-UPDATE- Part 1 of 3...
The Journey Continues... A Transfer, Change, THE BEGINNING!!!

     So here we go, a series of posts to bring this blog up to date.  I left off at the end of 2016 struggling.  Struggling to see clarity in which direction my life was taking me.  Divorced with all my possessions taken from me and living in a frozen tundra of a town called Glasgow.  To have to wake up in the middle of the night to start my vehicle so it'd start in the morning since I didn't have a heater block.  Where the temperature throughout the entire day would stay in the negative digits.  I recalled myself to only get furloughed again and to head home during Christmastime, through sleet, snow and frozen roads trying to get a transfer to the NW division and continue my journey with the railroad.  To my delight, I was able to get an immediate transfer through persistence and a few calls to the right people who can make things happen.  I chose Spokane as my new temporary home with the thought that I'd eventually work my way back to what once was my home.  It was the busiest place in the entire company at that time and after it slowed down they would force me to Seattle to work.

     The winter season over there was surreal.  The amount of snow that fell and stayed throughout the months was something that I had never experienced before.  I started familiarizing immediately and took advantage of the situation and used it as a second opportunity for on the job training and learning the territory at the same time.  I did that for almost two months before I officially marked up and started working trains on my own with the engineer.  I didn't want to get in trouble doing something in a territory I wasn't familiar with so I took my time and absorbed as much as I could with the time I was allotted for it.  I'd go home as much as possible and would spend as much time as I could with my boys.  The season was absolutely insane!  So busy with freight traffic and dealing with the elements of the weather were something that I will never forget.  I'd regularly work six or seven days straight to get (RSIA) federal rest that requires the company to give us 48 to 72 hours off before I'd have to go back to work.  Most of those shifts would have me on duty for at least 12 hours and as much as 18 before they'd have to give me 10 hours off before they could call me back for another trip.  So on day six or seven, I'd get off my train and jump in my car to drive 5 hours back west through the snowy pass to be with my kids.  At times, I would come in during the day and the sleeplessness would carry me to the following night so I could be present for my kids with the time that I was given off.  I would regularly be up for well over 24 to 36 hours before I'd get a good night of sleep.  Knowing that I'd be called at the 46th hour to be on a train at hour 48, I'd have to leave at the 43rd hour to be back in time to get on a train for another 12 hours.  It was truly a grueling experience to have to endure with all the back and forth driving through the winter.  I bought myself a new car that would be good on gas, a 2017 Honda Civic Hatchback.  A really great car and has handled everything that I threw at it in terms of winter driving.  They really re-invented the make by giving it a turbo and sizing it like a true sedan and giving it a hatch.  I'm very happy with how its handling and the 40 plus miles per gallon are helpful too.  With my transfer, the company allowed me lodging in Post Falls at the Red Lion for two months.  I also talked a couple of my co-workers from Glasgow into coming over and transferring as well.  Once my two months were up, I bunked with a friend that got me another month of free lodging.  We never even really noticed being in the same room because we were so busy that we rarely saw each other at the same time.

     The trips were long, always long!  We'd regularly run out of time by not making it to our destination.  At that point, we'd just sit on the train and wait for our relief crew who would have to brave the weather via our taxi service to get us off the train.  This event was happening every single day and because of that, we wouldn't always have a van available to us to get us off the train.  That would have us always clocking off around 12,13, 14, and as much as 21 hours that I heard from a few guys.  One month I actually was stopped from working because I hit the monthly max that they can work us which is 276 hours. That doesn't even include the time that I have to spend in hotels away from my home terminal I was in Whitefish when it happened and when they realized that I didn't have enough time to take a train back they immediately put me on Amtrak and I had the last few days of the month off.  The SUV's that we would be transported in would regularly strike deer on the roads too.  Which leads me into the slaughtering that would take place on the rails.  When you have feet of snow on the ground, the rails were the easiest path to travel for wildlife.  On top of that, with all the grain we were moving that would fall from the cars would essentially make for a buffet for wildlife as well.  That recipe led to regular strikes with the train.  We would mow down herds of them if they were on the tracks and over time you would see a buildup of carcasses alongside the rails and blood stained streaks were they were hit.  That would then lead to other forms of prey that would come in to feast.  I have never seen more eagles in my life than when I traveled to and from Whitefish this past winter.  These birds would stuff themselves so much that when we'd approach them on the tracks they wouldn't have enough lift to get out of the way in time so then you'd see eagles and owls along the trackside as well.  It was truly an unbelievable experience to witness.  To have them fly alongside you  all majestic like with the snowy mountain and river as a backdrop is something that just makes all of this worth it!  Don't get me wrong, the pay helps justify the time too.  The sunrises and sunsets are truly amazing and makes for the best office window in America.  Yes, you should be jealous!  To meet an engineer and take trips where you're forced to be in a confined space for two trips of 12 plus hours is something you don't see in the everyday workplace.  I have met some really great people out here and know that I have someone to turn to if I have a question or need help.

