servicing the Diamond Princess is the most likely, but it is hard to say. I will know more tomorrow. I am packing as if I am staying until Monday though.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Three Days Away
I am back in Anchorage today, for the first time since Saturday. On Saturday, I got on a coach that was headed to Whittier with a full load of passengers, but I was not the driver. I was a rider. I got to ride in the jump seat in front, and I added things to the tour. It was great. I had a lot of fun, and it was nice to do that run, without having to pay attention to the road. We went to Whittier, were we dropped off the guests at their ship, the Sapphire Princess. Upon leaving Whittier, we did not return to Anchorage, but rather we went to Seward. We got to Seward, ate dinner at the lodge, and basically went to bed.
Yesterday there was a ship in Seward. The Veendam was in town, and I was running the Seward Shuttle, which is a free service provided to the passengers. It shuttles passengers from the pier to a few different locations around town. It is a two mile loop, and I put 83 miles on the coach yesterday! I drove a few groups to the Kenai Fjords Tour in the morning, and then jumped on the shuttle route. While I was waiting on the dock for one group of Kenai Fjords passengers, I almost had the opportunity to board the Veendam. Someone in uniform got off the ship and approached me. He asked if I worked for Gray Line, which is a franchise that Holland America owns. I told him that I did, and he instructed me to follow him, adding that we were going to the pursers office, on the ship, because the purser had a few questions. He began walking back towards the gangway. I was tempted to follow him. I really would have liked to board the ship and take a look around. But I doubt I would have been anle to answer any of the questions the purser had. I stopped him, and pointed to my dispatcher, and suggested he talk to him. I explained that chances are he knew better what was going on, and was probably in a better position to answer any questions. Shortly after that people started disembarking the ship and boarding my coach. I guess it was a good thing I did not go with him.
For the rest of the day, with the exception of one half hour break, I drove in circles in Seward. They were two mile circles, over and over again. After a while, you begin to forget that it is a new time around. I am pretty sure I could drive that route with my eyes closed now, and even narrate it! I got asked the same questions over and over, every time I had new passengers get on. The shuttles stopped running at about 5:00pm, which was a welcome hour! I went back to the Kenai Fjords place to pick up a group. It turned out to be one of the same groups as I had brought over there in the morning. I drove them to the Windsong Lodge, just a few miles away, and then returned to town. From there I put the coach to bed, and called it a day. Later that evening, I helped one of the other drivers, Nate, wash his coach, and then several of us went out to dinner, including Lauren, the tour director for the group that I brought both to and from Kenai Fjords. It was a fun little dinner. Nate and Blake went over to the lodge, and visited the bar, while Rachel, Lauren, and I stayed in downtown Seward. We went to the waterfront park in Seward and watched the ship ease away from the pier, turn around in the middle of the bay, and then sail south, towards the Pacific Ocean. Then, we decided to go exploring. We had a company van, so we took it down a dirt road on the west side of the Ressurection Bay. It was an interesting trip. It goes a couple miles south of Seward, and it is very quiet over there. We saw a bit of wildlife on that trip, including a lot of sea otters, just bobbing up and down in the gentle swell. It was a fun little drive.
Today, I got up and drove a coach to Whittier. There I met people coming off the Coral Princess who needed to get to Anchorage. On the way to Anchorage, we stopped at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center and the Alaska Native Heritage Center. I had an awesome group for that trip, and we all had a great time. It was such a fun day. They were really engaged and excited and I could not tell them enough about Alaska. They had a lot of questions and just loved the trip. I had so much fun on that tour today.
Yesterday there was a ship in Seward. The Veendam was in town, and I was running the Seward Shuttle, which is a free service provided to the passengers. It shuttles passengers from the pier to a few different locations around town. It is a two mile loop, and I put 83 miles on the coach yesterday! I drove a few groups to the Kenai Fjords Tour in the morning, and then jumped on the shuttle route. While I was waiting on the dock for one group of Kenai Fjords passengers, I almost had the opportunity to board the Veendam. Someone in uniform got off the ship and approached me. He asked if I worked for Gray Line, which is a franchise that Holland America owns. I told him that I did, and he instructed me to follow him, adding that we were going to the pursers office, on the ship, because the purser had a few questions. He began walking back towards the gangway. I was tempted to follow him. I really would have liked to board the ship and take a look around. But I doubt I would have been anle to answer any of the questions the purser had. I stopped him, and pointed to my dispatcher, and suggested he talk to him. I explained that chances are he knew better what was going on, and was probably in a better position to answer any questions. Shortly after that people started disembarking the ship and boarding my coach. I guess it was a good thing I did not go with him.
