Miles for the trip - 5900! Now, lets go drive in circles.

Before I get too far into my life in Juneau, I'd like to pat myself on the back. I did the calculations, and my trip from Bloomington to Juneau, via visits to Dan, Sarah, Ciara and Adam, and the Spokane clan puts my mileage over 5,900 miles! There where hundreds of miles where I thought I heard little noises that made me rigid for hours, fearing I would be stuck in the middle of the ________ (you choose: Oklahoma/California/Oregon/B.C.) wilderness, but I made it. There were support phone calls, books on tape, and many cups of coffee. So, thanks to everyone, and nice job me.

Now, on to the more recent past.

I met with Ron and saw the house today. To say the least, it is in a sad shape. The good news is Ron has agreed to not charge me rent while it is getting into the agreed upon condition. This gives me the time I need to 1) help get my areas into livable condition, or 2) look for a new place to live. Either way, I'll be ok. It's just the newest challenge I've been given.

I went to the bus yard to meet the people I've been talking with for months, fill out paperwork, and get an idea of what my next weeks will look like. I'm doing my refresher training tomorrow if my drug test results come back. The training will be reacquainting myself with the bus via pre-trip test and four hours of driving around a 25 mile loop of roads. The pre-trip will be me and my re-trainer, Mikey, walking around a coach while I point, feel, and visualize 308 points of inspection. I don't know how many I need to pass, but an 80% is 246 items. I would beat myself up if I got anything less.

That means I've been cramming. All the things I learned between February and May of 2004 need to be taken out of my cranial storage. Phrases like "the blower boxes are mounted and secure" and "The emergency engine shut off switch is in the off position" will be used again. I'll get intimate with u-bolts, push rods, brake drums, valves, and steering linkages. I'll be trying to remember the proper pressures and timing for the break test and emergency procedures. Radio checks. Fast idle. Various sight glasses containing various viscus materials used to keep the coach running. Lights! Camera! Action! And after all that I'll be ready to go back on my 53 foot stage to entertain tourists on those 25 miles of looped road.

Let's hope I didn't come all of those 5,900 miles just to fail now.