     There is so much that has taken place that words really can't express what I've endured and gone through over the season.  I had the pleasure of working with a friend that was a temporary transfer (mercenary) because all of the work that we had.  It was certainly nice to have a few people that I knew during this experience.  I don't feel that this post will delve into my personal experiences with being divorced and working away from my kids.  I will include in a few pictures, the trips that I took with my kids when I had them.  We definitely made the most of the time that we had together while I was back at home.  I rented out a room in my house to someone that I knew through work that I also helped transfer over from that ice box called North Dakota.  I wanted it occupied while I was away and knew that by having him in there that it would offset the cost of my monthly mortgage.  It still feels unreal that all of this has taken place.  To go through months of training and testing to be let go because of a downturn in business and then almost two years later I'm doing the job that I originally went to Montana for.  The reason that brought this blog to life is now taking on a new identity that has left me unable to write up until now.  To be away from what used to be my home, away from love, away from my family, away from everything essentially.  Almost like starting over in life and then occasionally drive 5 hours back to it and stay connected was hard.  To find myself again and having turned it over to something bigger than myself.  Family.  Now I'm in a position where I'm creating that identity again and giving it a different shape by what has taken place.  It truly has been tough but nothing that overwhelmed me because I know that everything that has transpired is of and from God and he will carry me through when I'm weak and exhausted.  He's been with me through those late snowy drives.  He's with me and knowing that makes me strong and keeps me moving forward in life.  Even through those times where we just don't know what's next.  I trust in Him.  I know that everything was for a reason and I don't know where or what but can smile at knowing how beautiful it will be as it comes in a future chapter of my life.  So that's my journey of work over the past six plus months.  In the parts to come that I plan to share will include some of the more personal side and detail things that have taken place over that time...stay tuned!

-UPDATE- Total days Furloughed: 516 Days!

          It took 516 days away from my home terminal of Glasgow, Montana to get myself back with the company that set all this in motion.  I went through the self recall process which required me to provide a UA, complete 719 GCOR questions and take a couple of familiarization trips along with a week in the Williston yard.  Aside from completing those tasks, I also participated in a two day return to service refresher class in Minot.

          So from the time that I decided that I was going to head over and through the time it took to get back in service, the traffic along the hi line has gone from wide open to barely holding.  There were open spots all over the division and now there are nearly none that my seniority will allow me to hold.  So much is going through my head about the future and where I see myself that I really don't have the words put together to explain how I really feel.  Though in my current state, I'll give it a shot.

          I miss my kids!  I see that I'm divorced, a thousand miles away from my boys and I really can't see my crystal ball and project anything in the future that says, this is right and this feels right.  I honestly feel like I am here simply because that's whats next in the process.  I first came out here with the thought process of taking this on because that's what was best for my family, that we'd move over to Montana in time and that things would just fall into place.  Well from that initial decision to where I am at today, so much has transpired professionally and personally.  So this is the crossing in which I am currently standing at.  At this junction, I don't really care to delve into the details of my life that I already haven't shared in previous posts.  You get it, a train wreck which I called my relationship.  All I know at this point is that I really need to find the direction in which this train ride is going to take me.  To try and be patient through it all and lean onto God for direction and not try and figure things out on my own that only he knows.  To give over it all!  To submit to His authority and let him lead me whole: in thought, in word, and in action!

UPDATE:  I started this post in the basement of a good friends house that was in my conductor class. I never finished it and am at a point where I am seeing some clarity in my thoughts in which I can put them into this blog that I have created.  Over a half a year has passed and I'm going to try and bring this thing up to speed and to current time.  This post will be short.  I'll add some pictures from the timeframe in which I am posting as well.  Here we go!