Do you wonder? Want to know? "The Work"

You see them in every town.  You hear them from afar.  Little boys are always for some reason drawn towards the toot and  sight of the infamous choo choo train.  It's the role that I've lived for the past four weeks.  

Here's a brief summary of the work that I've been doing in Eastern Montana and Western North Dakota.  It's also known as the Bakken Oil Region.  Boomtowns and oil rigs line the highway.  In those towns, a one bedroom can rent for approximately $3000.  The towns have been known to also house crime because of the huge influx of men and money.  

I run trains from Glasgow to Minot and back, 5 to 6 days a week.  A usual trip down the rails, 276.6 miles to be exact can run anywhere from 7 to 14 hours, depending on the circumstances we all encounter on any given day.   A typical day is around 11 or so and starts 75 minutes before my on duty time when I get that on duty call that's all automated, informing me of my when and where with who.  When I speak of cirumstances, it includes anything that a railroader knows could dictate his trip and decide on whether or not they are going to fall short of their destination and get dog caught in another city.  Dog caught?  It means a relief crew is going to come out in a van to take over and bring the train in so you don't exceed the federally mandated 12 hour time limit a railroader can be on a train.  From there, the relief crew takes control of the train and we van it back to our final destination.  The things that consume our time is speed.  How has are we able to go on this trip?  That all depends on what we're carrying and how much it weighs.  What's out on the rails?  This decides on if we stay on the main track or take a siding to allow another train that's following or that's incoming to pass.  To date, I've spent several hours on a side track, waiting or rolling by those trains.  Rolling by?  If I'm pulled off to a siding and other trains are passing I will do a roll by which is simply getting out and standing trackside behind the protection of the locomotive doing a moving safety inspection of those trains as they go down the rails.  I manage everything about the train.  I am aware of our load, which can range from corn to crude and even containers.  I know the weight, length, axle count, cars and speed restrictions.  I know what type of work is being down out on the rails as well so I can safely navigate our train from stop to stop without incident.  

Here are some rough figures that still just blow my mind.  Our locomotives alone hold 5000 gallons of diesel fuel, weigh nearly a half million pounds and have over 4000 horsepower.  We'll run a few of those on our train with one in the rear as our DP(distributive power).  In the area our trains are as long as 8000 feet in total length.  Yes, that long!  Over a mile and a half and if something out on our trip happens, I'm walking that length on loose large gravel to determine the problem we've encountered.  A train that long is well over a 100 cars.  When your that big and long, were pulling over 15000 tons!  It blows my minds still, over 30 million pounds at 70MPH with everything that you could imagine on them from crude to containers filled with our everyday goods and groceries, going up and down hills, through sleet and snow.  I got a little off track, starting to sound like a foamer.  A foamer?  People that are crazy for trains, some even follow trains just to hear the horn or to snap pictures.  I watch for speed restrictions on a daily report given that includes work being done on or around the rails which require us to call in and or stop if required.  I read signals, flags and placards that tell me what's out there to keep us at a safe traveling speed or to allow oncoming traffic to get by.  It's a job of focus and awareness.  A job that places a great deal of responsibility onto a crew of two, the conductor and engineer, to move millions upon millions of dollars worth of goods from point A to point B in a safe and timely fashion.  The people are all characters from all areas.  Solid individuals with families in some form or another that they've sacrificed to the life of the railroad.  I haven't seen my family in a month.  The last physical image was from the first blog that I posted.  My boys waving me away as I came across a few states to take on this life as a railroader.  To provide in hopes of a future that can financially free us from our binds of all the things that seem to regularly shake us to our knees with stress.  

Overall, I'm enjoying the work and the relationships that I've made in class and out on my trips.  I feel proud to finally work in a place that appreciates its employees.  They provide the wage, the tools and supplies to succeed.  They support an employees family with benefits that far exceed any other company I've heard of or worked for.  I feel like it's becoming a home out here with the locals and environment all around me.  I am enjoying the journey, learning a trade and finding out who I am and what I'm made of by being out here alone and away from my family.  I'm enjoying the ride thus far and look forward to what God has in store for me as I progress with my work and my life as a railroader.  Conductor Resseau out! 

