A Little Life Update

As promised, I am going to update all of you, my faithful stalkers, on how things are going with the potential job, and other aspects of my life.  As you know, about two weeks ago, I had a job interview with BNSF Railway for the position of Conductor Trainee in Glendive, MT, and Forsyth, MT.  I have heard back from BNSF about that.  Actually, I heard back from them about a few things.  I had also applied to similar positions around the same time, in other locations.  The first email I got from them after the interview was to let me know I was not being considered further for the position.  I was a bit disappointed, but it happens.  Maybe I need to read these emails more carefully, because about an hour after that I got another email from BNSF extending a conditional offer of employment for the Glendive, MT, position!  I went back and checked on the other email, because I was confused at first, and I think it was Great Falls that sent me the rejection letter.  But it is okay, because they want me in Glendive!  The offer is conditional on me passing all the background checks, TSA checks, Coast Guard checks, Canadian background checks, a previous employer check, a previous address verification, a drug and alcohol test, a fitness test, a physical, and me accepting the offer.  Just one or two little things.  Actually, I have spent the better part of a week filling out, turning in, and mailing paperwork for all of that!  I am done with the paperwork at this point, and my fitness test and physical have both been scheduled.  I have the fitness test tomorrow and the physical on Tuesday.  The drug test has probably gone through because I turned in the hair sample for that when I interviewed.  If I pass all of that stuff, basically I have a job.  Once all of that goes through, they will let me know what my start date is, which could be as early as January 17.  That is when the first group will be starting Conductor class.  The training period is fifteen weeks long, and is a combination of on the job training and classroom training.  At the end of training is the test, which we get two attempts at.  Passing grades are above a 90%, and upon passing that, everyone in the class is a real life Conductor.  So I am still in the middle of that whole process.  I will continue to keep you posted on that.

Life is a Highway

Lately I have done quite a lot of driving.  Maybe some of you faithful followers, or stalkers as the case may be, are not very surprised about that because you know I drive buses for a living.  Well, this is more driving than usual.  There have been good reasons for it though.

Last week I got called into work and I rode down to Scipio, UT, where I spent the night.  The next morning, I work up, crossed the highway, and picked up a bus load of kids from American Fork High School and Lone Peak High School.  From there, just 90 miles south of Provo, I drove them to West Covina, CA.  I had never been there before, but I had a map.  I think their leaders did not believe me when I told them I had never driven to southern California before!  But they asked!  I made it down there without any problems, and without getting lost.  I had always heard people complain about Los Angeles traffic.  Honestly, I was quite surprised at how good it was.  Driving there was simple.  The roads are crowded, but generally people are pretty sensible drivers there.

I stayed with that same group of high school students for the next few days during their activities in the Los Angeles area.  They were down there primarily for a regional cross country meet.  The day after we arrived, I drove them over to Mount San Antonio College, in Walnut, CA, for them to practice and to see the track they would be running on.  They spent the morning over there, and then wanted to go to the beach.  It had been below freezing in Utah, so even though it was the dead of winter to many of the locals, it was nice and warm to all of us!  It was in the 70's, and quite pleasant.  We drove down to Newport Beach, and parked over by the Balboa Pier.  Most of the kids went swimming.  Some buried their friends in the sand.  Others went to lunch.  We spent a couple of hours there, and even got to see some dolphins swimming offshore.  I thought the water was awfully cold to swim in, at just about 60 degrees.  The water in Maine is quite a bit warmer!

The next day was the actual day of the competition.  I again drove the teams over to the college, in Walnut, and they ran their races.  As I understand, those went pretty well for them.  After the races were over, they had a chance to go back to the hotel, shower, and change.  In the afternoon, we went to Anaheim, CA, to visit Disneyland.  I had never been to Disneyland, and I figured I would just sit out in the parking lot and take a nap for several hours.  I did not want to pay the high admission price to go in alone!  Well, one of the other bus drivers had managed to get his hands on some o the extra tickets from his group, and he gave one to me. Since it was free, I happily went into Disneyland!  I had no idea what to expect, and was quite lost at first.  It sure was easy to lose touch with reality in there though!

I spent a couple hours in Disneyland before I was completely exhausted.  I was a little disappointed honestly. Some of the rides were really neat, but the lines were outrageously long!  Basically you wait to get into the park, and once you do get in, you spend all your time standing around waiting some more.  Some of the rides were nice, but really were not unique to Disneyland.  I really enjoyed the Disney themed rides, most of which had either been made from movies, or had been made into movies.  I thought those were the ones worth seeing.  The park was large, and easy to get lost in.  It was very crowded.  The thing that really bothered me is how so many people save money to bring their kids there.  Some families save for years to do that, and when they get there, they spend most of the day standing in line and hoping that their kids, who are bored, don't start causing too much trouble.  It would be nice if something were done to help speed the lines up so these families who put so much into it get more out of it.  It is not fair to them to make them pay so much to stand in line.  For me it was a little different, and I did not really care if I had to stand in line.  My ticket had been free and I was getting paid to be there.  (Some job, huh!)

The next morning, we got up early and began the trip north again.  We got a later start than we would have liked, because some of the kids dawdled about getting out of Disneyland the night before.  Since we started later, the coach and I decided that we would stop for fuel in Barstow, CA, and then drive until the kids started complaining or until we got to Cedar City, UT, whichever came first.  The distance between those cities is 320 miles, or about five hours driving on a good day.  Usually three hours is about as far as you can go in a stretch without a break, especially with a group of kids.  These kids were pretty quiet though, and we warned them that it would be a while before we stopped again.  I was completely blown away because they made it all the way to Cedar City!  At that point we had to stop and drop a few people off anyway, and I would not have made it much farther either!  That was a long push, but I was content to just keep driving until Cedar City, and I was quite happy that we did not have to stop anywhere else.  We caught up to the other buses too.  We had left the hotel, in West Covina, about an hour behind the other buses, and in Cedar City we were fifteen minutes behind them.  They had all made other stops.  The rest of the trip to Scipio went well, and another driver took over at that point and I was driven back to Provo.

I had just a couple days in Utah before I hit the highway again, also for work, although less directly.  I was not driving a bus, and I was going farther.  I got in my car yesterday and drove 747 miles to Forsyth, MT, which is about an hour and a half east of Billings.  Now, this trip was not paid, unlike the one to California.  The purpose of this one was to chase a job and a dream.  The BNSF Railway is hiring Conductors in Forsyth and Glendive, Montana.  Today they had a practical introduction meeting, testing, and interviews for the available positions.  I was invited to participate in this, and so I drove to Montana for it.

BNSF get thousands of applicants when these positions open, so just the fact that I was invited was impressive.  About 100 people showed up for this meeting.  It started off with an introduction to the job.  They talked about the pay, the benefits, and the retirement package.  Then they talked about the lifestyle.  They wanted everyone to realize what they would be getting themselves into if they got the job, and they wanted to filter out those who could not, or did not want to live such a lifestyle.  Being in the transportation industry, things move all the time.  It is the nature of the job that Conductors and Engineers are on call 24 hours a day, every single day of the year.  Just because a shift starts at 2:00am one day does not mean it will start any time even close to that the next.  There is very little regularity to the schedule, and it is likely that holidays, anniversaries, birthdays, and other important events will be missed.  The railroad never stops moving stuff, and someone has to be there to make it move.

That introduction meeting lasted about two hours.  They had some time for questions, and then they invited everyone who felt like this is not for them to leave.  When the next part of the process began, 79 people were left.  The next part was a test.  The test reviewed basic reading comprehension and workplace practices.  It took about three hours.  It was not particularly difficult, but it was long!  Those who passed the test would be allowed to interview.  As people finished the test, they went for the drug test.  Hair samples were collected.  They will only be tested for drug use if an offer for employment is accepted.

Out of the 79 people that took the test, 56 people passed, if I remember correctly.  I was one of them.  Everyone went on to interviews next, which were also scheduled for today.  The interviews were to be short, just fifteen to twenty minutes.  They were trying to get as many done as possible, so they were short out of necessity.  I think mine went well, but it is hard to tell.  It ended with them telling me to check my email.  If I am to go any farther with this, they will notify me by email.  They are looking for 30 new Conductors for Glendive and Forsyth.  Just looking at the numbers, it seems that I have a good chance at getting a position.  I suppose I will find out for sure soon.

Tomorrow I hit the road again and drive back to Provo.  When I arrive in Provo, I will have driven 3,000 miles in just one week.  That is a lot of driving, even for a driver!

I will keep you, all my fans, posted on what comes of this job selection process with BNSF.  I would love to have one of those Conductor positions, and I know I would enjoy it a lot.  We will see what they decide though.

St. George

My job is pretty  much the best thing ever.

This weekend, I was asked to take a high school marching band to St. George, UT, for a competition.  Sure, most of the driving is at night.  In fact, we leave St. George tonight at around 10:00pm, which means we get them home at about 3:00am, and me even later.  But really, they pay me to go to St. George, eat free food, stay in a nice hotel, and relax in 80 degree weather, and look at palm trees!  The kids do need to be shuttled around for rehearsals and competitions, but most of the time I am just hanging out.  I drive them for ten minutes, and then hang out for two hours while they practice.  Then when they are done practicing, they have lunch.  After the crowd dissipates, one of the staff always invites the drivers to eat some lunch too.  This is only the beginning too, they are planning on paying me to go to Disneyland in the future!

