Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Pictures

I do not have an exciting update except I came within five feet of a moose and was driving right next to bison standing on the side of the road. Other than that, I've been working a lot and have to be up in to work at 6:15 in the morning. I just wanted to let you know that I had added some more pictures to the album. Just click here, and you will see the old pictures before the new pictures.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Christmas in June?

I was always under the impression that no other region changed weather as fast and frequently as the Midwest. I was mistaken. The last three days have shown me thunderstorms one day, snow the next, and finally sunshine. And, of course, I was scheduled to do three trips each the days of thunderstorms and snow. When we have bad weather, the guides will always try to politely talk the guests out of going and either receiving a full refund or the ability to re-schedule the trip. During the storm, we had started with 28 guests, meaning we needed at least three boats. By the time our guides were done with the talk, all but seven had canceled. Since my boat was the first on the schedule, that means I got to take them out. We had reached the launching point and started to prep the boat for launching when my guide got a radio call saying the Park Services had seen a lightning strike and issued a warning. The trip was then up to the guide, who wanted all the guests back in the van. The guests wanted to either go or wait the storm out, but my guide would not let them. I was able to put one hour in, while my other two trips were canceled. However, yesterday I was scheduled for three trips and all three went out. It had snowed all morning, and we still had full trips go out at 6:45, 8:00, and 9:00. I was on at 9:00 which 27 out of 48 guests went along. The sun finally came out, and my 1:30 and 6:00 trips were fine except for heavy winds.

I've been working with a lot of the younger guides lately, which I absolutely don't mind. Since I am a new driver, they like to have fun with me. Over the past week, according to the particular guide I was driving for, I have been a 24 hour online poker player that didn't sleep the night before; on work release from the federal penitentiary (twice), and a former backup dancer for the Backstreet Boys. Now, obviously, the guests were not fooled on most of them. Luke (who's last name is ConARd and has a younger brother named Adam!) was my driver and told the guests I was a dancer. I heard a bunch of "really" and "wow" and tried so hard not to laugh. Luke said if they were really nice to me, I would show them some moves. They really wanted to see them. After the trip, we unload the guests from the boat and have them go to the restroom while we load the boat on the trailer and get it ready for travel. After Luke and I finished with the boat and hopped in the van, he told the guests that while loading the boat, I was showing him some dance moves. All of the guests were disappointed they didn't see them. Does it surprise you that the majority of these guests were in their 70's?

Everyday I see more and more wildlife. Just yesterday, when I was taking my 1:30 trip back to the lodge we had a backup on the road due to bison crossing. About two cars in front of me, two bison were playing/fighting by headbutting all the way across the street. Of course, you have the idiot who is parked on the side of the road, taking pictures of the bison outside of the vehicle about ten feet from the bison. During my 6:00 trip, I was leaving the launch site, and had to drive up a 19% grade for about a mile in the woods. I was halfway up, and a pack of about 10 elk jumped out in front of me crossing the road.

Yesterday, I put in twelve hours, which is fine with me due to only putting in an hour the day before. I got to work at 8:30 yesterday morning and left at 9:15 at night. Yes, I only had 45 minutes off total to eat both lunch and dinner. Today, I only have two trips, a 1:30 and 6:00. That was definitely real nice, because when my head hit the pillow last night, I was out of it for a good ten hours. Hope you have a great weekend.

Take Care,
Adam Conrad

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

I just received word that Revon will not be able to stay here and work. He'll be leaving for Jamaica sometime this weekend, depending on when he can work out the travel plans. Please keep him in your prayers. He had a meeting today, and we talked for about an hour leading up to it on what could happen. I tried everything I could to keep his spirits up. Then he said how it stinks that we didn't have enough time to get to know one another.

Other than that, I had today off except I have to go to a seminar in about 45 minutes about nature, or the river, or something along those lines. Tomorrow is the first time I'll have 3 trips in one day. My first two trips will overlap, so I'll be very busy at that time.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

First Days of Driving

Today marked the 4th day I've worked. Today also marked the 4th full day I've been here. Now that doesn't seem out of the ordinary; however, I am not used to working through the weekend. I've been told that it is not uncommon for float crew members to work 20-25 days in a row. So, the day of the week doesn't really matter to us unless we are looking at the schedules.

