Weather Delay

Well, today was an interesting day. Woke up to a phone call from the boss. Apparently the cruise ships don't like stopping in Ketchikan when the wind is blowing kinda hard. It was only like 65 mph at the most. Not even bad. But with the day off I was able to go for a very nice walk. Rain gear on and head bent to the winds I trudged around for an hour or two just enjoying the feel of nature tugging at my coat and raindrops pelting my entire person. I need more of this. More times where I feel connected to the real world. But it's human nature to take these things for granted. To feel the rays of the sun but not to stop and enjoy them. To witness the moon beaming down on a cloudless night. To really feel the wind with open arms. Taste a raindrop. Breathe in the air. I've got to get back to what is real. Back to enjoying the simplest of things. The bare bones of human experience. I have made my life too complicated as of late thinking about all sorts of things, work, the future, money, what I look like. All the while there is this big beautiful world full of experiences waiting for me. It only took gale force winds for me to remember it. Today was a good day.

After reading what I just wrote I dare say I had a Pocahontas moment today.

5-0 Shakedown

Isn't it strange how we get nervous when the police are around, like somehow they are the bad guys who are going to get us? That happened to me today. There I was, driving my bus when I noticed an unmarked police car on the side of the road. I figured it was just a speed trap, waiting for the next unfortunate speeder to pass in front of a poised radar gun. I thought this until I watched the unmarked car pull out and start to follow me. Then continue to follow me. FOR TWELVE MILES! I am doing my best to drive perfectly, the best driving I have ever done. Do the exact speed limit. Stay between the lines (harder to do in a bus.) Signal early. I think this can't go on much longer. We are almost to the end of the island for the love of Pete. I turn. He turns. I turn again. He follows. Uh oh... I park my bus to wait for my passengers to board, but I've still got about a fifteen minute wait. He gets out of his car. 

Me: How can I help you officer?

Officer: Well, I'm new to the Island here and I was wondering where you guys park your buses?

Me: Well we have a shop at (address)

Officer: Oh, well I'm not really sure where that is.

Me: Is there some kind of problem that I can help you with?

Officer: No no. I'm just doing routine commercial motor vehicle inspections.

Me: Oh, ok. Well do you know where (gas station) is? It's across from that, kinda hidden in the trees.

Officer: Alright, I know that place. Well while we are here do you mind if I do an inspection?

Me: *Shifty eyes* Go right ahead.

Officer: License, med card and registration please. 

So I hand him all the paperwork, we get to talking and it turns out Officer Brooks is a pretty rad dude. He's only up here for a little while so he is trying to inspect as many commercial vehicles as he can. After I pass inspection he asks if he can follow me all the way back to the bus yard to check some of the other buses. I say sure and once we depart he follows me all the way back to town and then to the yard. About 18 miles in all. On the way back I radio ahead to my boss that he is coming in and when I get in they are all standing out front as if I've brought home a special lady for dinner. They are all smiles and handshakes and "yes sir, no sir" and being polite. The entire thing is a little surreal. 

It is just funny that a normal guy like Steve Brooks gets treated differently because of what car he drives and because he has the "officer" title in front of his name. His job is to make sure that the vehicles we drive are safe but we still react to him as if he is the bad guy. Just an interesting thing to think about. But I guess not that interesting, he's just another guy doing his job and every job comes with stereotypes.

Snorkel Alaska!

Today I was lucky enough to have the day off and even luckier that I was able to head out into the ocean to do a little bit of snorkeling! I was accompanied by the great team out at Snorkel Alaska and was able to have an amazing time. Unfortunately no pictures because it was quite rainy and cameras don't do well underwater.
But for anyone interested in checking out Snorkel Alaska this is the link to their site.
Snorkel Alaska

Some things I'd like to mention before I go. I don't know why I ever stopped scuba diving and snorkeling. I'm pretty sure I belong in the water, so look for more posts in the future about being underwater.