On this trip there are two buses.  The other one is being driven by my boss actually, Jerry.  We picked up the marching band at Lone Peak High School, in Highland, UT, yesterday before dawn.  We got on the road and headed south, to sunny St. George.  They are attending a band competition at Dixie State College.  We drove them to the college first.  They spent a little time getting oriented and eating lunch.  Then we drove them to the hotel, which was not designed to have even one bus at it, never mind the nine that are here for the other bands besides us.  That was a bit of a fiasco, but we got through it alright.  Later yesterday afternoon, we drove the kids back to the college for the actual competition part of the event.  In the evening, we picked them up.  This morning was similar.  We drove them to an elementary school for a few hours of rehearsal this morning, and then over to the college after lunch for more competition.  Tonight, when everything is done, we will drive them back to Highland.  While they are at the competition, we have a bit of down time.  I have used it to catch up on sleep, since I usually do not stay awake until 3:00am, and even when I do, it is not awake enough to drive.  I have been resting up, and the rest of the trip should go just fine.  It has been a great way to spend a weekend too!

...and to think they're paying me for this!

Wyoming

This week my mom came to town. She has some business in Salt Lake City, so she is in the area. Well, at least more than usual, even if she is over an hour away. She flew in Saturday, and I met her at the airport. She stayed the weekend in Morgan, UT, so I drove her up there. Her plane got in about 40 minutes ahead of schedule though, so we had a bit of time to get to Morgan, so I decided to take her for a scenic drive. I learned that she had never been outside the populated valleys in Utah really, so she had not seen some of the beautiful canyons and mountains there are here.

As we left the airport, the most direct route to Morgan would have been to head north to Ogden, and then east over to Morgan. Instead, I decided to take her east, across Salt Lake City, and up Parley's Canyon towards Park City. We took the Interstate 80 around that way to Echo Canyon, where I-84 meets it. At that point, you can get on I-84 west to Morgan, or stay on I-80 east to Wyoming. She made the comment that she had never been to Wyoming. It is only about twenty minutes away from that junction, so we took a little detour to Evanston. She has now been to Wyoming. In Evanston, we turned around, and headed west until we got over to Morgan. It was a nice little drive, and it was nice to have some time with my mom again. I hadn't seen her since April. She is in Salt Lake City all week for business, so I will probably get to see her again before she leaves, on Saturday.

Train Travel

On October 4th, I began the last part of my journey from Anchorage, AK, to Mapleton, UT. The last part would be by train.

I boarded a SoundTransit train in Everett, WA, which took me to Seattle. At King St. Station, I waited for Amtrak. I would be taking the train to Sacramento, and then on to Provo, UT.

I boarded the Coast Starlight in Seattle. I had a roomette on the lower level of one of the Superliner Sleeping Cars. This train operates a first class parlor called the Pacific Parlour. This is unique to the Coast Starlight. The Pacific Parlour came from the Santa Fe Railroad, back when they operated passenger trains, before the creation of Amtrak. It is a Hi-Level car, which was a revolutionary new design for passenger cars that the Santa Fe and Pullman worked on. The Hi-Level cars were the inspiration for the modern Superliner cars, which Amtrak uses today on their western trains.

Early the next morning, we arrived in Sacramento. We actually arrived there over an hour ahead of schedule, so I was not awake yet when we got there. My attendant had warned me the night before that we would probably be there early, as that has been the trend lately. He also said not to panic if we got up and saw that we had arrived. He told us there was no rush, just as long as we were off the train by the time it had to leave, at 6:35am.

In Sacramento, I had a layover of a few hours. I actually wrote my last post on here from the station, and then finished it up on the next train, the California Zephyr. I boarded the California Zephyr around lunch time, and we began heading east towards the Sierra Nevada mountains and Donner Pass. The train climbed up over the pass, and eventually down the to the side to Truckee, CA, and Reno, NV. We crossed Nevada in the middle of the night, and then got to Provo, UT, early the next morning. Tim met me at the train station and from there we drove down to Mapleton, which is only a few minutes away.

Since my arrival Mapleton, I have been looking for a job and a mode of transportation. If anyone has any ideas, let me know!

Travel is Always an Adventure

Long Post Alert: block out the next 3 hours to read this!!

Somehow, whenever I travel, I have a way of having random, unplanned adventures. This trip certainly has not been an exception to that rule! As I write this, I am sitting in the Sacramento Valley Station, waiting to catch another train. This is a beautiful old station. The floors are marble, and the old wooden benches still have the Southern Pacific Lines logo on them. It has a high ceiling with chandeliers hanging above the main concourse. On one end of he concourse there is a large mural of the groundbreaking ceremony for the first transcontinental railroad in the USA, which took place not far from here.

My trip began nearly two weeks ago in Anchorage, AK. At Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, I boarded a rather empty Alaska Airlines 737-800 which ultimately would head to Seattle. This was flight #66, unofficially known as the "Milk Run." this flight had started in Fairbanks, stopped in Anchorage, and after I got on, it also stopped in Cordova, Yakutat, and Juneau, before continuing on to Seattle. Cordova, Yakutat, and Juneau are completely inaccessible by road. You can only fly or sail to those towns. Juneau, being the state capital, does get quite a few commercial flights every day, bit Cordova and Yakutat are both very small. The only flight they get is this milk run. It brings in supplies, packages, and the mail. Basically everything comes into town and leaves on the milk run, unless it's too big. In that case it takes the ferry. When we landed in Cordova, we found that the only stretch of pavement was the runway, and the airport was right in the middle of town. At 7,000 feet, the runway was significantly longer than the entire town! Once we landed we pulled up on a concrete pad. Exiting the plane was by a set of stairs placed near the door, and rather than check people in electronically, they did a head count before we left to make sure everyone was there. The Cordova terminal, as it was labelled, was a garage for the one luggage cart and the pickup truck that pulled it.

When we stopped in Cordova, they immediately unloaded the luggage, packages, and mail. That only took a couple minutes. Several people got off and a couple got on. The mail and their two suitcases were loaded on the plane, and ten minutes after landing, we took off. Now the Cordova airport has no taxiways, so we went out on the runway to taxi. Since we had to start our takeoff roll at one end of the runway, we taxied to one end and then simply made a U turn on the runway and took off. About half an hour later we were in Yakutat, which was slightly larger, but only slightly.

The airport situation in Yakutat was about the same. We stayed a little longer, about 25 minutes, because we loaded over 100 cases of fresh silver salmon bound for San Francisco and Newark, NJ. The terminal was the same size as in cordoba, but there was also a small store at the Yakutat airport. The sign simply said, "food shelter booze." once the fish was all loaded, we taxied to the runway, then down to the end of the runway, then made our U turn and took off. It was about forty minutes to Juneau

Juneau is the third largest city in Alaska and the capital. It is the only state capital in the nation to which you cannot drive. It also has an international airport. I was a little stunned at the airport in Juneau, due to its size. It wasn't large, on the contrary, it was small. There was a terminal, with four gates. Three gates had the moveable jetways, which was nice since it was raining. The other gate was simply a door out to the Tarmac for boarding small propeller planes. There was no security to that gate. Anyone could walk out onto the Tarmac if they wanted. The other three gates had security but it was just one metal detector which you walk through. There was no luggage X-ray machine. There was one baggage claim and one check in counter.

I spent the night in Juneau, right downtown. Now I did not have a lot of time there as I got on the ferry the next morning, but from my perspective it seemed that Juneau consisted primarily of liquor stores, bars, and gift shops, with a few historic or culturally significant buildings thrown in for good measure. There were a couple cruise ships in town when I arrived, and so the liquor stores, bars, and gifts shops were still open, until the ships sailed. All the historical and capital buildings were closed though since it was the evening. I went to bed early since there was not much I was interested in available.

In the morning I got up and took a cab out to the Alaska Marine Highway terminal. There I boarded the FVF Fairweather for Skagway. The Fairweather is a fairly new, fast catamaran ferry which takes both vehicles and passengers. It was headed to Skagway and back, stopping in Haines in both directions. The weather was bad but we were still able to move pretty quickly up Lynn Canal, towards Skagway. The voyage was just over four hours. In Skagway I was supposed to take a bus to Fraser, British Columbia, and there catch the White Pass and Yukon Route back to Skagway. Time was very short so I called the bed and breakfast I was staying at and asked if I could just leave my luggage with them. They were extremely accommodating and then I headed down to he train station.

We started out on the trip up the Klondike highway and over the White Pass. It was raining and at higher elevation, it was snowing. The trouble was as we drove up the highway towards the top of the White Pass, we gained elevation and eventually ran into snow. At first it was not a big deal, but eventually we couldn't to on and bad to turn back. As a result, I did not get to ride the train. After we got back to town, I went and took pictures as the train came into town. The snow had not presented a problem to the railroad, so the train ran anyway. They ended up taking people to Skagway who had originated in Whitehorse but had not been able to get over the pass in a bus either. The train saved the day, although it was still disappointing that I did not get to ride it.

The White Pass and Yukon Route is really the reason Skagway exists at all today. Skagway got started during the Klondike Gold Rush in 1897. They had running water and electricity, even though very few people stayed in town long. People used Skagway as a transfer point. They would arrive on ships, then go by land over the White Pass up to the Yukon river system and the. Boat to Dawson City, where the gold was located. Dawson City is nearly 600 miles from Skagway and was once one of the largest cities in Canada. Most of the stampeders, the people looking for gold, took about a year to get to Dawson City. By 1898, when they were arriving, most of the area already had gold claims staked by those who had lived in the Yukon or nearby Alaska. There was no gold left for the stampeders. As all this was taking place, some business men in Skagway determined that there was money to be made operating a railroad over he White Pass and they formed the White Pass and Yukon Route. They laid a narrow gauge line from Skagway to Whitehorse, about 110 miles. The gold spike was driven in 1900. By then the gold rush was over but Skagway remained an important gateway town to the Yukon and the railroad was able to carry both people and cargo over the pass to Whitehorse. This kept the railroad going, which kept Skagway going. Skagway has not changed a lot since the gold rush. It still has wooden sidewalks and false fronted buildings. Most of the town today is a national historic park. It is very small, just four blocks by 23 blocks. There are no commercial flights to Skagway although there is an air taxi to Juneau. It is one of just three southeast Alaska towns that is on the road system. As you head out of town, the next lanark place is the Canadian border, just 15 miles away. Today the town heavily relies on tourism. Many cruise ships stop there in the summer, but in the winter only four stores stay open. I spent the weekend in Skagway and did a bit of hiking and sightseeing while I was there. The following Monday, I was back on the ferry, heading south.