Today marked the third straight day I've seen bison. I have now seen the biggest bison herd in America. It was well over a hundred, which is over 1/6th the bison population in this region of the country. Bison is becoming so common to me, that I barely look. Today I was following a park ranger who was following a truck with an RV attached to it. The truck/RV stopped due to the bison (in the fields, NOT the road) and pulled over about 3 feet. Immediately, the ranger turned his lights on and got behind the RV. Now, my trailer is wider than my 15 passenger van I drive and the boat is wider than the trailer it is sitting on. Not only was I trying to get around this huge RV that just pulled over 3 feet in a no passing zone, but there were cars parked on the other side of the street. Needless to say, I did accomplish it, but it definitely wasn't easy. However, when passing the truck that was carrying the RV, I noticed that they had no idea the park ranger was right behind him.

Friday, I was able to see a bear with two cubs. While waiting for our trips to finish, another driver, Bryan, and I had walked about a mile and a half to a meal site. Since we usually don't have to do anything during the trips, we are capable of doing stuff like this. Everyday, we do a lunch trip and 6 days a week, we do a dinner float trip. During these trips, the guests are taken to this meal site which is really close to one of our pickup points. Once Bryan and I reached the meal site, the cook told us he had a visit from a bear. He didn't say how big, but it just wasn't around a long. Bryan and I helped the cook and his assistant set up, and then we were made a hamburger. Since it was getting close to our boats landing, we had to leave to walk the 1 1/2 miles right after our burgers were made. While eating, Bryan mentions that he hopes that bear still isn't around, which I hadn't even thought of. Luckily though, that is not when I saw the bear. We get back to the landing spot before the four boats are there and we wait for them. Straight across from the river is a huge hill going nearly straight up. It would be very hard for a person to climb it without using his hands. As soon as the first boat landed, we heard one float guide tell radio a guide behind him saying that bears are over there. Nonetheless, I look over and a bear with her two cubs were climbing that hill like it was nothing. In the afternoon, I had a 2:30 trip of just one boat, but there were three boats that left at 1:30. While I was waiting at the landing site for my boat to land, I helped land the 1:30 boats. I noticed that one boat had all Japanese guests in it. The guide's name was Jess, who I had two trips with the day before, and I asked him how it was. He told me that the one guest who knew a small amount of English told him that they didn't understand a word he said, so he didn't need to talk. He said it was one of the easiest trips he had ever done.

Yesterday, I also made the hike to the meal site to help set up. Although I did not see any bears, I did get another great burger out of it. I also saw plenty of muskrats around, which are not pretty animals. On my way back, I also saw about 6 turkey vultures surrounding an area about 75 feet from me. Even though I didn't walk over, I knew something had to have been dead for them to be around. A few minutes before my boat was supposed to land, I went down to the river to watch for them. While I was skipping rocks, I heard a big splash just below me in the water. I looked down and a river otter poked his head up and looked at me. I didn't move or make a sound, but it didn't take him long to go back down and never to have been seen again by me.

Today, I had an interesting day. I was scheduled to make only one trip, which was at 1:30 and have four boats of ten guests each. All I had to do was take my boat and guests down to the launching site, launch the boat and help the guests into the boat. Then I would drive to the landing site and help the guests unload and then load the boat. However, I did not know that we already had four boats in the water before my trip's four boats went in. We also only have six vans. What this meant was that two drivers were supposed to drive back to the lodge, drop the trailer they had, pick up the trailer for the other boats and drive to the farthest landing site we have. My boss radioed to the guides we would be picking up, and they said they could land within 45 minutes. Since it would take us 40 minutes to make the drive, we would have enough time to pick up those boats, come back to the lodge and get our original trailers to pick up our original trip. However, that 45 minutes it was supposed to take the guides took an hour and fifteen minutes. Fortunately, we had two vans come back in the meantime, who were able to take our original trailers and pick up our original trips.