For the rest of the day, with the exception of one half hour break, I drove in circles in Seward. They were two mile circles, over and over again. After a while, you begin to forget that it is a new time around. I am pretty sure I could drive that route with my eyes closed now, and even narrate it! I got asked the same questions over and over, every time I had new passengers get on. The shuttles stopped running at about 5:00pm, which was a welcome hour! I went back to the Kenai Fjords place to pick up a group. It turned out to be one of the same groups as I had brought over there in the morning. I drove them to the Windsong Lodge, just a few miles away, and then returned to town. From there I put the coach to bed, and called it a day. Later that evening, I helped one of the other drivers, Nate, wash his coach, and then several of us went out to dinner, including Lauren, the tour director for the group that I brought both to and from Kenai Fjords. It was a fun little dinner. Nate and Blake went over to the lodge, and visited the bar, while Rachel, Lauren, and I stayed in downtown Seward. We went to the waterfront park in Seward and watched the ship ease away from the pier, turn around in the middle of the bay, and then sail south, towards the Pacific Ocean. Then, we decided to go exploring. We had a company van, so we took it down a dirt road on the west side of the Ressurection Bay. It was an interesting trip. It goes a couple miles south of Seward, and it is very quiet over there. We saw a bit of wildlife on that trip, including a lot of sea otters, just bobbing up and down in the gentle swell. It was a fun little drive.
Today, I got up and drove a coach to Whittier. There I met people coming off the Coral Princess who needed to get to Anchorage. On the way to Anchorage, we stopped at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center and the Alaska Native Heritage Center. I had an awesome group for that trip, and we all had a great time. It was such a fun day. They were really engaged and excited and I could not tell them enough about Alaska. They had a lot of questions and just loved the trip. I had so much fun on that tour today.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Murphy's Law
Murphy's Law states, "If something can go wrong, it will." Well, it goes something like that. I have no idea who Murphy was or is, but I hate his law. Yesterday was a day that pretty closely followed his law.
I went into work yesterday at 8:30am, which would give me plenty of time to do my pre-trip inspection of the coach and get to the Captain Cook Hotel for a 9:30 departure to the Alaska Native Heritage Center. After the ANHC, we would be going to Whittier, to deliver the guests to their ship, the Island Princess. Normally an inspection takes a fairly short amount of time, fifteen minutes could be considered a nice leasurely pace. It is about a 375 point inspection, but after doing it every day, you develop a method, which makes it very quick, yet very effective.
I went out to my assigned coach, #132, and began the usual inspection. I got part of the way through, and found that the hazard lights do not work. That would be needed many times throughout the day, so I could not take the coach out, knowing that they did not work. I went back into the office to explain the situation. The reassigned me to coach #183. I went back outside, and began the inspection on that one, but was again stopped short. I tried to turn the engine over and start it, but nothing happened. I looked at all the guages, and everything seemed to be good, so I tried again. I made sure my transmission was in neutral, but nothing could get it to start. Then I noticed that the battery voltage was at zero. The batteries were dead. By this time, it was about 9:15am, so I only had fifteen minutes to get another coach, inspect it, and get downtown. That was not much time. I ran back into the office and was reassigned to coach #124. Someone helped with the inspection, and I was headed out of the yard in five minutes. The coach passed, there was nothing wrong.
I got to the Captain Cook Hotel, picked up my 23 passengers, and we headed out to the Alaska Native Heritage Center. We had about two hours there, and from there we drove to Whittier. We had to make one short stop before getting out of town, because someone shouted out that the baggage compartment was open. I stopped when I could, and checked on it. The baggage compartments were all closed, but the battery compartment had mysteriously flown open. Other than that minor delay, the trip to Whittier was uneventful. As I was heading back though, the coach seemed to be falling apart around me. First, a rattle started when I was accelerating. I could feel it in the gas pedal, it sent a vibration there, but it sounded like it was coming from the front axle. That continued for the rest of the day. A little while later, I would get a loud grinding noise as I accelerated through 50 mph. I have no idea what that was, but it sounded like it was coming from the engine. Then, periodically, I heard a rubbing noise coming from the right side of the caoch. It sounded like the tire was hitting the splash guard, but there was no marks on it, so I do not know what it was.