That Monday I boarded the M/V Malaspina. She was a bigger ship, but also an older one. I was headed for Bellingham, WA on that ferry, and we were scheduled to arrive on Friday morning. After we left Skagway, we stopped again in nearby Haines and then continued south to Juneau, arriving there late Monday night. From there we sailed over to Sitka, which was the capital before Juneau, and it was also the capital of Russia's American territories. That was a very small, but very interesting town. The Russian Orthodox cathedral is located right in he center of the downtown area. There are quite a few little shops and stores, many of which have items imported from Russia. There are also many historic buildings in town, many of which date back to the 1700's. I was able to visit the old bishop's home. The national park service now maintains and restores a lot of these old buildings. Saint Michael's Cathedral is still owned by the Russian Orthodox Church and the occasionally do offer tours, although that was not available while I was in town.

As the ferry sailed from Sitka, we retraced some of our route and then continued south. In the darkness hours of Wednesday morning, we stopped in the towns of Petersburg and Wrangell. They are both very small places. Later that day we stopped in Ketchikan. Ketchikan was very rainy and rather dreary. That is another town which is heavily supported by tourism and cruise ships. Since no cruise ship was in town, it was very quiet and very little was open.

Thursday ended up being a beautiful day and we spent it at sea, I'm the coastal waters of British Columbia. The voyage spent very little time at sea, because we were able to stay in more protected and calmer waters which were more inland. I am actually tracked the whole voyage with GPS, I'll post maps in the near future, indicating where we sailed.

Since I had the whole day at sea, and the weather was beautiful, I found myself a chair and dragged that out to the stern and spent most of the day out there. I also decided to get to know the ship a little. The M/V Malaspina is known as the "First Lady of the Fleet." She was built in 1963, and her replacement, the M/V Kennicott was built in the late 1990's. Oddly enough, the Kennicott gets tied up for the winter and the Malaspina runs year round, even after 47 years in service. There are no plans for retirement either. She was the first of the Alaska ferries and is one of the larger ships in the fleet. There is a plaque on one deck honoring the captain and crew for their service rescuing people from a burning ship in the Georgia Strait. Because of her efforts there were no fatalities on the ship that burned. It was very interesting learning snout he ship and spending a day at sea.

Friday morning found me arriving at the Alaska ferry terminal in Bellingham. We arrived right on time. I spent the weekend in Bellingham. On Saturday we decided to go to Victoria, BC. I did not know much about how to get there, but I knew we would need to take a ferry. We drove to Tsawwassen, where we caught one of the BC ferries to Swartz Bay. Not knowing exactly where the ferry went, I figured Swartz Bay was the bay the ferry terminal was in for Victoria. As it turned out, that was about 40 minutes away from downtown Victoria, and we were unable to get to Victoria due to no planning ahead. We got some dinner, and then got back on the ferry. Despite not going to Victoria, it was a beautiful day and just perfect for three hours on a ferry. It was a great day on the water.

At this point I am on the train. I'll write about that more when that let of the trip ends, seeing as this post is already eternally long!

Summer 2010

These are the totals for the entire 2010 tour season in Alaska. This summarizes what I did during the summer. This is just me, not the entire division or motor coach fleet.

Miles Driven: 17,474

Passengers Carried: 5,589

Hours Driving: 515.5

Hours Worked: 1,093.25

Average Speed: 33.90 mph

Percentage Driving: 47.2%

Average Hours/Day: 8.75

Days Worked: 125

Incidents/Accidents: 1

Passenger Miles: 97,662,186

2009 Passenger Miles: 139,433,724

September 2010 Statistics

Miles Driven: 1,928
Passengers Carried: 816
Hours Driving: 57.5
Hours Worked: 130
Average Speed: 33.5 mph
Percentage Driving: 44.2%
Average Hours/Day: 7.65
Days Worked: 17
Incidents/Accidents: 0

September was our shortest month with the last cruise ship sailing out on the 18th, for Asia. Once that ship, the Diamond Princess sailed, things got very quiet. It was a little strange at first actually. That is the reason for the lower numbers though.

August 2010 Statistics

Miles Driven: 4,386
Passengers Carried: 1,006
Hours Driving: 126.25

Hours Worked: 281.25
Average Speed: 34.74 mph
Percentage Driving: 44.9%
Average Hours/Day: 9.38
Days Worked: 30
Incidents/Accidents: 1

I suppose I should explain the incident that is listed here. It was considered a non-preventable incident. I was parked at the small boat harbor, in Seward, and a school bus pulled up along my left side to drop some people off. When the school bus driver pulled out, she turned the wheel hard to the left, causing the tail of the school bus to swing right and into the rear end of my coach. it scraped about eight feet of the coach. The damage to the coach included a lot of yellow paint, two broken windows, and a few small dents to the stainless steel panels on the bottom. The damage to the school bus was a broken clearance light and two small dents in the sheet metal on the rear corner.

Another Little Adventure

Here comes a big surprise. I am going on another big trip of mine.

Okay, maybe you're not surprised.

At the end of the summer, I do have to leave Alaska and head back to Utah where I will (hopefully) find a job to support myself, save money, and get ready fro engineer's school next year.

But I don't have to go directly to Utah. I can have a little fun getting there.

Lately I have heard a lot of good things about the Alaska Marine Highway, the state owned and operated ferry system. It operates all over Alaska, as far west as Dutch Harbor. Since I have heard a lot about it, and I have never been to southeast Alaska, I thought I would look into going home that way. It leaves from Whittier, which is close to Anchorage, and it goes all the way to Bellingham, WA. As it turns out, it only leaves from Whittier and goes to Juneau once a month, so that is not really that practical. But then I got thinking about flying to Juneau and getting on the ferry from there. It runs more often from Juneau to Bellingham than it runs from Whittier to Juneau.

Without rehashing my entire thinking process, let me go over a few things that were important. The first ferry leaving Whittier after the season ended was October 6th. Out last ship is two weeks before that, and I did not really want to hang around with nothing to do for that long. Also, that would put me in Juneau for four days. I'm sure it is an interesting town, but it is pretty small. Also, I wanted to visit Skagway, if possible, and when in Skagway, I wanted to ride the White Pass & Yukon Route, a narrow gauge railroad which goes up into the Yukon Territory of Canada. That only operates seasonally, and the last day is on September 24th. I also wanted to visit Sitka if possible. I have heard it is a beautiful place. It is the old capital of Alaska, before Juneau, during the Russian time. Taking the ferry on October 6th would not make that possible.

Here is the what I am doing:

9/23:

Fly from Anchorage to Juneau.

9/24:

The ferry leaves Juneau at 8:00am for Haines and Skagway. I should be in Skagway by 11:30am. At 1:15pm I depart for Fraser, BC, where I will catch the train back to Skagway. This will be the first time I have taken the train over an international boundary. So far I have only driven and sailed. It is about a 3 hour ride as I understand, on an old (late 1800s), narrow gauge railroad car. This will be on the White Pass & Yukon Route, which was built during the Klondike Gold Rush. It is the only scenic railroad in the world which crosses an international boundary.

9/25:

In Skagway. I will probably try to go to either Whitehorse or Haines for the day.

9/26:

In Skagway. I will probably try to go to either Whitehorse or Haines for the day.

9/27:

Depart Skagway, at 4:15pm, on the ferry, heading for Bellingham. It will stop in Haines and Juneau on this day.

9/28:

On the ferry. On this day we will only stop in Sitka.

9/29:

On the ferry. It will stop in Petersburg, in the middle of the night, then Wrangell, early in the morning, and then Ketchikan for most of the day.

9/30:

On the ferry, at sea.

10/1:

The ferry arrives in Bellingham at 8:00am. I am not sure what I will do with the rest of the day, but I'm sure I'll come up with something.

10/2:

In Bellingham. I will probably go back to Vancouver and Whistler for a visit. It should be pretty quiet in both those towns without the Olympics.

10/3:

10/4:

Board the train in Seattle. This will be the Coast Starlight, which goes all the way to Los Angeles. I will ride it to Sacramento.

10/5:

Arrive and depart Sacramento. I will be arriving early in the morning on the Coast Starlight. I have about a four hour layover, and then I get on the California Zephyr, which goes east all the way to Chicago. I will take it as far as Provo.

10/6:

The California Zephyr arrives in Provo, at 5:15am.

July 2010 Statistics

Miles Driven: 3,664
Passengers Carried: 1,661
Hours Driving: 127.5
Hours Worked: 223.5
Average Speed: 28.74
Percentage Driving: 57.0%
Average Hours/Day: 9.31
Days Worked: 24
Incidents/Accidents: 0

Bucket List-Part 1 of 42

Those of you who know me know that there is about a million and one things I want to do, and every time I do one, there are three more things I add to the list. I figured I would mention a few of the highlights here, and maybe over the next 41 of these, plus any amendments, I'll talk about the rest. Chances are there will be a lot of amendments, because I always have something else I want to do! Most of the things I want to do have to do with travelling. I really like going places and seeing new things.

These are not in any particular order, except the order they appear. It is just how my brain is working at the moment now.

