Hi everyone!  I have some more good news to share.  Since I have gotten my CDL, another opportunity has opened up to me.  I start driving for a construction company in Minot on Monday.  They are hauling sand, gravel, and rock to various construction and paving locations around the region.  That will represent a substantial increase in my revenue, so I feel very blessed.  I have submitted my resignation to PTI where I have been a van driver for the railroads (what a relief to leave that job) and my last night is tomorrow, Saturday.  I can hardly wait.  The staff at PTI are unhappy about this development as are the railroad crews I have served.  Oh well, they'll find another derelict, felon, or reformed ax murderer to take my place (I'm sure the quality level will drop a few points though.)  I have agreed to be an emergency driver for them if they have a need and I can accommodate.

Here's one of the reasons I'm glad I'm leaving this railroad driving job:

Video - Things that afflict and torment Brian
http://youtu.be/BVKIhwWqqG0

In other news, a bit on the good side, I have an interview with another company that really has been my target since I got here.  I'm meeting with the President tomorrow morning.  This is quite a break for me - please send me your support and prayers!  More on this later.

Now, on to some other things.  First of all, here's a shout out to Joe, a conductor with Burlington Northern whom I've come to know over the past couple months.  He recently married his girlfriend of several years, and she is the mother of his 2.5 year old son.  He's one whom I will probably maintain contact with after leaving this job.  I thought of Joe when I saw this:

I wanted to give you a quick tour of the maneuvering course where they set up cones for CDL road testing.  This quick video will give you a little insight into what CDL candidates have to do in order to pass the test.  I drive past this spot frequently, and almost every time I did, I would get a stomach ache.  I'm delighted to announce that those stomach aches are a thing of the past:

Video - Cone testing area
http://youtu.be/3emdcyLZ-4o

Here are some "results" pictures of my testing:

For the untrained eye, that's a 53' flatbed trailer that I backed into a spot about the size of a bunk bed (well, at least that what it felt like.)  Ahh, the sweet, sweet smell of greasy, diesel-ly success.

There's one more picture that I have to add because it's also significant:

Ok, now you think I'm crazy.  Why would I take a picture of my kitchen trash can with a milk jug in it?  Well, I have been using empty milk jugs as makeshift "cones" while practicing my truck driving.  I had about 20 - I'd fill them with some gravel and set them out with a tape measure to simulate the cones testing.  This picture shows that I no longer have to save my milk jugs!!!!

Here's one more picture that has absolutely no relevance to my truck driving - in fact, it has nothing at all to do with when I was taking my road test with the state examiner sitting with me in the cab.  It certainly has no meaning with regards to the first few minutes of my road test, when I was asked to take a right turn into a small neighborhood street, where there was a totally unrelated street sign that looks virtually nothing like this one:

Before I leave the PTI job altogether, I wanted to give you a bit of a tour through what I have been doing.  This next video shows me driving through the yard - unfortunately, it's not the best video because it's at night, but it gives you some sense of the job:

Video - The Yard
http://youtu.be/y75nn6bUmqE

Something I failed to mention about working at night in the yard.  I often have to turn the van around in those narrow roads with trains on both sides.  I'm deeply indebted to my drivers training instructor Mr Young at Borah High School for teaching me how to do a 30-point turn...  What makes turning around REALLY interesting is when one or both of the trains are moving.

I think most of you are aware that North Dakota has some severe weather extremes.  In fact, we're already dipping into the 40's at night here.  Did I blink and miss summer?  Supposedly so.  Ah, summer in North Dakota.  Let me show you what summer here is like:

Video - Rainy night
http://youtu.be/K_aGtb1Aiuk

But then, the Lord sends us experiences like this one - this is really amazing:

Video - Clouds with lightening
http://youtu.be/gFsDTExy5lw

I have to say, in closing, and I have seen and felt the Lord's hand in this experience here.  I believe that He is mindful of me and my family and that things are getting better.  I'm grateful for that knowledge and for the support of all my wonderful friends and family.

Hello everyone - it's nice to be back.  Actually, it's nice to have some positive news.  The news has something to do with this picture:

Right, I got a haircut (more like, I was hacked by a blind woodsman.  More about this later.)  But also, I passed my commercial drivers license (CDL) road test.  Holly molly was I excited.  Apparently, people here are very impressed with the fact that I passed because very few people can pass the test without having taken a drivers class to prepare.  I'm totally self-taught and have developed my own set of how-to's to survive in the world of trucking.  Passing this license road test was significant because it will position me for many other employment opportunities that I was trying to get into to begin with.