I have definitely been able to experience the float crew as a fraternity. I have really hung out with them the last two nights. Tonight, our boss had a BBQ at his house, so I crawled into a guides Durango with seven other people for an hour and fifteen minutes to his house. It was definitely cramped inside that car; however, the party definitely made up for it. We left at 5:45 and didn't get back til 11:30. All we did was eat, drink, and hang out. Not such a bad time for being at your boss's house. Tomorrow, I have a different schedule. I get the morning off, but work til late. I'll start work at 1:00 and will work until 9:30 at the earliest. All in all, it's not such a bad job at all, and for some reason all the female employees are really impressed with people that work on the float crew. I'm sorry this is so long and if I bored you.

Take Care,
Adam Conrad

Thursday, June 10, 2010

The Arrival

Yesterday, I drove about 6 hours to finally arrive at the Grand Tetons. About every ten minutes driving, I was in awe due to the amazing scenery I was seeing. Unfortunately, it rained the entire time driving until I got to Jackson Hole. I also was forced to drive about 6 miles on a dirt/mud road in the mountains due to construction. If you are wondering why I was in awe, here is the reason (I added the new pictures onto the end of the old ones). I am really perplexed to why more people don't live in Wyoming. When I arrived, I checked in and talked to one of my bosses within 1/2 an hour, and had the rest of the day to myself. However, the human resources department told me that somebody had accidentally cut the wrong line, and we were without internet and all phone (cell and landlines) for who knows how long. I was this close to telling them that I used to work for CT Communications and would have NEVER made that error, but I chose not to. I went to my room, and my roommate had a lot of stuff on my bed, dresser, etc., and I chose not to mess with it. I then chose to ride my bike around when I came to a turnabout overlooking the Tetons. I thought that was amazing. However, at the time, I had no idea I would be seeing better views of the Tetons multiple times a day every day. After the ride, I chose to walk around Jackson Lake Lodge, where I am staying/working. I ventured into a bar, but only for some iced tea and some ESPNews which was on. I practically became best friends with the bartenders. Not only did I get as many free glasses of Iced Tea as I wanted, but they also changed the station to the Cubs! After the Cubs won, I came back to find my roommate in the room. His name is Revon and is from Jamaica. He is incredibly nice, and I think he'll be a great roommate. Unfortunately, he has been having problems with his visa. He will find out tomorrow if he gets to stay or if he has to go back to Jamaica, so please keep him in your prayers. Luckily, we did receive our phone and internet service back this morning, which was also the first day on the job for me. I shadowed a trainee (a person who is training to be a float guide) today for my training. His name is Spencer and was a driver last year and will also drive this year when not guide training. He was an excellent teacher, and I think I already have everything down. That is until I actually try to do the stuff on my own. The Snake River, where our boats go down is currently higher and flowing faster than anytime in recent history. Due to that and rain for half the day, I was not around any guests today. However, I did get to help with the launch and pickup of a boat where a guide was scouting the waters. I got some practice in backing in a trailer, and I am a lot better at it than I thought I would be. While riding, I saw elk, pronghorns, pelicans, and a moose. I was told that I will absolutely see bears and bison, which I am pretty excited about. Since entering the park, I have not yet met one unhappy/rude person, whether it be an employee or guest. The guys I work with are some of the greatest people I've met. Spencer told me the float crews are pretty much like a fraternity. Although I wouldn't mind doing another job here, but I don't think anything here could be better than working with the floats. I am real excited about this summer, but really do hope it doesn't rain as much as it already has. Apparently, last year, it rained 26 days in June. I hope that doesn't repeat.

Take Care,
Adam Conrad

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

I hope you have a big trunk, because I'm going to put my bike in it!

I don't know why, but every time I looked in my rearview mirror and saw my bike on the back of my car, I thought of the above quote. Right now, I am in Rawlins, Wyoming. I am about 6 hours from The Grand Tetons.

