Enough BS Already

I thought when I came home from Newton, KS, last week I'd spend a day or two in the shop getting my equipment and paperwork in order and then be on my merry way back to Wisconsin. That's apparently not what the office had in mind.  

When I got there this morning they had several people lined up to go do county spraying, those people did not include me or a few others there. Basically we were left to figure out what to do with the rest of the day ourselves, which wasn't much (I spent it getting my stuff in order). Figuring they had too many people and not enough projects I went and talked to the man in charge to see if they really needed me since I want to get back to Wisconsin. This is what he says to me:

"Oh, I don't know if we can let you go, I mean we have some stuff to do here. Yeah, most of the days there won't be much to do and you'll just kind of stand around here doing nothing, but there will be a few days where we really need you to fill in for someone."

I said I'm still renting a place and paying for it in WI, it makes no sense for me to do that and stay up here and do nothing, if they need me bad they can call me and I can come back up to do a little more spraying.

"Well, I don't know, I know there's a lot of down time, but we really need you just in case you have to fill in, I mean, we should be all done by the end of October after the fall meeting, but we may need you here. If you want to use your [32 hours of] paid time off to get things together in Wisconsin you can do that."

At this point I realized I was talking to a complete fool and went back to work on my equipment figuring I'd probably never step foot in that place again except to hand in my last time card. What a bunch of BS! What a fucking idiot! They would rather pay me $13/hour to stand around and do nothing on the off chance they may need me rather than not pay me anything to go back to Wisconsin! And I even offered to come out and spray for a few weeks if that plan goes through, no deal! 

I've had enough of this place and their BS, they have no communication, no plans, no organization, you're all just expected to jump at whatever dumb ass idea they come up with at the moment. They tried to send one guy on the road for 4 weeks straight from the shop, where he had been working days, without even considering he didn't have a bag packed for the road! A college student on my crew who informed the office months in advance when he had to be back to school was told he'd have to miss the first week of college because they couldn't get him back home (which was total BS and I sent him home regardless of what that idiot in our office said). They consider a big raise 25 cents and have tried to get people to be crew leader for $11.25/hour. And then they can't figure out why they have such a high turnover rate!

I've had enough of this BS. I'd rather starve than work there anymore, I'd much rather sit on my ass at home and do nothing than get paid to sit on my ass and do nothing at their shop, 10 hours away from my bed, my books, my photos, my friends. Eff that! 

Been a While

Yes it's been a while here, but that's because I was on my week (and a day) break, and I had much better things to do. But now I'm back, back in Dodge City, ready to get the last leg of this season over and done with so I can go back to a somewhat more normal life, at least I am hoping so!!

The strange thing is I've been in a particularly good mood since I've come back out. I have no idea why though. I don't think it's because I know I won't be out here much longer, I haven't been thinking about that, because thinking about it will make the time go by much slower. I'm not sure just what it is. I think I have hope for the future again. 

Oddly enough I've been thinking a lot about my past and the people in my past. When I've thought about that stuff earlier this year it made me depressed, but now it doesn't completely come across that way. It's actually been kind of good to think about some of my past life events and the people in them, perhaps because I'm reminded that the further back I go the fewer people I knew. How does this relate to my future of hope (and change, blech! no time for that political stuff just right now...)? 

The fun times and fun people I can think about in my past at one time were my future. In 2002 I had no idea the people I would know and the things I would do in 2005, and so on. So I realize that, as much as I miss a lot of people from my past, when 2012 rolls around I can imagine there will be a bunch of new people and new events that take place in my life, and even though I don't know what it is yet I can look forward to it. I've come to the realization my life didn't end this past May (even though it felt like it). I have a lot more in front of me and I have to get over the fact a lot of people from my past I will probably never see again, and certainly the events that took place can NEVER take place again, but there will be new people and new events to look forward to.

So despite having no plan after September I am feeling much better than I was just a few months ago. I feel like something is going to happen in my near future, something good. Also adding to my contentment right now is the feeling I've had a few burdens lifted off of me after this past week. Some are great to get rid of, others bittersweet, but all will keep me moving forward and not dwelling on the past (even if I have been thinking a lot about it recently). 

Tonight I spent some time going through some archived e-mails dating all the way back to 2002. It was a nice trip back, it brought up some things I forgot even happened, and also made me question some of the events that would transpire over the following years. But overall it was just a nice trip back, not really all that depressing or sad, just, um, interesting.