To say the least, I have gained a whole new respect for truckers.  To get a "class A" CDL (class A enables you to drive any type of large truck), you have to pass 4 written tests, a "pre-trip" inspection of the vehicle, a road driving test, and a maneuvering test through an obstacle course of cones.  I passed the written tests a few weeks ago and all the other tests on Friday afternoon.  It was very nerve-racking to have the examiner over your shoulder, scrutinizing every move, whose goal it is to weed out CDL candidates (ND is among the most difficult states in the Union to get a CDL because of the harsh driving conditions).  Every wrong move you make or item that you forget to do deducts points from your total score.  And, the examiner is not supposed to give any coaching - in fact, you are not supposed to talk to the examiner unless you need to clarify an instruction that he/she has given you or to explain what and why you would perform a certain procedure.

My testing was scheduled for Friday afternoon.  I had to wait for the examiner for about 30 minutes, then he came out to the parking lot with me to the truck.  We went through the pre-trip inspection just fine.  Then we proceeded to the road test.  He had me turn right out of the parking lot, then make another right turn down a small neighborhood street.  The following picture is the result of my second right turn during the road test:

(The street sign was not leaning before I wreaked my havoc on it.)  As I approached the turn, I noticed 2 cars parked at the intersection that I had to go through.  As I made the turn, I was focusing on missing the cars and lost sight of the street sign.  the examiner had me pull up to the curb and stop while he got out and looked at the damage in my wake.  I was sweating bullets, thinking that I have just failed the test within 15 minutes of the start.  After about 5 minutes he returned to the cab and said "It's still standing, let's keep going."  He said nothing about me passing or failing the test, so I started out again.  My insides were tied in knots not knowing...  And, some unfortunate Minot newcomer may be eternally confused about which is 18th street and which is 2nd avenue.

I did ok throughout the rest of the road test.  Then he had me go to the area where they have the cones set up for the maneuvering tests.  Being rattled from the assault on the street sign, I didn't have much confidence that I could get through this part of the test.  However, it seemed that some unseen angels had something different in mind.

Here are some images that bring tears to my eyes:

The CDL candidate has to back the trailer into a 12-foot wide by 20-foot deep "dock" space, with the truck starting from a right-angle (perpendicular) to the alley, without crossing any of the boundaries.  Generally, a DOT-certified trailer can be no wider than 11 feet.  My trailer is 10'10" inches wide, leaving 8 inches on either side centered.  This maneuver is called the "alley dock".  Personally, I call it the "alley of hell".  Once you get the trailer into the alley, you have to stop the back of the trailer within a 12' wide by 3' deep "box" without crossing the back boundary - see the second pic above.  This is typically the most difficult maneuver that a truck driver has to perform.  I nailed it the first try.  The examiner was impressed.  I was not even in my body...

To sum, I did pass the test with about 5 points to spare.  The feeling was overwhelming!  Thanks to all for the wonderful support!

It has been a very stressful and emotional time leading up to passing my road tests.  For the past 7 weeks, I have been assigned with my current job to work in the Gavin Marshalling Yard here in Minot 6 days a week.  This is the plum position that is the envy of all drivers at PTI, because it is a guaranteed 48 hours of work a week.  And, the branch manager set me up with 6 days instead of the customary 5.  Only one other driver has 6 days a week at Gavin, so I'm grateful to have that.  I work from 11:30pm (23:30 for you military types) to 7:30am.  As I may have mentioned before, Gavin yard is a dangerous and somewhat scary place for the rookie driver, as there are constantly trains and pieces of trains moving in all directions.  You need to be confident and know where you can and cannot go.  Anyway, here's one of the many hazards that Gavin Yard serves up:

http://youtu.be/BVKIhwWqqG0

Many PTI drivers who work "over-the-road" (like I was when I started) I have talked to over the past few weeks are disillusioned because they are not getting the hours they were promised - some getting as little as 10 hours a week.  PTI has hired a mess of people for driving positions (and believe me, they are ALL kinds of people).  Just within the last few days, I'm hearing that some people are leaving for other jobs.  I'm not surprised.