1. Stay at the Izaak Walton Inn

The Izaak Walton Inn is a railroad crew camp which has been turned into a hotel. It was built in the 1930's for rail crews working out of Essex, Montana, near Glacier National Park. Essex was an important location on the Great Northern Railway, because that is where helper locomotives were added to eastbound trains headed up the grade to Marias Pass, over the continental divide. Helper locomotives were taken off the westbound trains as they arrived in Essex. Today the hotel is located on the BNSF mainline across Montana, and it is still a helper base. The hotel is located next to the railroad tracks, and visitors can book trackside rooms, with windows that look out to the railroad. In addition to the hotel itself, they also have accommodations built in cabooses and a locomotive. They also have small cabins that visitors can rent. All of these are located right next to the railroad tracks, which sees over 50 trains every day. Some people would warn that it will be a noisy hotel, but I think it sounds great! There is also a restaurant, bar, and gift shop at the Izaak Walton Inn.

What I want to do is make a trip to Essex, just to stay at the inn. I want to make it a proper railfan trip though. I would like to take Amtrak's Empire Builder to the Essex flagstop, which is close to the hotel. They would pick me up in a van and shuttle me from the flagstop to the inn. I would stay at the hotel for a few days, then either continue the trip on the Empire Builder, or get on and return to wherever I came from. While staying at the inn and looking at trains, I would also plan on spending a few days to visit Glacier National Park. One of those days, I would take Amtrak to East Glacier, where the park entrance is, and then take it back to the Izaak Walton Inn that evening.

2. Bike over 100 miles in a day:

There are a few places I have thought about doing this. The first time I had this idea, the plan was to bike around Utah Lake, which is just about 100 miles. The shortest route around the lake is just under 100 miles, but I think it would be a fun trip.

I have also thought about doing this from Anchorage to Seward. That would be a 123 mile trip. I figure I could take the train back though. They run a baggage car to Seward, so I could check the bike and ride the train, and then my bike would also have a way to get home after the trip, since it would be an out-and-back trip instead of a loop. There are thousands of other places I could potentially do a 100 mile bike ride. Those are just a couple of potential places I have thought of.

3. Visit Bailey Yard:

Bailey Yard is in North Platte, Nebraska, and it is a large railroad yard operated by the Union Pacific Railroad. It is the largest classification yard in the world. Every day they service over 300 locomotives and handle over 10,000 freight cars. It is a busy place with hundreds of miles of tracks and thousands of employees. Most long distance trains operated by Union Pacific go to or through Bailey Yard.

4. Break the Sound Barrier:

I had a great plan for this one--fly on the Concorde. The trouble is, that no longer flies. I suppose I need a new plan now. Any ideas?

5. Get a Pilot's License:

I have a plan for this! Tim is going to teach me to fly. I want to get a private pilot's license and an instrument rating, then I can actually go somewhere with my license. I have no interest in flying for a career. I don't like it that much, but I do think it would be fun and useful to have a private pilot's license.

June 2010 Statistics

Miles Driven: 4,397
Passengers Carried: 1,540
Hours Driving: 128
Hours Worked: 248.5
Average Speed: 34.35mph
Percentage Driving: 51.5%
Average Hours/Day: 9.2
Days Worked: 27
Incidents/Accidents: 0

Midas Touch...or Not?

Last year I drove nearly 20,000 miles on the motor coaches here, without even one mechanical problem. Some coaches worked great, others were less than perfect, but they all ran without any real problems. Some were more comfortable than others, and some were faster than others.

This year, things have been a little bit different. I have never been stranded, but I have had quite a few random issues with coaches this year. In fact I have something come up just about once a week since the start of the season. It all started at the end of May with the inaugural arrival of the Amsterdam, right in Anchorage. Since then, it has felt like almost every coach I touch has something break!

When the Amsterdam came to Anchorage, I was assigned to drive one of the Explorer coaches. These coaches have a leveling system in them, which constantly adjusts the ride of the coach. Once in a while, when it is sitting at a curb, the coach will decide it is not level, and it will adjust itself. While I was at the Westmark, the coach decided it to level itself, which caused a problem. The road there has a bit of a crown, so the coaches typically lean a bit toward the curb. This one leveled itself, but when it did, the front end lowered. It lowered rather suddenly and smashed the door on the curb, breaking off one of the plastic trim pieces along the bottom of the door. I reported the incident, and they later glued the plastic piece back on. It was minor, but rather frustrating.

A week later, I was at Kenai Princess Lodge, in Cooper Landing. This did not occur with my coach, but I still got to deal with it. Some of the coaches have a kneeling feature. When this feature is activated, the front end of the coach drops several inches, to make the bottom step smaller and easier to get on and off the coach. One of the other drivers had activated this feature on his coach to board the guests. Once everyone was aboard, he tried to deactivate it, so he could drive again. It did not deactivate, and his coach was stuck in the kneeling position. I ended up switching coaches with him, so he could get going. We moved the guests to my coach and transferred their luggage, and he took off. That left me with his stuck coach to try to trouble shoot and get running. I had my own guests to pick up just an hour later. I did end up getting around the problem, and getting the coach back into the normal position. Once there, I completely disconnected the kneeling system so that it would not get stuck again.

Just a week after the kneeling adventure, I was again at Kenai Princess Lodge. I was in a different coach, and things were going well. The coach was old, but it was operating pretty well despite nearly a million miles. On the last day of the trip, we got going, and the coach began to heat up, even with the air conditioner running. It was warm, but easily bearable. After lunch was another story. As we got going, the coach began to heat up again. By the time we were in Wasilla, it was quite uncomfortable, and I had a light on my dashboard which said, "A/C Malfunc." I was able to stop just as we were getting into Houston, and I opened the roof vents to help get air into the coach. By the time I stopped to do this however, the thermometer read that the coach was 90 degrees inside the coach. Once the vents were open, it was a lot more comfortable in the coach. Despite the air conditioner breaking on me, it still was a great run.

One week later again, also on a Kenai trip, I had a coach which did not like going faster than 55mph. The engine would surge forward, and then it felt like it would begin to stall, then surge forward again. It would go as fast as 65mph, but it lurched pretty badly at that speed. With passengers on board, I did not drive over 55mph, even though it made getting everywhere a bit slower. By myself, I drove it faster and just accepted the fact that it was quite uncomfortable. I do not know why the coach did that. Although the mechanics seem to think that the reason it did that had to do with low fuel. I had driven the coach over 600 miles without refueling by the time I got back to the shop, at the end of the trip. Supposedly those coaches can only go 500 miles on a tank. I guess I was lucky!

Today, just about a week after the shaky coach, I had a coach where everything was going well. I was driving empty to McKinley Princess Lodge, where I would be picking up a group headed to Anchorage. As I was driving, just about an hour from the lodge, I heard a very loud crack. Shortly after, I noticed a new rock chip in the windshield. As I continued driving, the chip began to grow into a crack. It began growing so quickly that I could watch it getting bigger as I drove. By the time I got to the lodge it was about six inches long, so I called dispatch to see if it was even safe to keep driving the coach. Ultimately it was decided that it would be safe to drive it back to Anchorage, where it would be removed from service. It is laminated glass, so shattering was not a big concern. When the coach got back to Anchorage, it was taken out of service until the windshield can be replaced. Also on that trip, the only wildlife we saw was a dead moose and two vehicles on the Glenn Highway. Maybe wildlife is not the right word...

Dear Motor Home

Dear Motor Home,

I want to talk to you about your driving. This is something I do a lot, and I might know one or two things about.

I find your driving habits quite frustrating. The speed you choose to drive really bugs me quite a lot. I love to take the drive slow, and enjoy the scenery too, but usually I am not able to do that and stick to my schedule. It takes me a long time to pass you when I am in my coach bus, so I would appreciate it if you tried to travel close to the speed limit. It makes my life a whole lot easier. There are lots of places to pull off the road. You can use those to look at the scenery. They are also great to help out motorists behind you. Pull out if you're going slow, and let everyone behind you get past you safely!

Sometimes you do just the opposite, which is possibly more annoying. I know that you hate being stuck behind a coach, and I really cannot blame you. It can be hard to see around me in a bus. It really annoys me when you pass me, and then slow down in front of me. If you want to pass me, keep going faster than me when you get in front! I will pass you if you slow down like that!

You carry tourists all over Alaska. I have no problem with tourists, I move them around Alaska too. They can be really great people sometimes, and it is nice to show off your state. I understand all that. It really bugs me when you slow down to show them something with no warning at all. You do have turn signals, and it would be very helpful if you used them when you are turning off the highway or pulling over. Those of us behind you would know what you are about to do, which is quite helpful. Please use your turn signals, and if you want to be really helpful, use them before you step on the brakes!

Sometimes you pull your passengers'car behind you as you drive. That is fine, but please make sure you make all the connections so the lights work properly. I really would hate to run into their car simply because you couldn't be bothered to hook up the brake lights. This also goes for pulling trailers. It only takes a minute to hook all that up, and do a quick check to make sure it is working properly before you head out to the road!

The thing that bugs me the most about your driving habits actually has more to do with the people you carry. You are not selective about who you let sit behind the wheel. You may not realize this, but most of them have no idea how to handle a vehicle as large as you. Many are nervous about it, and a nervous driver can be very dangerous. Most of these problems would be avoided if you were simply more selective about drivers. I know, you are made of fiberglass, so you are very light and therefore not a commercial vehicle, but you still need better drivers. You are sometimes as big as one of the coach buses that I drive, even though you might be significantly lighter. You need to have drivers that understand principles like "tailswing," "off-tracking," and "planning ahead." It would help your drivers do so much better. Maybe then your drivers would not be afraid to go 65mph when that is the speed limit! Find better drivers!! Make sure they not only understand what they are getting into, but also make sure they actually are capable of handling a large vehicle!