"Family"...What's it worth? What would you do?

I am a full three weeks into this journey.  I've never been away from my family for this long in my entire life. Whether it be my wife and kids or my immediate family. I find myself finding out what I'm truly made of and the true value of the love that I have on my family. I miss them all dearly, though I know on this journey there is a greater part of the story that is yet to be sold. The story of a rebirth and restoration of the Resseau family.  There's also the underlying story of hope and faith. An understanding of if God wills it so, it will be.  

In one's journey, everyone encounters the ups and downs of life. I myself, no different than the next as my shares of both. I think that through those peaks and valleys that I have walked has brought me to where I'm at. I certainly know that without the ones closest to me I wouldn't be at where I'm at today. My wife has endured a great load through all those tribulations that I have created and walked through in my life and has to be the strongest person I know.  Through our days of disconnect and connect she supported my decision of walking away from a career job and supported of the family while I took on a dream of becoming a firefighter and going through fire Academy.  She bore the weight of providing and running a business which she recently opened. To this day she still is by my side while I take on an even bigger leap of faith a 1000 miles away in hopes for something better for my family all while she continues to run that business and look over our children.  I couldn't have been more blessed in my life than in that one moment that initially brought us together because I'm extremely happy to know that I have been given something so beautiful in the family that I now have the privilege to call the Resseau family.  

My new hours are long and I find myself traveling back-and-forth between two states, but I also know that with every days end I get to see my beautiful family with a video call.  When that call doesn't come through my long days I always get at least a picture or a video message from them.  I look forward to the day that I get to send them out here to visit on a train, because I miss them all so so much.  

I know with this post, it isn't where I've been and what's been going on in the past week but it's something much greater and all more important than the things that we do in our daily life. It's about family and what you would do for them because after we set aside all of our daily distractions and the things that consume our time to provide for the ones closest to us. It's about those individuals that have a place in our heart which drives us to do things that we could've never imagined or ever conceived for the greater good.  It's about love. In our journeys we encounter good love and bad love, but the intent is always the same. I'm finding that I'm driven by that love and walking with the same intent, driving hard towards a greater peak that only God knows that lies ahead in my future.  I honestly wouldn't be here in my life with my beautiful kids if it wasn't for my wife. She's the most spectacular and most amazing person I know and joke with her that I'm addicted to her, because I truly am and I am magnetized by how strong and extraordinary she is to have gone through all the things that I put her through and still continue to carry-on is truly something special. I certainly wouldn't be here if it wasn't for my mom and dad and their support as well. 

So my intent with this post is the only provoke a self-evaluation of what we walk towards your daily life and what drives us. For me, it's my family and the love for that family and nothing else, because when it's all said and done and all those external things are set aside, it's all we have left in this world.  

So Far and oh so Good!

So I'm riding the rails now and enjoying the job a lot.  I've gotten the opportunity to see the sights of a beautiful big sky sunrise and the beauties of this region that you wouldn't normally get to see from the road.  It's certainly nice to be filled with pride from working for a company that appreciates its employees and love the level of support the trainers have provided me and learning a new craft.  It's also a very rewarding feeling to know that they will also compensate me for that prideful work that I put it back into the company.  Since coming here, I have been finding places that remind me a little bit of home and absolutely love it.  I've got my little bit of Seattle in a coffee shop in town that I do my homework at.  I also found a great sandwich shop that's very Portlandia in its style and look.  There aren't too many places in the city of Glasgow, but these places provide a sense of calm and sanity that make me feel like I'm not too far away.  I post pictures regularly to yelp of these places if you want to take a look.  I think I'm the only one that even does anything with that website out here.   

I also connected with the chief of the fire department out here and I'm proud to say that I will also be serving the community that I live as well.  Everyone has embraced me with open arms and have been very friendly.  I'm all settled in at the park where I have my trailer now and I'm starting to make a routine of the days here.  It's definitely a new world that I love and miss my family a whole lot, but I also know that I serve a good God and he will take care of them as he has been taking care of me out here in Montana.  I have posted a few pictures, none that were taken by me because of company, but I researched on Google for photos of the region and of the type of things that I'm seeing out here.  Enjoy!