So as I mentioned before, I got a haircut.  Actually, the result looks more like I hung my head upside down in a garbage disposal.  Minot doesn't offer a lot of options for fancy hair care (I'm so into fancy hair care) so I got a recommendation from one of the people I work with.  She was a sweet old lady whose hands trembled and shook like, well, they trembled and shook.  I had no idea that ears could bleed so much.  Anyway, that's one place who's patronage I won't be enjoying again.  I think next time I'll cut it myself.

More to come...

I woke up this morning to the sound of a distant train whistle.  When the sound of the whistle is in the distance, it's kind of a whimsical and romantic thing - I remember listening to the sound from the lines in Cincinnati that you can hear usually late at night.  But then, I came to the startling realization that I can now distinguish between the whistle of Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Canadian Pacific locomotives...  Oh my gosh, I'm becoming a train nerd.  Moreover, I was mortified to find myself wondering, "What does the whistle of a Union Pacific or a Great Lakes Central engine sound like?"

Over the next few days I have to pass my behind-the-wheel CDL drivers test.  The going-forward-down-the-road stuff is easy.  However there are several backing maneuvers that I'm worried about getting right - you have to be able to back a 60' trailer straight for 100 yards; you have to back the trailer into a more-or-less parallel slot; you have to back the trailer into a lane-change dock (kind of like the parallel parking idea). I used to back boat trailers and farm equipment occasionally when I was young.  So passing my driving skills test will require some luck and prayer.  When I pass the test off, I can get started with a more suitable job.

Tomorrow I will be covering for a driver who's out for a few days.  The job is shuttling crews around in the marshalling yard (this is an area several miles long by about a half-mile wide with many tracks and switches where they configure trains). The good thing about this role is that you get a set schedule and a guaranteed 8 hours of work per day, as opposed to this wait-on-the-board nonsense and hope you get enough runs to fill the day.  We'll see how it goes.

The sun was finally out today for the first time in a week.  It was so nice to feel the warmth and not have to wear a coat.  The river here is very high due to the heavy rains - people are worried about flooding.  In 2011 Minot had a bad flood that pretty much devastated the center of town.  That isn't expected, but lighter sporadic flooding is more likely.

Signing off - greetings to all.

I was out in Stanley ND last night assisting a crew.  The sky was clear, there was no moon, and you could see no less than a billion stars.  I stopped counting after a billion.  Then, I noticed to the north that there was some faint light in the sky that I first thought was some kind of reflection from the locomotive lights.  Then I realized that the light display in the sky I was enjoying was an incident of the "Aurora Borealis" or Northern Lights.  This is a natural light display caused by the collision of energetic charged particles with atoms in the high altitude atmosphere.  As I lingered, I noticed that there were eerie colors of greenish yellow and reds that I don't think I had ever seen before.  I wondered, as I watched the lights changing, how people could deny the existence of a supreme being who placed all this beauty into organization.  It made me feel grateful for my life and for my knowledge of God and his plan.  I wished I had a camera that could capture the phenomena.

Speaking of phenomena, I have never understood the appeal for deer to congregate along the sides of the highways.  Are they hoping to get a ride to a place where the grass is greener?  Are they merely the quadruped "scientists" or dreamers who desire to develop their own vehicles for travel and are intrigued with human ingenuity?  (Lacking the benefit of opposable thumbs, I think this is a stretch.)  Perhaps they are the performers or dancers who need a smooth stage on which to perform.  What ever the reason, I have developed a procedure for clearing them from the roadways at night.  Deer in the road is one of the biggest hazards for drivers.  I honk the horn at random times to alert, startle, and scatter the deer from the path of my SUV.  It seems to work.  But then I was getting bored with just hitting the horn in random blasts, so I have taken to blowing the horn to the rhythm of certain hymns like "High on a Mountain Top", "Let us all press on", and the fanfare to "God of our Fathers".  After careful experimentation and testing, I have concluded that deer would not be good Latter-Day Saints because they hate hymns.

My poor blog is starving, so I better feed it.  Sorry for the delay.  I had such a great time at home last week with all our family, I just didn't want to come back.  It was so great reconnecting with all of you as well.  Regardless, I'm back in the cold, wet, white, confusing north.