Your help would really be appreciated. If you follow some of these simple safer driving steps, the roads will be better for everyone, and there will be fewer accidents. If not, you may end up like one of your brothers did today on the Parks Highway. I passed one of your brothers in shoulder, completely charred and smoking, a total loss, reduced to a propane tank and a skeleton. You wouldn't want that to happen to you, now would you?

Sincerely,

James the Driver

Tips are about as Predictable as the Weather on Denali

Tips are an interesting thing, as a driver. Some runs we get generally do better for tips, while others generally do not do so well. Having said that though, they really are completely unpredictable. To illustrate this, let me explain a few of the trips we do.

We operate some runs from Denali to Seward and from Seward to Denali, on Sundays. They are for Holland America guests either getting on the ship directly from Denali, or getting off and heading directly to Denali. It is about a 10-hour trip, with stops, so it is a long day, and we tour for the majority of the trip. Usually this is a pretty high tipping run, although we find that the southbound one usually does a little better than the northbound. The first time I did this run, I went north, and I made about $80 in tips, even with a tour director. The very next week, I did the exact same run. The weather was the same, we ran a little late actually, but other than that, it was almost exactly the same. I figured I wouldn't get a dime though, because the whole coach was from other countries, where tipping is not customary. On that run, I made nearly $200 in tips. It is such a fickle thing, tips, they are impossible to predict. This run had fewer people than the first too!

Just this past week, I had a seven hour tour to Portage Glacier, which I thought went well. As far as Portage tours go, it was not my best, but mother nature helped a lot, which usually increases tips. We saw a moose as we were leaving town, right in the road in fact. Everyone got a great view of it. On the glacier cruise, we are lucky if the glacier calves for us once. Usually the best we get is a couple small pieces falling unnoticed into the water. On this trip, we got two major calves. I have never seen that much at once. The trip went quite well, I thought. At the end of the trip, I got $19, from about a dozen people. Yesterday I was assigned to do airport shuttles. Usually you can expect to make less than $5 all day on those, because they are only about 15 to 20 minutes from downtown to the airport, and there really is not a lot of touring to be done. I did not tour at all yesterday on shuttles, yet I ended the day with an additional $30 in my pocket, including $10 from a group of four! It makes no sense to me, but I'll take the cash!

I had someone ask me yesterday if this job was really worth it, or if it was just a fun vacation job. As far as our hourly rate goes, the job is not worth it at all. Drivers here start at just $10.50 per hour. Transit drivers here make more than twice that, and the level of guest services in transit is minimal. The only that really makes this job worth it is the overtime and the tips. Working 60-70 hours a week makes the pay better, and adding tips to that helps too.

Strangest Things

I have had some weird experiences while driving buses at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, in Vancouver, in Alaska, and as a school bus driver in Salt Lake City, UT. I have decided that it might mildly entertaining to post the top ten strangest things that have happened, with a brief description of the situations. These experiences have all occurred as a result of me having driven bus somewhere, although not all have occurred while driving. Some did not even occur while on a bus!

10. Moving

When I was first learning to drive commercial vehicles, I was being trained by Holland America Tours, which is part of the Holland America Line, a global cruise line. They own the Gray Line of Seattle, so most of the motor coaches we were training on came from there. A couple vehicles came all the way from Skagway, Alaska. The training I was in took place in Provo, Utah, which is about 1,000 miles from Seattle and quite a bit more from Skagway. The two motor coaches from Skagway were E4500 luxury coaches. They are advertised as "Explorer" coaches by Holland America, and they are designed to be extremely comfortable for long highway trips.

Tim and I were finishing up our studies for a semester about the same time as we were going through the training program. One of the requirements for the training program, after a commercial drivers' license was obtained, was to take a coach out with another driver and just go on a road trip, to get a little more time behind the wheel. It was very close to the end of the semester when we got to this part of the training, and we were beginning to think about moving out of our apartments for the summer.

Tim and I had a brilliant idea. We combined moving with this "dual driving" time. We picked up one of these Explorer motor coaches, with an enormous photograph of a breeching whale on the side, and we drove it to my apartment. There we double parked it on a street about as wide as it was, opened the baggage bays, and loaded my stuff into it. Due to the narrowness of the street and the size of surrounding vehicles, it looked very large. Now, it was big anyway (45 feet long), but in a tight street, it appeared to be even larger than normal.

Once all of my stuff was loaded into the luggage bays, we headed over to Tim's apartment. Again, we parked the bus and loaded his stuff into the baggage bays. At his place, we were able to find a spot on the curb big enough to get the motor coach into, so we did not need to double park. Between the two of us, we were not able to fill a luggage bay. There is quite a lot of space under the floor of those vehicles. Once all of Tim's stuff was aboard, we headed out to his sister's house. She had an unfinished basement and allowed us to put our stuff in a corner for the summer.

Tim had warned his sister that we would be coming to store our stuff, so she was expecting us. Well, she was expecting us in a much smaller vehicle. We pulled the bus into her neighborhood, and we could see her outside doing some yard work. We passed by the front of the house and pulled onto the street alongside her house, where we stopped and parked the bus. As we passed, we could see her staring at this bus, which looked completely out of place in a residential neighborhood. Not only that, but we were in Utah, with a large picture of a whale on the side of the bus, which only made it look more out of place! She was still staring bewildered at the bus when we stopped, and we nonchalantly hopped off the bus to say hello. When she saw us appear out of the open door, she just started laughing, and said she should have known it would be us.

We stored our stuff and visited for a few minutes before heading out again. Once we were underway, we determined that moving all our stuff by motor coach had been the most efficient and cheapest way to move out of our apartments. We also concluded that it would be highly unlikely for us to have such an efficient move again in the fall, when we returned from Alaska.

9. Sarah Palin

In Alaska, nearly every person who boarded my bus would either make a comment about or ask about Sarah Palin. For some reason, everyone wanted to see her. If we drove through Wasilla, someone would inevitably ask if we could stop in and visit her. It was a bit of an obsession really! There were three occasions when we actually did see her. Two times were simply driving by, and she was at a park speaking. One time was a little different.

I was boarding at the airport, in Anchorage. One of the Guest Service Hosts there was escorting a group of people out to my coach. As they walked from the terminal to the motor coach, a black limousine pulled up at the drop off curb. A couple people got out of the limo, including Sarah Palin. Apparently a few people in the crowd noticed her, and diverted from walking to the bus. Eventually the majority of the group had crowded around her. Only one passenger came to the bus with the Guest Service Host. As that passenger boarded, I stowed her luggage and just made a comment about Sarah Palin being there. I asked her if she had wanted to meet Sarah Palin, to which she enthusiastically responded, "Hell no, I'm a democrat!"

8. Wild Wildlife

The call it wildlife for a reason! Driving in Alaska presented many opportunities to see some wildlife. Most sightings were pretty normal, such as a moose out in a swamp grazing on some brush. What follows are some of the more wild sightings of wildlife in Alaska.

Just the other week, I was heading into Whittier, and I came across a moose and her calf. She saw the coach coming, and began to walk away from the road. The calf looked up, and saw mom walking farther away, and jumped, and tried to run after her. The calf was very young, and its legs just collapsed under it as it tried to run. I watched the moose calf fall flat on its face as I drove by!

One day I was heading into the international airport, in Anchorage. As I drove past the parking lot, I had my most unusual wildlife sighting. I saw an animal walking across the road in front of me, from the parking lot. As I got closer, I realized this animal was a black bear meandering across the road. I guess commercial parking just wasn't where he wanted to be!

Recently, while driving on the Denali Highway, we came across a Willow Ptarmigan, which happens to be the Alaska state bird. Having never seen one before, I slowed the coach down a bit to get a look. Just as we got to the ptarmigan, it took off and began flying. This ptarmigan must have loved the attention, because a race began. The bird began flying next to the coach, in the same direction, right at the height of the windows. A better photo could not have been staged! As we drove, the ptarmigan would land, and immediately take off again, once again, flying alongside the coach. This continued several more times. We were only moving about 25mph, but this ptarmigan flew alongside us for over a mile! Just when we thought we would leave it behind, it would take off again and fly just a bit farther.

One a visit to the Mount McKinley Princess Lodge, we spotted a grizzly bear and her two cubs in the lodge road. We stopped to get a look, but the bears ran off into the woods, away from the coach. We watched as they all ran to hide behind the same tree. We waited a moment to see if they would reappear. They remained hidden for a minute or so, but then curiosity got the better of the cubs. After a minutes, we saw two furry brown hears peek out from either side of the tree. They just looked at us, and all we could see was their little brown heads. Eventually, curiosity got the better of mom too, and we had three brown heads looking around the tree at us. They never came out farther than that, but the did want to see what was going on.

7. Unreasonably Dissatisfied

One of the risks to running any sort of transportation business is the risk of an accident, even as careful as those in the business may be. This was the case for the Alaska Railroad on one evening in August 2009. Both Holland America and Princess Tours had chartered the train to pull some of their private cars behind the train. Everything was going well as the train headed south to Anchorage. It was running right on time. In Anchorage, just a couple hours before the train was due, a call was received from the railroad indicating that there had been an accident involving the train, and it would be heavily delayed getting into Anchorage. A plan was formulated very quickly to get the passengers on the train into town by another means of transportation.

The train had been heading south through Willow, AK, at the track speed, which is 60 mph. As it approached the Willow Station Road crossing, a car pulled up at the gates and stopped. Just as the train got to the crossing, that car lurched forward and onto the tracks, making a collision inevitable and unpreventable. The train ran into the side of the car at speed, killing the driver of the vehicle. The driver was the only person in the vehicle, and was a 66-year woman from Talkeetna, AK. She had just been learning to drive a manual transmission, and had accidentally taken her foot off the clutch at the crossing, while the car was still in gear, causing it to lurch into the path of the train.