Life as Liquid

Apologies for not posting in so long. I have been busy. I have been moving. But most of all, I have been lazy about posting. Sometimes you just don't feel like taking the time to put words on a page. Other times you convince yourself that you have nothing worth while to say. Worst of all, I have misplaced my camera cord so we will all have to wait on the photos. So here we go, lets get up to speed and back on track!
I have left the great plains of North Dakota. I bailed out of there on August 3rd simply because I was unhappy and I had made plenty of pocket change to get me by. But the leaving wasn't easy. It is always hard to walk away from that kind of cash, but at what point do I stop sacrificing happiness for money? That wasn't a road I wanted to go down. Anyways, August 3rd I woke up and still had to go to work. I had told my boss two weeks prior that this was going to be my last day. So after a 12 hour work day I packed up the truck and headed out at 5:30pm. Just me and the lonesome road for about 1,000 miles of North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming and Utah. I'm not sure what it was, the excitement of changing my stars or that I knew once I got out of ND I would never have to go back. But there was definitely something different about that night. I was unstoppable. 14 hours of driving. Through the middle of the night, through the middle of nowhere and I was giddy. I rolled into Park City right as the sun was rising and it was one of the best sunrises I have ever seen. I mean, beautiful. From PC it was another 30 minutes down to the house. I get back, shower, hop back in the truck and it's off to the airport. Catch a flight east. Transfer. Make it on the next flight to NY where the lady is there to pick me up. After about 40 hours of being awake and 24 hours of travel I was able to relax with a nice dinner, a lovely lady, and a long awaited shower. I can't explain how great that shower felt after a summer of 3 gallon 60 second showers. It was as if the heavens themselves had invented such a divine way of cleansing oneself.
Fast forward a few days in VT. A wonderful time. Beautiful weather. Beautiful lady. But all good things must come to an end. Time to head West. Load up the car and start out for the 36 hour drive to the land of the Salty Lake. As weird as it sounds, I loved this drive. It wasn't all that exciting. It wasn't that it was grueling. It was just a learning experience. About myself, what I want, what I had and where I was going. For the past few years my life has been extremely liquid. I go with the flow, changing course when I meet resistance. Never staying on the straight and narrow. I love this life, it leads me to some interesting places. But the best part about being so liquid is that I can change this life of mine to resemble almost anything. While the last few years as a transient have been great, I might try my hand at creating a bit more of a foundation somewhere...
Unfortunately, things aren't always as easy as they seem. Two weeks in SLC, the weather is hot and I am not well adjusted to being warm. I get a phone call, my boss in Alaska wants me to come back and finish the cruise season. Basically the entire month of September. Keeping my life as liquid as possible I agree and three days later I'm on a plane heading to the great land. So here I sit in Ketchikan Alaska. Writing about how I want to be more grounded, but truth be told I'm just not very good at that yet. It's going to take some practice on my part.
I feel like this post has been fragmented. Disjointed. Awkward to read. And that is probably because it is. Hell, I don't really like the title of the post but I can't think of anything better. This entire post feels like trying to put your right foot into your left shoe. But I imagine that it's only because I'm out of practice. I'm searching for the right words. Maybe I'm searching for more than just words. The winds of change are upon me and I haven't quite figured out what that means for me yet...

Green With Envy

I think what North Dakota lacks in elevation changes it attempts to make up for in color. Mainly the color green. There is also a lot of gold and yellow and blue sky. But for the most part it just looks organic here. After work yesterday I decided to head out to New John lake, got my bronze on laying in the back of my truck and on the way I snapped some photos of the area I'm driving through every single day. This is not the best place I've ever lived, but it is certainly not the worst either. I swear that none of these photos were edited in any way.

Pew! Pew! Pew!

Well, I've been working here for a while now and every once in a while it is important to blow off some steam. Me and the guys from work were a little upset about some work stuff, things didn't work out like they were supposed to so we decided to head out to the gun range and shoot stuff!

Down Range

Pew! Pew! Gotcha...

Bang! Bang!

Little man don't care.

You can see the shell ejecting. Neat!

So This is My Life

I finally got around to snapping a few pictures of my surrounding area. It's not so bad here. The people are friendly, in a trailer park kind of way, it's not very dusty, it's green and yellow, and there seems to be a relaxed kind of atmosphere that I can get behind. Would I ever choose to live here? No, definitely not, not a chance in the world. But of all the places I get paid to live in, it could be a lot worse.

100 Great Years!

Home Sweet Trailer Home

An Average Night in the Trailerhood

Complete with above ground pool

You can save so much time here!

Very inventive...

Yellow

Prettyish

Lookin fresh

It's not that bad here.