Now I say I feel content and hopeful for the future, let's just see what horrible event takes place at work tomorrow to wipe all that out!! 

Wheat Stubble and Poles

Wheat Stubble and Poles
Originally uploaded by kindoflew

About two or three times during the spray season everything comes together to bring a laid back day where I can do my favorite thing to do on the road: photography! Today was one of those days. I had intended to spray east from Dodge City, Kansas, on my way to our new location in Newton. However before I could even get started the wind picked up to the point of no spraying, so that left me with the whole day to make the drive to Newton and lots of time for photography!

The landscape of western Kansas, both natural and manmade, is fascinating to me. Vast open plains with nary a tree, hundreds of pole lines, and huge, white concrete elevators the can be seen for a good 10 miles over the landscape. I could probably spend month photographing here and not get bored. That's why it was so great to get to do a little on my way east today.

By far this was my favorite photo of the day. It's so simple, yet so interesting. The wheel tracks through the wheat stubble against darker field of milo in the background is a nice contrast as is the vertical stubble and grass with the man-made poles in the background. The smooth, light texture of the sky is also a nice contrast with the rougher texture of the field. I'm very glad I turned around to grab this photo!

One of the Better Mornings

As you know I've had a real distaste for my spraying job this year which has resulted in a lot of me whining here. But somedays things come together to make at least part of the day very nice. Today was one of those days. 

We had to meet our BNSF pilot at Coolidge, Kansas, the last town on Highway 50 before you enter Colorado. The landscape is a lonely-looking vastness filled with irrigated corn and rangeland and nary a house or tree to be found. It's actually quite fascinating.

Our meet time was 0730 so we arrived a little early, just in time for the sunrise. It was amazingly still out and the fog hovering over the ground was a bit eerie. I knew Amtrak's Southwest Chief had a station stop at Garden City, about 67 miles to the east, around 0645, so I figured we would see them blast by us. Sure enough just after 0730 I could hear the distinct sound of a 5-chime horn and the chug-chugging of a four-stroke General Electric diesel engine. The light was magnificent so I snapped a coming and going shot of the train.

The stillness of Coolidge was briefly broken as the train roared through town, though way below the 79 mph speed limit. This portion of the La Junta Subdivision still has jointed rail and it was nice to hear the clickty-clack of the railroad track as they used to say (compared to the continuous welded rail, which is more of a constant scream). You could follow the red marker lights at the end of the train for several miles before it disappeared into Colorado on its way to Los Angeles. Indeed it was one of the better mornings on this job!

Wrath of Argentine

Argentine Yard. One of the biggest railroad yards in the country. It was originally built by the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe and rebuilt by successor railroad BNSF in 1996. It's state of the art, and amazing to watch it work. But I have to spray it. That's not nearly as much fun.

To get an idea of the size of this yard, take a look at this aerial photograph:

View Larger Map

Now I have to admit I don't have it as bad as the previous crew, they had to do pre-emergent spray. This means they had to cover every square inch of the property. It took over a month and included spraying 24 hours a day. Thank God I don't have it that bad. However, there is still a lot of ground to cover and a lot of things to spray. The worst part is we can't just go spray it on our own, we need a railroad pilot for nearly everything we do.

I can understand the need for a pilot, most of the time you are spraying close to active tracks, and there is no shortage of activity in this yard either. It's a pretty dangerous place and if you aren't paying attention bad things can happen. 

The problem with pilots is they often don't want to be there, don't know the whole process of spraying, and tend to get impatient. Our work is tedious, we can only get so much from the truck. A lot of spraying, especially in the tight area of a yard like this, has to be done by hand, which is tedious, time consuming work. But if you want to do a good job and get everything covered it's a necessary evil. Most pilots just don't have the patience for it.

Now when you are on your own doing off-track spraying (without a pilot, as is the case most everywhere else) you can take your time and do a good job. You aren't being rushed by anyone, you can get things covered. All my experiences with pilots have been they want you to skip this or that, or not get out and hand spray, etc., and it just gets on my nerves.