When I got back into town, they had me go to railroad hill. They told me I would be the 6:00pm airport shuttle., but that ended up being given to someone else instead. I sat on railroad hill for a few hours waiting for that, but never actually did it. At 6:00pm, the let me know they did not need me, and I headed back to the yard. That was the end of my day. By then the coach had lost about all of its air, which was a little fast! I returned the coach to the yard, and called it a day.
Today we have a very brief training meeting on a service called Park Connection. That lasted about 45 minutes, but they are paying us for two hours. It was just a meeting to help us know what to do and the schedule we will follow if we are assigned to that run. Drivers typically call it the "Denali turn and burn." It is a round trip to Denali with a stop in Talkeetna.
I went into work yesterday at 8:30am, which would give me plenty of time to do my pre-trip inspection of the coach and get to the Captain Cook Hotel for a 9:30 departure to the Alaska Native Heritage Center. After the ANHC, we would be going to Whittier, to deliver the guests to their ship, the Island Princess. Normally an inspection takes a fairly short amount of time, fifteen minutes could be considered a nice leasurely pace. It is about a 375 point inspection, but after doing it every day, you develop a method, which makes it very quick, yet very effective.
I went out to my assigned coach, #132, and began the usual inspection. I got part of the way through, and found that the hazard lights do not work. That would be needed many times throughout the day, so I could not take the coach out, knowing that they did not work. I went back into the office to explain the situation. The reassigned me to coach #183. I went back outside, and began the inspection on that one, but was again stopped short. I tried to turn the engine over and start it, but nothing happened. I looked at all the guages, and everything seemed to be good, so I tried again. I made sure my transmission was in neutral, but nothing could get it to start. Then I noticed that the battery voltage was at zero. The batteries were dead. By this time, it was about 9:15am, so I only had fifteen minutes to get another coach, inspect it, and get downtown. That was not much time. I ran back into the office and was reassigned to coach #124. Someone helped with the inspection, and I was headed out of the yard in five minutes. The coach passed, there was nothing wrong.
I got to the Captain Cook Hotel, picked up my 23 passengers, and we headed out to the Alaska Native Heritage Center. We had about two hours there, and from there we drove to Whittier. We had to make one short stop before getting out of town, because someone shouted out that the baggage compartment was open. I stopped when I could, and checked on it. The baggage compartments were all closed, but the battery compartment had mysteriously flown open. Other than that minor delay, the trip to Whittier was uneventful. As I was heading back though, the coach seemed to be falling apart around me. First, a rattle started when I was accelerating. I could feel it in the gas pedal, it sent a vibration there, but it sounded like it was coming from the front axle. That continued for the rest of the day. A little while later, I would get a loud grinding noise as I accelerated through 50 mph. I have no idea what that was, but it sounded like it was coming from the engine. Then, periodically, I heard a rubbing noise coming from the right side of the caoch. It sounded like the tire was hitting the splash guard, but there was no marks on it, so I do not know what it was.
When I got back into town, they had me go to railroad hill. They told me I would be the 6:00pm airport shuttle., but that ended up being given to someone else instead. I sat on railroad hill for a few hours waiting for that, but never actually did it. At 6:00pm, the let me know they did not need me, and I headed back to the yard. That was the end of my day. By then the coach had lost about all of its air, which was a little fast! I returned the coach to the yard, and called it a day.
Today we have a very brief training meeting on a service called Park Connection. That lasted about 45 minutes, but they are paying us for two hours. It was just a meeting to help us know what to do and the schedule we will follow if we are assigned to that run. Drivers typically call it the "Denali turn and burn." It is a round trip to Denali with a stop in Talkeetna.
Monday, June 1, 2009
May Statistics
For anyone who is interested, these are the statistics of my driving for the month of May. This is only the driving I did for Holland America | Princess-Alaska.
Miles Driven: 2271
Passengers Carried: 783
Hours Driving: 74.5
Hours Worked: 205.25
Average Speed: 30.48 mph
Percentage Driving: 36.3%
Average Hours/Day: 7.33
Days Worked: 28
Incidents/Accidents: 0
Destinations included Whittier, Seward, and many local Anchorage locations. This month was a short month, in that our first ship arrived on the 16th of May. All the days before that were training. At this point, virtually all of the time at work is driving time, so for June we should see a much higher driving percentage and a higher average hours per day.
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