Stone cold 4-wheelin'
Let's talk about the weather, just to get things started (or to break the ice - that's a North Dakota joke.)  Today is May 30th - how can it be snowing on May 30th?  Maybe because it's 30 degrees?  No, I'm not kidding.  Didn't stick on the ground, but big white flakes were falling as I was driving from Minot to Max ND.  Could it have something to do with the numbers 48.2325° N, 101.2958° W?   Put those coordinates into your GPS and snow will start falling wherever you are.  I should have got a picture of it but it wouldn't turn out in the dark.  So once again, I'm wearing my wool socks.

So last night I was out driving in a van looking for a engineer from Canadian Pacific (in the May snow) who had somehow got off his train and they left him...  Some of these railroad people are really not all that bright.  Anyway, I was 4-wheeling around (that part was fun) in the pitch dark through farmland and muddy roads (amazing that I didn't get stuck out there) looking for this guy.  What's worse is that he was trying to direct me out to his location and I could hardly understand his speech over the radio.  I got a CP dispatcher on my cell and he was helping me, and the engineer I was trying to find kept trying to talk to me over the radio at the same time.  He just wouldn't be quiet.  It was almost hopeless.

I finally see in the distance a small light swinging back and forth - it was him and his lantern.  So I had to figure out how to get to him across acres of farmland.  Finally made it over to him and picked him up.  I also learned why I was having such a hard time understanding him over the radio.  He was breathing/speaking through a stoma (sp?) in his neck.  I felt so sorry for the guy, but he moved pretty well for an older dude and he seemed like one of those types that cheats death at every turn.  However, you know what he had to do before we left to take him back to his depot?  You guessed it - he had a smoke.  I'm not sure how he did it and I didn't want to know.

Jeepers creepers
I fancy myself a somewhat hearty and bold critter tolerator.  I can put up with most non-human creatures (and even think some are cool.)  Rodents, snakes, spiders, scorpions, insects (mosquitos and cockroaches being exceptions for obvious reasons) do not make me squeamish in the least.  Well, today I met my match.  Dermacentor variabilis, or in layman's terms, the American Dog Tick.  Oh_my_gosh.  I don't know where it came from.  I was sitting in my car talking to my wife on the phone and I noticed this, what I thought was a strange looking beetle, crawling up my sweatshirt sleeve.  On closer evaluation, I discovered what it was - this arachnid really made my flesh crawl, with its little flailing legs...  I couldn't even take a picture of it for fear that its image would somehow invade my ear whist talking on the phone.  Did you know that ticks' eyes are on their backs?  Moreover they can spread some bad diseases.  I managed to squish it with my car keys.  That's the last time I'll scratch my ears with those keys...  I got home and showered for at least an hour, even though it never touched my skin.  And yes, I checked everywhere else.  In fact, for the last few hours I still have phantom sensations of something crawling on my legs, arms, torso, and neck.  I may never sleep soundly again.

From the "Strange News" files
Well, add another point to and a cheer for workplace diversity.  We just hired a cross-dresser.  Really.  Not the girl eating soup from a cup.  The *other* one.  North Dakota is a confusing place.

Hooray for me
I was just informed today that out of 53 drivers working at PTI, I have the #1 rating for customer satisfaction with the railroaders.  Criteria is based on demonstrated safe driving, knowledge of the region, and on-time percentage.  In fact, they want me to go to Minnesota to work with a PTI branch there that is having some problems.  It's nice to know that I stand out among felons, derelicts, and reformed ax murderers.

Wow, I can't believe I haven't posted for a week.  This past week has been one of working through the nights - it seems I don't get called for a run until the late hours of the night, then they keep me out until early to late the next morning.  Then I come back to my apartment and try to get some sleep with all the noise of the neighbors (more on that later.)  It's all good, but it takes some getting used to.

Let me share a few scattered thoughts:

This is my favorite SUV that we have.  When you spend hours a day driving, you tend to build preferences.  It's very comfortable, has a great sound system, sun roof, and pretty fun to take 4-wheeling.  It also doesn't have a million miles on it like some of the vans in our fleet.  It's not so fun at the gas pump though - a couple times I have come close to 100 clams to fill it up.

When a run is assigned to a driver, he can choose whatever van/SUV is available.  I always take the nicest ones available because it is a better image for the company and I just like driving nicer cars.  We have some that have logged more than 100K miles and they are beat up and smelly.  A lot like a sophomore classmate of mine at Borah High School.