Just as I figured our pilot wasn't much different than the others I've had. As usual it started out good, but quickly deteriorated. This was the last thing this guy wanted to do on a Sunday morning (and who could really blame him?)! I like to do a huge yard like this in sections so that everything can get covered in a somewhat orderly fashion. Today, though, we seemed to just drive around here and there and hit up weeds wherever it was convenient. There was all kinds of stuff that was being skipped just because he didn't want to stop. I know we are going to have to go back and redo those spots now. 

I tried to just simply stop and hand spray where it needed, but it became obvious that was taking up to much time, so soon we were just driving around. It was a really half-assed job that got done today. It irritates me to do such a crappy job, especially knowing I'll probably have to come back and redo it.

Even more depressing though is it's just the first day and we've barely made a dent. There is just so much there. We haven't even got started on the actual tracks yet, there are hundreds of those to try and do! And I know just when we think we've got everything done there will be some new, big section we didn't even know about we'll have to do.

Argentine. It's fascinating to look at, but a real bear to spray. 

I think this is pretty funny

Wild marijuana is rampant throughout Nebraska and extends into Iowa and Missouri as well, often growing in ditches and along fences. Unless you knew what you were looking at it would be easy to miss for most people, it blends into the surrounding foliage pretty well. 

From what I understand marijuana was likely introduced when settlers would plant it along fence lines to help keep cattle in. The cattle would not eat the marijuana so the chances of them breaking through a fence were less. I have also heard that settlers planted it as hemp to make rope. Like other noxious weeds it eventually got out of control and spread everywhere.

The wild marijuana, often called "ditchweed," contains little THC and therefore you would be sick from the smoke before you ever got high. I have heard that people still come and harvest the wild pot to mix with more potent homegrown and imported weed to sort of "fill out the bag." Mostly though it's just an eyesore competing with native plants. In terms of railroad right-of-way, the plants, which can grow up to 6 feet tall, can block out signs and a view of the tracks, which can result in deadly accidents.

I think it's pretty funny that on my paperwork I can write "Target Weed Species - Marijuana." I think it's funny that marijuana plants are as prevalent as corn in Nebraska. I think it's funny people come from out of state to harvest ditchweed. Who would have ever thunk it?

Despised

Today was another one of those days. It's one of those days where you just feel like calling up the office and telling them they can shove it and hopping on a Greyhound bus back home. It's one of those days where you have to wonder if railroads ever plan anything out. More on why later, but the main thing is the fact that we, as contractors, are sometimes the most despised work group on the railroad.

Now that's not to say we always are, in fact where we have been working, St. Joseph, Missouri, everyone has been very helpful, nice and accommodating to us, even helping us get some work done on days they weren't scheduled to take us; but then there are the other locations where we aren't greeted so warmly.

The biggest accusation we get is of us being "scabs." That is because we are not only contractors, but also non-union, whereas all the rest of the railroad maintenance-of-way is unionized. So we are scabs, stealing their work, weakening their union (never mind the fact when the railroad did their own spraying no one wanted to ever bid that work because it is terrible!). So right off the bat we're often hated.

We don't spray very fast, we probably average 10-12 mph, because that's all the faster we can go to do a good job. The track inspectors we get as pilots typically inspect track at 30-40 mph, all we do is slow them down. There's another reason we are despised, they don't want weeds but can't grasp the fact we can't go as fast as they do. The train dispatchers also hate us because of this and I think sometimes forget we have a railroad radio in our trucks so we can actually hear all the snarky remarks generated about us.

The most annoying are the people that think the stuff we spray will kill them if they even get a whiff of it. I've never seen people as childish and whiney as railroaders. And of course if they complain, we get in trouble, even if we didn't do anything. 

Despite the friendly people we have been working with I got a bad impression about the guy we were with today. First off, I thought the plan was to spray within 30 miles of our hotel. Of course not, this is a railroad, so we got sent 75 miles away to start on a section of track I was planning on doing later, when we were closer to it. So we drove the hour up there where we were supposed to meet our pilot and of course, he wasn't there yet, he was out inspecting track before we slowed him down.

Two hours later he finally showed up just as it started raining. That's when he started in on me about why I didn't check the weather before I drove up there. This is where I nearly lost it, but just bit my lip and didn't say anything. What I would have liked to have said is, "First of all, I didn't know we were going to be up here. Second, whatever weather I would have looked at would have been four hours ago. Third, if you had showed up when you were supposed to we could have got two hours of spraying in. Fourth, go fuck yourself!"