Yesterday, I saw some real interesting things. Probably not as interesting to you, but I found joy in them. Did you know Indiana has a Tazewell County? How does one come up with a name like that? I can hear it now back in the day, "You better not mess up in this county, because we Tazewell!" Ok, I know, that was bad, but at least I got a chuckle out of it. I guess that is what happens when you drive almost 20 hours by yourself, you start laughing at your own horrible jokes. I think my drive yesterday should be labeled the 'Drive of Presidents.' Not only did I go through the Land of Lincoln and see a sign for the Home of Ronald Reagan, but for majority of the trip, I was on the Eisenhower Interstate. Both yesterday and today, I saw a lot of wind turbines. I really think we need to put more of these in Ohio, because they look really cool. Before I actually saw a turbine though, I saw a truck carrying a blade. It took me awhile to figure out what it was, because when it is leaning over a on all ends of a double trailer, you think it can't be those things that so easily move up in the sky. Ever since I got into Nebraska, I've been driving in a 75 MPH zone. I took a picture of it so you didn't think I was making it up as an excuse to speed. Speaking of speeding, the cops out were incredibly inconsistent. I saw from 10-15 cops in between home and Indianapolis. Once I got past Indianapolis, I saw approximately five the rest of the way. Now, if you don't know, cops love to come after me, so I've been very careful as I can't let anything hurt my employment status. Yesterday, I had the absolutely perfect weather to drive in. That was, until I noticed it. Literally about ten minutes after I thought I couldn't have better weather, it started raining. Fortunately, today I had amazing weather to drive in. I was able to witness 4 different "World's Largest" yesterday. Unfortunately, two were fireworks stores. I also was blessed to see the World's Largest Truck Stop and World's Largest Adult Superstore. Now, Iv'e never been inside an adult superstore, so I'm assuming it's either a Toys-R-Us for adults or a Baby Gap for Adults. Yesterday, I stopped in Lincoln, Nebraska, where the University of Nebraska is at, to spend the night. I am pretty sure the girl (who MIGHT have been a Nebraska student) was flirting with me, and I was just too blind to notice. Not only did she give me the AAA discount without having me show my card, but when I asked her if I could bring my bike into the room, she said she didn't think she was allowed to, but then said I could. Then, I'm pretty sure she rigged my keycard, so I could use it once and that was it- forcing me to go back down to see her. Then, I realized today the final hint. She made me right down my number on the hotel fill-out sheet, EXCEPT that was the only thing that didn't have a blank for, so she made me write it at the top. I thought this was just common practice. The hotel I am currently staying at had the same exact fill-out sheet, but didn't make me write down a number. Hmmmm...

Anyways, Here are pictures that I took today. If you aren't able to see them, I'll try to tinker with it a little bit so you can see them. I'm sure I have a lot more to tell, but I am exhausted right now and basketball is on, so this is it for now.

Take Care,
Adam Conrad

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Driving Across the Country

My sister, Julie, gave me the idea to write this blog while my parents came up with the name. So, pretty much, the only person in my immediate family who didn't help is my brother, who decided to go to Mexico on a honeymoon.

In about 9 hours, I'll be on my way towards Jackson Hole, Wyoming. I will be working at the Grand Teton National Park transporting people to and from their float trips. I'll also be doing other things such as loading and unloading the floats to and from the the water and trailer. If you want a visual on what I'll be doing (or want to plan a visit), just go here. It is a cross between a customer service job and a tour guide. I need to be there on Wednesday, and start work on Thursday, so I am giving myself plenty of time to get there. It will take me approximately 24 hours to drive, which I am breaking up into three days. The park will be providing me with free lodging, and also feeding me three times a day, so I will have almost no expenses as I don't expect to be using any of my own gas. I plan on working until mid-September, which I am a little heart-broken about, because I will miss the first Ohio State game. I plan on taking lots of pictures while I'm there and sharing them. I'm sorry this is so short and hope I can make the rest of the entries longer, but I feel like I have shared as much information as I can before I actually leave. If you have any questions, please feel free to comment and also keep me in your prayers!

And since I would already be out in Wyoming if it wasn't for my brother's wedding, I expect Patrick and Rachel to take a second honeymoon to come see me this summer.

Take Care,
Adam Conrad