life on the road

Well yesterday I got back from my second highway run leading my own tour. It is a pretty fun time. The youngest person I've had on one of my tours was 34. My last group was soooo... funny. One fellow from Penn. kept heckeling me from the back. Before this job that would have been tough for me to deal with, but it really helps make people laugh when you're able to go back and forth. Just before we said "bye" he told me that he used to have red hair like mine- whats left of the hair on his head is gray. It was fun.
Had a funny experience that will give some insight into the kind of group I had. They were sarcastically talking about how intimidating I was. So I jumped in and started agreeing with them- how big and bad I am- and then was trying to take off my jacket. The zipper got stuck and I pointed that out to them as one more reason I was so manly. I said "see I cant even get my zipper undone." A lady half way back in the bus offered to help with a "I'll give you a hand." With that the coach erupted with laughter and me and the nice lady turned a matching shade of red. It was great.
A little about the Taylor highway run- We leave fairbanks after doing a tour of Gold Dredge No. 8 about 1 pm. We drive past North Pole, AK. Stop at Rika's Roadhouse for a coffee break- I get some strawberry rhubarb pie. We drive past Delta- entering the end of the Alaska Hwy heading south. We stop for the night in Tok, AK a small town of 1500 people in the summer. We leave there in the morning at 6am and drive into Chicken AK at 7:30 for coffee- i get blueberry muffins and cocoa. Chicken has a population of 10. Pavement ends 3 miles before chicken. We leave there and head for polly's summit where we stop in case nature is calling and hand out lunch. Then we head down 40 mile canyon and arrive in Eagle, Ak about noon. Eagle has a healthy 150 people in the summer. Quaint little town on the banks of the Yukon river. It is very peaceful there. The tourists get on a boat and head up river to Dawson as we wave goodbye.

taylor hwy

Tomorrow I start my first highway run. I will be out of town for 3 days- day one to the gold dredge then to tok, day two to eagle, day 3 back to fairbanks with no passengers. I am the pioneer of the "mo mo's". The first of the five to go on the highway. I think the fellows in the office like me or something and want to see what I'm made of. I'm kind of nervous and wanted to be more prepared, but all I've got is tonight then i'm on the road. I hope my group is a good one... it makes all the difference in the world. I am real excited though. The highway is kind of tough to drive, but that will be an adventure for me.

flying solo

Yesterday I did my first city tour of Fairbanks. It was horrible. I took several wrong turns, gave some mis-information, stuttered, said "um" alot, and was late to our first activity. I had a good group though and they sure were good natured about it. They had a good time even though I screwed up alot. I ended up getting a real good tip at the end of the day too.
When I introduced myself I said, "hi i'm adam and i'll be your driver today. I'm up earning money for college. I'm 22 years old and single. And open to blind dates..." They loved it! It was a fun group and I'm glad I had them for my first time. They all knew my name and would use it when asking me questions and stuff like that. It was all I could do to keep a positive attitude despite my mistakes, but I did and it paid.

First 3 weeks

Well, a lot has happened in the last 3 weeks. Drove from Provo to seattle, flew from seattle to fairbanks, got a rundown place at the Anderson's, saw a fight, had a native offer me a drink, toured the interior of alaska for a week, saw black bear, moose, bald eagles, wolves, reindeer, tundra wookies, and hours of beautiful scenery, started training for the st george marathon, left a guy at the canadian border, learned all you could ever want to know about fairbanks, got my first tips, got assigned to the taylor highway to Eagle, got locked out of my apartment (my key I got made didnt fit), made tons of new friends, laughed, yawned, ate out alot, and slept a little. Its been a riot! I will try and keep this updated more often than every 3 weeks...