I turned on the weather radio which was predicting scattered showers for the area, so I wanted to wait it out and see if the rain let up. Of course, he didn't want to do that, he had other things to do. Then he started in with why we didn't check the weather radar before we drove up here. Then there were some other snarky comments made at which point I knew I had to get out of there before I said something that would get me fired. So I rolled up the window and sped off, 75 miles of driving ahead of me.

Of course when I got back I looked at the weather and the rain had all moved out of the area we were in, it was beautiful spray weather, and here we were, sitting. It is frustrating. And all of this made me wonder why I care. I didn't do anything today but got over five hours of overtime. If I worked my ass off to do a good job and get things done I wouldn't get any sort of raise or more time of or a bonus, I'd just get an e-mail saying thanks for getting that run done. So why do I even care?

I guess it's all just from that Midwestern work ethic. Even in a job I hate, a job with no incentives, I still want to do a good job just for the sake of doing a good job, and that's why the whole thing just eats at me. 

But, tomorrow's another day of spraying, and the next day, and the next day, and the next day, and the next day..............

St. Joseph, Missouri. One Word: Creepy

I think at one time St. Joseph, Missouri, must have been a pretty neat town. There are all kinds of remains that suggest it was a thriving industrial town with a beautiful business district. I can imagine hundreds, even thousands, of people working and visiting these buildings. Today, though, St. Joseph seems like a ghost town, almost like you would expect to find somewhere in western North Dakota.

The central business district still exists. Magnificent granite and brick buildings still tower over the narrow streets, big windows and grand entrances enticing people to come inside. But the windows are all empty and the entrances are locked. The sidewalks and streets remain eerily empty. With all these grand buildings it just doesn't seem possible there couldn't be people everywhere.

Down the street are the brick buildings of the manufacturing district, still adorned in signs and logos indicating the companies that did business inside. They're in such good shape it's hard to imagine that they are indeed empty and the windows are boarded up. The crashing of metal and whirring of motors no longer emanates from inside, today they are surrounded only in silence.

It's all really fascinating and slightly creepy at the same time. It's not as if the town just simply disappeared, it's that it all moved to the modern buildings and strip malls that line the Belt Highway on the east edge of town. All the people and businesses simply migrated out of the old town and into the "new." What's left is a shell, a skeleton almost, but still in great shape, as if the whole town only moved yesterday. It really leaves a feeling of awe, confusion, and creepiness in you when walking down the street.

The Isolation of Life on the Road

I love to travel. There's nothing I like to do more than to hop in my car and just go. I love to see things I've never seen before, even if they may seem boring and mundane to everyone else, they're always new and exciting to me. That's why I thought I would love a job that involves a lot of travel (and perhaps if it was a slightly different job I would), but I am finding out that old line about the loneliness of living out of a suitcase is actually quite true.

What does my day really consist of? I get up at 0600, get down to the yard about 0700, and attempt to spray weeds. Afterwards I come back to my empty hotel room. The next day it's the same thing over again. And the next day, the same thing. The only people I know out here are the two other guys on my crew. Otherwise it's just me.

I get along fine with the guys on my crew, but they're not the people I would probably ever become friends with outside of work simply because we have little in common. So they serve as a lunch acquaintance but that's about it. Most of the time I'm isolated in my own little world.

The feeling of loneliness and isolation is heightened by the fact all of my friends are separated by 100s of miles. Only on the very rare occasion do we actually work somewhere where I know someone. And I only get to see my friends briefly, and those brief visits are separated by five long weeks of work. 

Even in this modern technological world it's hard to maintain any real contact with people. Yes, I keep in touch through the internet, text messages, and phone calls, but there is still the real life distance. No amount of electronic communication can replace the real life interaction with the people you love to be around. Living vicariously through Facebook does not replace the feeling of actually being there.

And so is bred the loneliness and isolation of life on the road with nothing to look forward to for weeks on end except for more spraying. All that I have in my room to keep me company is the glowing of a TV and computer screen. I hear about the fun things my friends are doing while I'm trying to figure out the plan for tomorrow, wondering if it will be too windy or if we will get anything accomplished even if it's not. No, this type of lifestyle is not for me.