Speaking of not-so-nice cars, here's our van that the guy used to wail on the tanker truck a few weeks back, going to the boneyard.  It will make a nice bunch of Pepsi cans.  Or whatever.

These last 2 weeks have been plagued with car incidents.  One person hit a cow with this one:

She tagged it with the front left corner, spinning the animal around and getting hit again in the left rear quarter panel.  Livestock are not good about wearing their reflective safety vests, so we drivers have to be alert.  Two other drivers hit deer, but with less damage to the cars.

Here's something you don't see everyday - Amtrak being pulled by another engine.  Amtrak is classified as a "Z" train, meaning that it has the highest priority of all trains that run on the main track.  In fact, twice in a normal day, all trains will be stopped for about 90 minutes so that Amtrak can pass unhindered.

However, when Amtrak engines go bad, it's bad press for Government Choo-choo's so they will often send a lone locomotive to follow Amtrak in case it needs to be rescued, like what happened on Monday.  When Amtrak needs a push, everything around gets stopped and schedules are all turned upside down.  Also, when trains don't move, we don't get called to drive.  So I've been poaching runs outside of my regular board schedule to get more hours.  I don't think I have to explain that more hours equal more pay.

Speaking of getting paid, here's a place I might apply - looks like it might be the Minot branch of a Boulder company:

Notice the vintage green VW Beetle parked in front.  The car had a "Woodstock" sticker on it, but you can't see it from here.  Charming place inside.  I'm pretty sure to qualify to work here, I would need to shave my head, roll around in the street for a while, and get a stud in my tongue.

While there is a whole lot of nothing here, there is one thing that they do have - beautiful sunsets.  Here's a picture I got but it really didn't turn out too well.  You could see the rays of the sun shining down just like in the movies when they show God in the heavens.  I was on my way home from Epping ND and just had to stop to enjoy it for a bit:

We discovered something interesting about the neighbor to the north of us.  He likes to get in barroom brawls.  The houses here don't offer much sound privacy - even sounds from house to house seem much closer.  When their dog barks, it sounds like we have a dog.  When he yells at his wife, it sounds like the people upstairs are yelling.  Well, the other night, he was working in his carport about 3:30am and some guys pull up in a truck and jump out and start pounding this guy.  The commotion woke up my roommate Devon the Magnificent (he's also a champion cage fighter) and he went out to break up the fight.  He took his cell phone and had 911 on the line when he approached.  A couple of guys were going to turn on Devon, and he told them it would be biggest mistake they ever made.  Anyway.... the police came and the guys took off with the police in-chase.  I, of course, was driving choo-choo fixers and missed the whole thing.  In fact, it was mere minutes of the police screaming off that I drove off and collapsed into bed.  Devon filled me in the next day.

I'll finish today's post with something fun.  Here's to living with roommates - again.  (For some reason, Blogger wouldn't let me upload the video so here's the youtube link to it:

http://youtu.be/8A6FedhPMdk

When I first heard this go off, I leapt out of bed thinking the boiler in the laundry room (next to mine) was going to explode...

Just sitting in the parking lot at work waiting to get called in and i thought i would add an experience had last night. I picked up a conductor who i was pretty sure was a woman. She was wearing a heavy perfume that gave me a headache. Her hair was in a short crewcut. I drove her around for awhile, and she asked me what name I had for her on my list (the office sends us drivers the names of the people we pick up). I told her the name, and she responded "Good, they finally got my name changed. I just got married a month ago." I congratulated her, and asked if her husband also worked for the railroad. She corrected me and said "Not my husband, my wife." So I realized that I stepped in it and felt bad that I just assumed that this poor efeminate man was a woman. Why "he" changed his name was puzzling but I didn't worry about it.

We continued talking and "he" said that he's gone from home a lot with work. I explained that I was away from my family and that it's a little easier for "us guys" to be away because the dad is usually gone for work anyway. He then responded "I wouldn't know." At which point I realized I just made another grave gender assumption error (GAE for short) and pretty much kept my mouth shut for the remainder of the shift at 4am. I should have gone with my gut to begin with.

Hey, I'm just a simple naive boy from Idaho. This world is just too complicated for me.