Lodgemaiden Chronicles, Juneau Journies: Season Officially Starts!

    On Wednesday I finished my dual driving so I have official clearance to drive all the vehicles! We also did our first wash crew day where we clean and fuel all the busses that will be used for transporting passengers. It's been positively beautiful sunny weather since Monday! Our clients really loved their tours on Thursday. Speaking of Thursday, I had a great time. Although, I did have a few troubles. My mike wasn't full volume when I started my tour, so I got nervous right off. After a little while I felt better, the drive was going smoothly, I was giving my tour material well, and then I got onto the radio to call in for Allen Marine. Everyone had told me to set my radio to "talk" channel, so I did. I kept calling out and no one responded. Finally I went past to turn at the ferry terminal, and at the time I was switching my radio to "dispatch" I stopped on the "vendor" channel just in time to hear Allen Marine call out and ask me if I had just passed the boat ramp. I got down the ramp, my people got on their boat, and I had time to talk to the dock reps to clarify what was going on. Nobody was mad or annoyed, they were very nice and informative.
    Then I went to stage (park and wait) my coach at Brotherhood Bridge. It was a long staging period, and next time I'll bring a book with me. ;) Anyways, I picked up my passengers at Allen Marine and didn't turn wide enough to meet up with the ramp so I had to back up (twice) with passengers on my bus (which you're supposed to avoid if possible) in order to get up the ramp. But we got on our way and made it up to the glacier without any mishaps. I staged in their bus lot and caught up on some of the material in my binder before picking everyone up. Only, I was one person short on my people count. The time came for me to leave so I started pulling out and turning around the loop to go out of the lot when all of the sudden my passengers started yelling. I looked to my left and Irene (one of the glacier park workers was running after me with my step-stool (The extra step to help people get down from the bus). I stopped, put away my stool and we left on our way back to the dock. When we got to the traffic light for Egan drive I didn't even realize I missed the left turn until after I already drove through it. Luckily there was a construction sign ahead so I just told my passengers we'd have to turn around to take another route back. So I had to make a three-point turn (which meant backing with passengers again) in the middle of a road with traffic going up and down it. Luckily the other vehicles were being nice to me and let me finish quickly. I got them back to the dock and even made a tip. Then I got back to the yard and told Brenna and Shaner about it. They said it sounded like a typical first day, so that made me feel better. :)
    Friday was beautiful as well, and even more so because I had a day off! I got to go down to Wells Fargo to get quarters for laundry and then I walked down to the Douglas Bridge. I took pictures of every angle of the landscape which I want to splice into a panorama when I get home. Then I walked home by way of the 8th street stairs. Oh, did I not tell you that Juneau has city-maintained stairs with street names on them? I walk down "Franklin St" stairs every day for work. :) Anyways, I ate lunch and watched Jane Eyre before heading out on a hike to the Mendenhall Glacier cave with Jake, Zach, Kelly, Shaner. It's quite the hike! It's like Waterfall, Barbie Island, R Mountain, and the Ice Caves all rolled into one! But was definitely more than worth it to see the cave. You see, water from he snow melt runs into the glacier and starts to melt a little river underneath it. The outside water is so much warmer than the ice that it starts to create steam in the tunnel and eventually widens into a cave! I filled up my waterbottle with glacier water (kind of silty, but tastes good) and I took LOTS of pictures... :) On the way home we went over to the island pub and grill for pizza, which was really good (The only thing I drank was cranberry juice and water).
    Today our good weather streak ran out of luck, but we didn't have any tours. However, Zach and I were on airport transfers. He was driving the luggage truck and I drove the passenger coach. The first trip was rather uneventful, but the 2nd one was interesting. I was supposed to pick up 18 people from the hotel but there were only 16 present. I called dispatch and they told me to wait. All of the sudden my passengers started freaking out saying that they were going to miss their flights and that I needed to leave right that 2nd. I had to keep apologizing and saying that I couldn't leave until my dispatch said I could. Then people began telling me that I needed to tell my dispatch what a hurry they were in and that I was just going to leave without the two people. I waited until dispatch released me, but I was very tense the whole drive. At least I can say I dealt with it professionally, even if the passengers didn't like me afterward. I had one more transfer after that before returning to the yard. Once there I did my ADA (American Disabilities Act) training where I learned how to properly use the lift on the truck. Then I cleaned up the office area because everyone else was almost already done with wash crew by that time. Then I caught a ride home with Dylan (because it was positively pouring rain by then) and watched a movie with Jenny. It's raining so hard that I could barely see the outlines of the mountains out my apartment window. I wish it was sunny, but at the same time I love seeing it rain. :)
    Well, I have a tour tomorrow so I should probably get home soon. I'll add pictures when I can.

[Insert fun signature sign-off phrase]

Shawni