Arrival - A New Town, Culture, Job and Way of Life

So I loaded up my car with clothes and $500 in my pocket. There were a number of things that need to take place when I got into town with one being, checking into the hotel.  I stayed at the same place that I did a month previous when I came out for my initial interview, but this time it would be a little bit longer of a stay.  I was given the choice of taking $5000 as part of a relocation bonus or six months in a hotel.  I took the money but don't get it until my first paycheck. With knowing this, I was extremely stressed with the task of having to find a permanent place to stay in a town but doesn't have apartments or places to rent.  So I was tasked to find a travel trailer that I could put at the local RV park.  So I tried looking into buying one but couldn't secure financing or get a co-signer.  I was able to work out an agreement though with the hotel through an understanding that I would pay them when I could at a weekly rate of $300.  I knew that I would also need $350 upfront to be able to get a spot at the RV park for the month.  Having exhausted hear half of the money that I brought out with me through gas and food, I felt doomed with the thought of being stuck in a hotel for $1200 a month.  Prayers are heard and prayers are answered, I have been the recipient of having all of mine answered and then some.  Trailer for $3500 ended up parked 100 feet from my hotel entrance, so I called on it.  I was able to strike a deal with the seller of getting it for only $3000 and not have to pay for it until I got my money.  I was also able to park the trailer at a spot next to a coworker.  A very kind and helpful Christian man who towed it to the park for me.  On top of that, a very understanding park manager allowed me to get set up and not pay the monthly fee  until I got my check as well.  I was even able to check out of the hotel and not pay my balance until my bonus was deposited too.

So here I am, in a new town and with a new job almost broke but reaping the blessings from a great God that hears the cries of the unworthy.  I ask myself, what did I do to deserve this?  I repent, and can only give thanks and  pray for continued guidance through this journey because I honestly couldn't have done it without Him.  

I've been surrounded by a couple of great people that I can fellowship with.  They have been a great support in this new journey and honestly would be penniless and hungry without them being placed in my life right now in this moment.  It has seemed that I was given insurmountable walls to climb and at times I have felt doomed with all of the obstacles that were placed in front of me.  I still can't believe all the things that had to take place have actually fallen into place by a great series of events and great people that have done nothing but show grace and love in this first week of my new journey.  A special thank you to my God, great new friends, and great Montanans.

On the road...

It was hard leaving but I push forward.  Unsure of the future ahead of me, the trip settled me.  The solitude.  The peace of the quiet open road.  I got in the Montana and pulled over just to give the car a break and as soon as I got out to take a picture of the 50,000 Silverdollar sign I looked up through my viewfinder in my camera and saw A shooting star.  I wish I was able to capture but it almost felt like a sign of great things to come. I drove into Helena and stay the night because it was getting pretty late. The trip itself seemed long at the end coming into town I am coming out of that final pass with the temperature at -2° was something new to me. It was so cold that the engine room wasn't even able to pull and warm air through the vents. I had a hard time sleeping that night.  I was scared and nervous of something new and uncertainty of how it would unfold.

A New Beginning...

I sit in my car in silence traveling through the first pass of many en route to a destination in which I will call home.  I'm excited for the new journey and can visualize the days ahead, but I'm torn at the core of me knowing that I have left everything that I love behind.  I have been told and try to tell myself that this choice of leaving my home and pursuing a new career in the railroad industry is what is best for me and my family.  I wrestle with the idea of children growing up without their father and how that ultimately affects their well-being as they grow up.  The passes simply beautiful as I crest the summit. There is in the cloud in sight in the mountain tops are covered in white. This do you brings peace to all the emotions that are going through me at the moment.I hope this work and free us from the financial bondage with created for ourselves. I hope that this move can bring forth a restoration of a love that once was.I hope this new chapter can bring a new beginning and all of the lives of the Resseau family.   75 miles down and another 900 to go. I hope to make it to Great Falls tonight and get a good nights rest before I take on the final leg to a new town in which will become my home.