That day the train was operating with 19 cars and 755 passengers. Some of those passengers were travelling with the Alaska Railroad, while others were travelling with Holland America Tours or Princess Tours, aboard the private cars on the end of the train. In any case, the entire train was stopped indefinitely while all the reports were completed and car parts were extracted from under the train. The train was still a couple hours from Anchorage, so even if it got away from the accident scene at a reasonable hour, it still had to travel for a couple more hours before everyone would be able to get to their hotels in Anchorage. The alternative was for several coaches to be sent to Willow to meet the train and take the train passengers off the train and drive them to Anchorage. That is what was decided, and the Alaska Railroad asked us to send enough coaches for all the passengers on the train, even those that were not travelling with either Holland America or Princess.

Coaches were sent to Willow, and people were taken off the train. It was a rather tricky operation, seeing as people were disembarking the train along the railroad right of way, and not at a station. Overall, it went fairly smoothly, and the amazing part of the situation is that no luggage was lost. However, there were some people who were quite annoyed by the situation. I was loading my coach, which had some Holland America passengers and some Alaska Railroad passengers. Some of the people aboard my coach would go to the Hilton Hotel, and the rest would go to the Anchorage depot, where the railroad would pay for a cab for them to get wherever they were headed. Most people were tired and understanding. They generally were just happy to be moving in the right direction again.

Of course, there is always an exception. I had one woman, with her two children approach me and tell me she was with Holland America, but she was going to the Howard Johnson hotel in Anchorage. She asked if I was going there. I explained that I would drop her off at the train station, where the railroad would pay for her to take a cab there. Well, that was not good enough for her. She immediately started shouting and demanded that I take her to the Howard Johnsons. I calmly explained that it was not physically possible for a motor coach to get in that parking lot, and explained again that there would be a cab to take her there for free when we arrived in Anchorage. Well, that still was not good enough. She began shouting things I would not repeat to anyone. I closed the door to the coach so the other passengers would not have to listen to this. She went on and on, telling me how I was a terrible person and a lousy driver. She then started telling me how Holland America was a terrible company and she would never travel with them again. My personal favorite exclamation was, quite loudly, "I cannot believe Holland America would let the train hit a poor woman in her car! I just cannot believe they would do something like that!"

This woman sure was fired up, and she continued to get louder. I couldn't possible say anything, because she had an endless supply of oxygen, and she just kept going! She got so loud that I began to wonder if closing the door had really been effective. Eventually, one of my supervisors overheard this woman over two locomotives and 17 idling motor coaches, and he decided to see what was going on. She took a breath when he arrived, which gave me a second to explain very quickly to him what was going on and why this woman was dissatisfied. As soon as she had air again, the tirade started right where it had left off. I watched as my supervisor's eyes grew larger listening to this woman. Most of what she said is not repeatable in about any company. She kept repeating how much she was appalled at the Holland America Line, for letting the train hit the vehicle. Finally, when she went for more air, both Jason and I interrupted her, and miraculously, she let us talk. We explained the situation again, and encouraged her to board the coach. I suppose she was out of alternative ideas, because she made one more rather nasty comment, and then turned around to board the coach. Once she was on board, I did not hear another word from her. The silence going back to Anchorage was almost deafening!

6. Speaking Before Thinking

The front seats on either side of a motor coach are typically reserved for people who are disabled and find it difficult to walk down the narrow aisle, to a seat farther back on the bus. In Alaska, we had little signs we would put on the front seats to reserve them for a passenger who might need them. We did not have specific qualifications for sitting there, but generally people were respectful of those with disabilities and left them empty if they were able to sit somewhere else. On some days, I would board the coach after helping all the passengers up the stairs, and I would find the front seats to be empty. If that was the case, I would remove the signs and invite anyone who wanted to move up front. If no one moved up front, I let everyone know they were welcome to run to the front to take pictures during the drive.

On other occasions, I would board the bus and find those seats occupied, either in part or entirely. Sometimes the people sitting there would have a very obvious physical disability. On other trips however, the people using the front seats were very overweight.

One day, I was picking people up at the airport in Anchorage, and I was destined for Whittier, Alaska, where there was a cruise ship in port. My passengers were getting on the ship. As usual, I reserved those front seats for anyone with disabilities, and then began to load the coach. Towards the end of the boarding process, I have a very heavy woman board. When she was about halfway up the stairs, she asked if I could have someone in one of the front seats move, so she could sit there. Very occasionally, there would be someone sitting there who could move, and the would almost always give up their seat for someone who needed it. I hopped on the coach for a moment to address the situation.

I looked at the people who occupied the front seats, and the woman asking for one of the front seats. In the front row on the left side, I had a gentleman who had one of his legs missing below the knee. His wife sat with him. On the right side I had a woman who had a cast around one of her legs, which did not permit her to bend that leg, and her husband. We did not separate travelling partners usually, unless there was no alternative. The woman on the steps was not disabled, although she was very overweight. Both travelling partners who were not disabled offered to give up their seats for this woman.

I politely explained to this woman that I could not ask these people to give up their seats for her, as they were physically disabled and really had a difficult time moving around. She sighed and mumbled something about being inconsiderate. She was not happy, but she really did not have much to argue with, so she walked back. Someone in the second or third row was polite enough to let her take their seat. As she walked by, the man who was missing his leg muttered, rather loudly, "You wouldn't have a problem if you lost 300 pounds!" I almost laughed out loud. She just glared at him, and his wife elbowed him in the ribs and glared at him too.

5. Carnivores

On one occasion, while shuttling people from the airport, in Anchorage, to one of the cruise ships, either in Whittier or Seward, I was giving my tour, as usual. Things were going well, and people were asking intelligent and interesting questions, which I love, because it really helps me tailor the tour to the group. That makes everyone feel like I am interested in them, which adds up to more tips for me at the end of the trip. The trip was going quite well, which is why I was not surprised to hear from behind me, "James, I have a question."

"Sure, go ahead," I replied.

"Do people in Alaska eat more chicken or beef?"

That question did surprise me. I told them I had no idea, and I still have no idea! I like beef!

4. Alyeska Gone Wrong

When we operate a Portage Glacier Tour in Anchorage, it includes a stop at the Alyseka Resort, in Girdwood, AK. This is on the way to Portage, where the glacier cruise is located. This is just a day tour. The Alyeska Resort is our lunch stop. It is a first class resort with several dining options. One of the features of the resort is the only five star hotel in the state of Alaska. There is a tram that operates up about 2,700 feet of the mountain, and there are a couple more dining options at the tram station at the top.

When I give the tour, I explain some of the dining options at the resort, and I usually encourage people to pay for the tram ride up the mountain, because of the view. They can eat lunch and look out the windows at a spectacular view of Glacier Valley and Turnagain Arm. It is quite breathtaking on a good day. On this particular trip, I did just as I had before, and the people I had on the tour were quite excited to use the tram and get some lunch.

When we arrived at the Alyeska Resort, I disembarked everyone at the tram station at the base of the mountain, and they made their way to the ticket office. I was going to park the coach, and then join them on the top. I also wanted to eat. Just as I was boarding the coach to move it to parking, one of my passengers came along and said the ticket window was closed. I was puzzled, so I went to check, and sure enough, every ticket window had a closed sign in it. So I ran over to the tram station, and there were closed signs in the doors, and everything was closed. I did see someone mopping in the station though, so I pushed on one of the doors and it opened. I asked what was going on with the tram, and he explained it was closed for the day for its annual maintenance. Figures I would show up on that day! I passed this news on to my guests and apologized. They found a restaurant to eat in at the base of the mountain. The only way up was on foot.

I returned to the motor coach and moved it to the parking area, and then headed up to the hotel to grab something to eat for myself. I got to the hotel, and I went in the front entrance, and then I was just starting up the stairs to go to one of the restaurants, when there was a loud beeping throughout the hotel. I was momentarily confused, because I knew they did not make public announcements. Then I realized all the fire alarm lights were blinking, so I turned around and walked out the front door again. Apparently this would be the trip where everything exactly against the plans! I walked around the building to try to locate my guests. They were around back laughing at the situation. The alarm continued to sound for several more minutes. It eventually was silenced, and then the manager made an announcement indicating that there was no emergency requiring evacuation and he apologized for the inconvenience.

After the announcement, I headed back inside and then got myself something to eat at one of the cafes inside. When I arrived at the cashier, the beeping began again. I finished paying, took my food, and headed back outside to find my guests again and make sure they were all safe. Again, I found them all outside behind the building, laughing at the situation. After that, I decided to head back to my coach in the parking area, where it would be a little quieter. Fortunately, that was the last time the fire alarm went off.

3. The Whales

In Alaska, when you drive south from Anchorage, you follow a body of water, called Turnagain Arm, for about an hour. This is salt water, and there is occasionally some ocean wildlife out there. On the other side of the road is the Chugach Mountain range. The highway is squeezed between the two. I drove along the Turnagain Arm nearly every day of the week, and on some days I would drive that road several times. We had to use that road for access to all the ships that came to that area. When I had passengers, I would always narrate the trip, in either direction. I would encourage my guests to ask questions, because it would help me cater the narration specifically to that group.

With one particular group, we were traveling along Turnagain Arm, and I was talking about the whales we would sometimes see out in the inlet. As I finished talking about the whales, I heard from the back, "Excuse me, driver, I have a question. Which side of the bus will the whales be on?"

2. Manhattan Mall

I have never driven a bus in New York, or anywhere close for that matter. However, I had quite a strange event occur at the Manhattan Mall in December 2009. It had actually been some time since I had sat behind the wheel of a bus at that time. For anyone who has not been to New York around Christmas, it is very busy. New York is always busy, but it is even more crowded for all the holiday festivities, especially in shopping centers, like the Manhattan Mall.

Let me side track for just a second to help illustrate the significance of this event. During the 2009 tour season in Alaska, I drove a total of 18,873 miles, and I carried 7,388 revenue passengers during the five months I was employed in Alaska. Since then I had also driven school bus in Salt Lake City. Needless to say, I had moved quite a few people during the summer.

A few days after Christmas 2009, I was walking through the Manhattan Mall, simply because it was warmer than walking outside, and I was stopped by a stranger. Normally I ignore strangers because they usually are asking for money. This was different however. There was a group of three, and one asked me if I was a driver. I was caught off guard, and a bit confused, and I must have looked the part, because he clarified without me saying anything. He restated the question, "Did you drive tour buses in Alaska?"

I said I had over the summer, and his face lit up a bit. He asked if I knew a town called Whitter, and I told him that I worked out of Anchorage, but I typically drove down to Whittier about six to eight times a week. When I told him that, his face really lit up. He explained where all this was coming from. His wife had recognized me, and pointed me out to him, among the crowds at the mall. I had been their driver from Whittier to Anchorage, when they arrived here on one of the Princess ships. I was completely blown away, to say the very least. I am not sure if I was more surprised at running into people I had driven, half a world away, or if I was more surprised at the fact that they recognized me well enough to pick me out in a very large crowd!

1. The Accordion

On a trip from Whistler, BC, to Vancouver, about a two hour drive, I had a man in the third row get bored. Most people bring a book or puzzle to remedy this problem. This man started digging in his luggage for something to do about 25 minutes into the trip.

I was a bit surprised when he pulled out an accordion, and I was even more surprised when he remained standing in the aisle and began playing it. As he played, he also sang, in Spanish. This actually went on for about 45 minutes, and surprisingly, none of the other 20 people on the bus ever said anything. One person even slept through the whole thing. As this guy was putting away his accordion, I happily thought this was all over, and he would sit quietly like everyone else for the remainder of the trip. He did sit, although quiet was not exactly the operative word.

It turned out he also had a harmonica with him, which is more likely on a bus trip I suppose. He began playing that, and the person sitting next to him began singing, also in Spanish. Again, none of the other passengers said anything about it, and the guy in the front seat remained sound asleep. I wondered if he was still alive! Fortunately the harmonica only laster about 20 minutes. By that point we were getting close to Vancouver, and I was just hoping this person would not be on the shuttle back later in the afternoon, which I was also driving.

May 2010 Statistics

Miles Driven: 3,099
Passengers Carried: 566
Hours Driving: 76.25
Hours Worked: 210
Average Speed: 40.64mph
Percentage Driving: 36.3%
Average Hours/Day: 7.78
Days Worked: 27
Incidents/Accidents: 0

In May I traveled to places like Denali, Seward, Whittier, Portage, Paxson, Copper Center, Valdez, Glennallen, and many destinations in Anchorage.

Tour 13B

I spent this weekend bringing a tour from Seward to Denali. This was a Holland America Line tour, tour 13B to be exact. On Saturday afternoon, I drove to Seward, to get in position for the tour. On Sunday, the ms Ryndam was in port, and I met this group on the dock that morning.

We pulled out of Seward just before 8:00am, and headed north on the Seward highway. I was touring for most of the trip, and I played a couple movies during the trip as well. I thought the trip went quite well. We made our first stop in Portage, at the Glacier Lodge, for some snacks and a chance to stretch and use the bathroom. We only stayed there about fifteen minutes, even though the schedule called for us to be there nearly an hour. I chose to left early so we could spend a little time touring in Anchorage.

Tour 13 is not scheduled to stop in Anchorage, but I thought it would be nice to detour a bit in town and see some of the highlights on the way through. We went around Lake Hood, and then headed out across town on Northern Lights Boulevard, because there are often moose on that road. So we spent the extra time in Anchorage, because no one really had a lot to do in Portage. Our next stop was in Wasilla.

We drove through Wasilla. I took a route that allowed the guests to see the house where Sarah Palin grew up. I figured that was politically safe, because the group was from Tennessee, which just might be more conservative than here. Well, we had one Texan on board, but generally Texans are not exactly liberal either. That ended up being a big hit, and then we stopped at the Settlers Bay Lodge for lunch, which was included with the trip. We spent about an hour eating lunch, and then continued on again.

Our next stop was at milepost 147 on the Parks Highway. There is a big Veterans Memorial there, which is about halfway from Wasilla to Denali, so we use it as a rest stop. On a good day, it also offers a good view of Mount McKinley. Unfortunately, Sunday was cloudy, with rain periodically, which meant we were not able to see the mountain. We made about a fifteen minute rest stop there. At that point, the group leader asked me what time we would be into Denali. I told her we would definitely be there by 6:30pm. That was not a good answer for her. She had signed the whole group up for a dinner show that started at 7:00pm, and they wanted to be there fifteen minutes early. She was worried that they would not have time to get to their rooms to drop off their luggage, and make it to dinner on time. I guess wen she booked the tour, she had been told that they would arrive in Denali at 4:00pm, which is simply impossible when leaving Seward at 8:00am, unless it is driven nonstop. I apologized and explained the schedule and the distances to her, and we got going again after about a fifteen minute break.

We crossed the continental divide, and arrived in Denali just a few minutes before 6:00pm. As we were arriving in Denali National Park, the group leader handed me a tip envelope, and thanked me for all the information and entertainment had given them during the trip. When we got to the lodge, I drove them right to the building they were staying in, so they would only need to walk about six feet to the door. I unloaded their luggage and then helped them all off the motor coach. After all the guests had disappeared, my tour director wanted me to count the tip money, because it would give her an idea of how she would do at the end of the trip.

It was very low. In fact, on my first highway tour like that, I had driven from Denali to Seward, and made more than twice what I made this time. I was a bit disappointed, because the first trip is supposed to the worst. I did my best and really gave them a great trip, but I could have done better financially just driving people back and forth between the ship in the airport. I know that tips are not a good indication of your worth as a person, but it is a bit disappointing when you get one of the most coveted tours in the division and then it is nothing more than a pretty drive with a lively bunch of people.

New England

Over the last couple weeks, I have, not surprisingly, spent quite a lot of time on the move. At the end of March, I drove back to Utah, from Whistler, Canada. That was a long drive, split into two days.

Once I arrived in Utah, I basically began packing up again. I took care of some business and got everything packed up for the summer. Once all that was taken care of, I was on the road again, figuratively. I boarded the train in Provo, and headed east.

The train trip across the country was great. The weather was perfect, and everything ran on time, allowing us to spend most of the daylight hours in Colorado, which really is quite spectacular. The whole trip to Chicago went off without any problems, and we arrived in Chicago the next day, just a few minutes ahead of schedule. In Chicago, I was to catch a train to New York. I decided to check on the possibility of upgrading to a sleeper roomette for that leg of the trip. I was in luck. Rooms were still available, and I was even offered a very good price, so I bought one. At the same time, I decided to check a bag to New York, just so I wouldn't have to carry it anymore. I still held onto my other bag. I checked those at the station, and then left for the few hours I had in Chicago. One of these days I'll spend more than 8 hours there at a time! I walked over to the lake and the Navy Pier and just enjoyed the pleasant weather and the breeze. I also found some dinner at a local restaurant, and then made my way back to the station. Before long, the train was boarding, for the first class passengers, so I got on.

The first class passengers board the train over an hour before it is scheduled to depart, and have some time to get settled in their rooms. Before the train leaves, there is a free Wine and Cheese event for all the first class passengers. I went to that, and then retired to my room. When I got to my room, the bed was made and turned down, and all I had to do was go to sleep. Breakfast was still 600 miles away.

I woke up the next morning, as we were pulling out of Depew, NY, which is the stop that serves Buffalo. I looked out the window, and lazily got ready for the day. I really did not have a lot to think about that day, as all I had to do was sit on the train and watch upstate New York roll by. I eventually showered and went to the dining car for breakfast, followed by a leisurely late morning nap. It was a great day. When we arrived in Albany, we were about 45 minutes late, but we made up that time along the Hudson River, before arriving in New York City. By then, it was the end of the evening rush hour, and things were beginning to quiet down to some degree in the city. I collected my luggage and got on the next train to Long Island, to go see my grandparents.

I had a very nice, although short, visit with my grandparents. Once the visit there was over, I got on the train again, and headed for Boston. This was a comparatively short trip. After a short delay in the Bronx, due to a failed signal, we really got moving. We did arrive a little late everywhere, but we did not get further delayed. The trains really move through that area. Our maximum speed was 126 mph. At one point, we were stopped at the station in Kingston, Rhode Island, and one of the high speed trains passed us in the other direction. As I understand, the track speed there is 150 mph, so you can just imagine the blast as it roared by. Our entire train shook from the air it pushed out of the way. We arrived in Boston about 20 minutes behind schedule, and I continued to New Hampshire, where I have been for about a week now. It has been nice to visit the east coast again. It always will be my home.

Downhill Skiing

I apologize for the delay in this post. It has been some time coming. About a week ago, I had the opportunity to attend the downhill skiing event at the Paralympic Winter Games. This was combined men and women, and it was three different categories. They started with the women in all categories, and then had the men compete afterwards.

The first event was the downhill skiing for the visually impaired. This amazed me, because the athletes that were competing in this were blind, or pretty close to it. They all had a guide who skied the course about 10 metres ahead of them. Both were wearing headsets and would talk to each other as they skied down the mountain. We were asked not to cheer until after they had crossed the finish line so that they would be able to hear their guides.

Following the visually impaired athletes, the women sit skiers competed next. There were only six of them. These were women who were paralyzed. They had a special arrangement, where they sat in a bucket which was mounted on a single ski. There was a suspension system that connected them to the ski. On the ends of their poles, they had little skis, so they could use their poles to help them balance. These skiers were faster than the Olympic skiers. They are the fastest skiers in the world usually. Unfortunately, the two skiers competing for Japan both were unable to finish the race. The first one had a pretty serious crash because her binding came apart when she was going about 120 km/h. She was actually pretty seriously injured and was picked up by a helicopter and flown away from the scene. The second woman from Japan also crashed, although it was much less serious. She was not hurt, but she was not able to finish the event.

After the sitting skiers the standing skiers competed. None of these were the same. The Standing skiers all had limited or no use of at least one limb, but sometimes it was a leg, other times it was an arm. In a few cases, an athlete could not use either of her arms. Some were missing limbs as well. After the last standing skier ran the course, the women were all done the event. There was a short break while they touched up the course and repainted some of the lines, and then it was time for the men to compete.

During the break, Jeremy and I got talking to the woman sitting next to us. We knew she was an American by what she was wearing and by the fact that she was cheering for all the American athletes. As it turned out, she was from Kingston, New Hampshire, which is only about 45 minutes to an hour from where I grew up. Also, she was the mother of Chris Devlin-Young, one of the athletes who was yet to compete. He is one of the sit skiers for the USA team. He would be competing in a little while. She was telling us a bit about him though. He had won medals, both gold and silver, at past Paralympic Games, in Salt Lake, Torino, and Lillehammer. He had won many other events worldwide for his sit skiing ability. She was very excited to see him compete again, and had even made a big banner for him.

After the break, the competition resumed with the visually impaired men. Once again, their guides led the way, typically only by about 10 metres ahead of them. Every team had their own way of doing it which worked for them though. Some preferred to ski a bit closer together, while others liked being farther apart. I was impressed at the fact that there were really only one or two crashes, even though these guys couldn't see what was in front of them. They were out there skiing a pretty fast and challenging course without ever skiing it. It was incredible.

Once the visually impaired skiers all finished up, it was time for the sit skiers. The lady next to us was excited for this part, because this was where her son would compete. He had to wait for several other skiers to go before him. When it was his turn, he got a good start, but he was 0.36 seconds behind the person who was in first place up to that point. By the second checkpoint however, he had made up some time. He was actually in the lead by 0.52 seconds. If he kept that pace, he would take the Gold Medal again. His mother's excitement was getting higher and higher as she watched her son compete and ski extremely well. He did very well, and came into view just about 200 metres from the finish line. There was one final hill, where most people got a bit of air, and then he would come off that to the finish line. He was doing very well, and it looked like he had probably gained more time since the second checkpoint. He came around that last turn, into clear view of all of the spectators, and hit that last hill. He got air, which was expected, but when he hit it, he was still finishing up the turn, and he did not land the jump. He crashed, and got right back up, still finishing quickly. Unfortunately, that crash cost him just over four seconds, which put him well outside the possibility of getting any medal. His mother was just devastated. I had no idea what to say to her, because there really is nothing you can say to make losing a gold medal better. He did finish the race, despite the crash, which was good, but still disappointing.

After the rest of the sitting skiers were finished, the standing skiers competed. The man who won for standing skiing actually did not have any arms. Yet he was the fastest person down that mountain. It was amazing. When the last standing skier reached the bottom, there was a short break and then a flower ceremony for those who had won medals. The actual medals ceremony was not until later that evening though. Medals were given for each category and for both men and women, so for the whole day there were six of each medal.

Opening Ceremonies-Part 2

Today, again, we have Opening Ceremonies. This time, they are for the Paralympic Games. They will be this evening. Unlike with the Olympics, tickets are not sold out actually, and go for $30. For the next nine or ten days (I think it is ten, but I am not sure) we will have the Paralympic Games going on, mostly in Whistler. Actually, Vancouver only has two events. The sledge hockey and wheel chair curling events will be held in Vancouver, but everything else, including the Closing Ceremonies, will be here in Whistler. Most of the events are skiing events. I am actually going to the Alpine Skiing event on the 18th, which is a standing event. The athletes will be standing to ski down the mountain. There is a separate event for those skiing sitting. It is both men and women, and I imagine it will only be a couple of hours. It should be good though. I have heard, from just a few people who have actually been, that the paralympic events are often more exciting and incredible than the Olympic events.

Things have still been quiet around here. Tomorrow the work is expected to pick up a little bit again, because events will be starting tomorrow. We shall see what happens. It still will not be anything like a few weeks ago. Security is much more relaxed at the events this time around. Spectators will not even need to be screened.

Paralympics

About a million people have asked me what in the world I could possibly be doing in Canada for all of March if the Olympics ended a week ago. Well, for that last week, I have worked exactly eight hours. Starting next week however, we will be busier again. The 2010 Paralympic Games begin next week. There will not be nearly the same crowds or craziness or media attention that the Winter Games got, but there will still be a bit for us to do. After that, things will go back to really quiet. It has been very quiet everywhere for the past week. Actually, it was a little strange, because we were just getting used to the crowds and the craziness, and then it all disappeared, and people resumed life as normal. Normal felt odd for a bit. It is nice though. Whistler has gone back to the nice quiet skiing town in the mountains that it was when I arrived. Things are going very well here, although I really do not have a lot to talk about, because very little has been going on. I will do my best to keep everyone posted on everything though.

Life

I mentioned recently that I finally figured out what I am going to do with my life. A few people have asked me what that is, and a few people have made guesses as to what it might be. I will elaborate here, since this space is a bit larger than a comment box on Facebook.

All my life I have liked trains, which I have talked about on here in the past. I think it all started when my dad would take me to the end of the street, even before I could walk, so we could look down the tracks and see if there was a train coming. That was a daily ritual until I began going to school every day. Since I could talk I always said I wanted to drive trains when I grow up. I think growing up I never honestly thought I would grow up though. I still don't think I will! At any rate, now is the time when we try to figure out what we want to do with the rest of our lives. We are expected to choose a major in college or pursue some sort of technical training from which we can build a career. I have been in college for about two years now, trying to figure out which major sounds the most interesting, and which one I could have a job with for the rest of my life without being bored to tears.

When I first started college, I was a Civil Engineering Major. That was fine, and it was interesting enough, but I discovered, after two failed attempts at Calculus, that I am not very good at math! I decided that engineering was not for me, so I switched my major to Facilities Management. It seemed a bit easier, while still fairly interesting. As I continued in those classes it slowly became less interesting though. By the end of the semester, and after a mission, I was completely bored by it.

When I returned from my mission, I decided to switch my major to Construction Management. That seemed a bit more interesting. My only hesitation was that it required calculus. I figured I would give that class another chance. After all, they say that the third time is a charm! Well, I did manage to pass the class that time, although it turned out it was luck. I actually did not have any higher average than I had in the past, the way the grading ended up being curved was just enough to give me that passing grade. That was an obstacle I had overcome, even if I had barely overcome it! Construction Management did not lose its interest, however I did get thinking more about my future. I liked it, but I still wondered if it was interesting enough to do for the next 40 years.

Last summer, I took a job in Alaska, where I drove motor coaches around Anchorage and the surrounding areas. I had never planned or even wanted to be a bus driver, but it was a good opportunity that found me, so I took it. Buses had never been interesting to me. As I worked in Alaska, I learned a few things. I learned a ton about Alaska, and learned that I like that place a lot. I also learned that I really love transportation in any form, even if trains are my favorite mode. I also found that I liked work everyday. I liked being on the move all the time, and always going somewhere, even if I had been there before. That got me thinking about a career again. I really didn't and do not want to make driving a bus my career. As I mentioned, it was just a good opportunity for the summer, although it has provided me with work ever since too. I would like to work in transportation though.

As I was thinking about transportation work, I remembered a school I had seen ads for in some of my train magazines when I was about 17. It is called the Modoc Railroad Academy, and it is outside of Sacramento, CA. So I went online and got some more information about the place. It is a kind of trade school. They train people to be certified conductors and licensed locomotive engineers. The whole program is six months long. It is more than book learning though. There is quite a bit of that, complete with homework assignments, however a large amount of the time is spent actually operating trains in a railroad yard, and working on the tracks. They try to create as much of a railroad setting as possible. They set up scenarios in the yard, and you stay there for as long as it takes to complete, even if it ends up taking 15 hours. Classes are five days a week, but they are scheduled anytime during the day or night, and that time can change from day to day, just as your schedule likely would on the railroad.It sounds like a challenging program, but it sounds like something I would enjoy a lot. At the end of the six months, they help in the job search. They do not guarantee employment, although every person who has graduated from there has been offered a railroad job. There is an average of six job offers for each graduate. I have decided that I will go to Modoc, and then see where life takes me after that. I seems that my childhood dream of driving trains when I grow up is going to become a reality. I am trying to start school in September, however I will probably have to wait until May 2011 to begin. Part of this is the federal age requirement for engineers. If I do have to wait until May, I will just work and save money until then. I will no longer be attending BYU. Perhaps when I am a bit older I will decide to get a degree, but I think railroad work will be more interesting to me, and I will get paid quite a bit more to start than I would with a degree.

In short, my life plan is to get my Conductor Certification and a Class 1 license from the Federal Railroad Administration. Then I will get a railroad job, ideally as a locomotive engineer, but possible as a Conductor, and I will drive trains, just as I have been planning since I was three.