The First Day

Today was my first day as crew leader - well, sort of. Yesterday technically would be, but all we did was drive from Cooperstown, ND, to St. Joseph, MO, so all I had to really do was point the hy-rail down I-29 and take the right exit to the hotel. Today was the real first day, and it seemed like it wouldn't be all that bad.

I had filled up our spray truck with water the previous night so we could mix up and be ready to go first thing in the morning. So far so good. Then it came time to set up the computer. It was a little challenging since the office neglected to pre-load a program so I had to make a brand new one on my own. But, with a little help from the manual I was able to get it up and running, so I figured I would test all the nozzles. That's when things started to get hairy.

I flicked the switch for my boom Radiarc (a motorized nozzle that sprays a wide pattern) - nothing. I flicked it off and on again and the motor was running, but no liquid was coming out of the nozzle. Well, this is no good. So I opened up the boom thinking perhaps the hose was kinked where the boom folds up, kind of like a human elbow. With the boom outstretched I tried again - nothing. This was also no good. I turned to Matt, riding in the passenger seat, and asked him if his Radiarc was working. Of course his worked just fine. Great, now what?

I got out and traced the hose all the way along the boom and underneath the truck looking for kinks, cuts, or some sort of plug. Nothing. I thought maybe the solenoid, the device that electronically opens and closes the valve to the Radiarc, was perhaps stuck. So I tapped on it with a piece of iron. Still nothing. But then the light went off in my head, when I took the truck out of the shop there was a brand new solenoid sitting on the passenger seat. It was now obvious why it was there! Supposedly this truck was supposed to be all fixed and ready to go, I guess they didn't quite get to everything. Replacing the solenoid was fast, just pull out a pin, unhook the electronics, pull off the old one and do the reverse for the new. Voila! Problem solved, thankfully!

Jim, our track pilot, met us shortly after and said that crews working in town had a four hour work window so we should be able to get some spraying done. This is where I should also mention that our chemical shipment for this line was not set to arrive until later in the day (more on this later), so we only had enough left over from the previous line for two more tank loads. I figured this would work out perfect, it should take three hours to get our three tanks sprayed and then the window will close, the trains will start running like trolleys (as they do on this line), and we would be done, no harm no foul.

We headed out to some location south of St. Joseph called French and got our track and time and were ready to set on and start spraying. I've set our hy-rail on the track numerous times, a little ballet that involves backing up on a crossing and getting the back and front wheels lined up with the rail so the rail wheels will match up correctly. But today made it look like my first time! I was completely off on the back but the front lined up. Matt had already put the front up by the time I realized I'd never get the back on, so we had to put it all down and start over again, costing time and making me look more than a little green at this.

I did get it on and we did start spraying. Now things seemed to be going! We cruised along just fine. The problem was I misjudged just how much chemical we would need. It was now obvious that we would not make it as far along as I told my ground (read "refill") truck. It should be no problem, except I couldn't get the ground truck on the radio - or the phone. Well, that's no good! I had no choice to go until we ran out and hope I could make contact at some point. This is also when I discovered my spray computer is not properly calibrated - the computer said I had about 46 gallons left when in reality the tank was completely empty.

Luckily our track pilot found the ground truck and sent him up the road. We found a place to fill and boy, did it seem like it took forever! It should take only 15 to 20 minutes (or less) to refill. It's simple, hook up the water hose, start the pump, MSM 60DF, Picloram, Journey, Vista XRT, Methylated Spray Oil, Point Blank, pull the hoses and go. It seemed like it took us forever and a day though, wasting valuable time, making me look incompetent. Sadly, the exact same thing happened the next time it came to refill.

It was now getting past that four hour work window, which was good, because we were completely out of chemical, so I figured I could at least spare myself the embarrassment of having to admit we started the day far shy of what we may need. But then I heard the train dispatcher extend somebody's track and time for another two hours. Oh crap! How was I going to sheepishly tell the pilot we had to quit (on an otherwise perfect spray day! no trains, no wind!) because we ran out of chemical. Then it started raining!

Yes, I thought, rain! We will have to quit now because we can't spray in the rain. Ha! I should have known better, the rain didn't last long and it was back to hoping for train traffic. Unfortunately I finally had to admit to the pilot we would have to stop because, "uhh...we are out of chemical. Completely out." He was amazingly nonchalant about it, but maybe that wasn't hard considering the previous antics of the day.

So we sprayed out the tank, a mere 15 miles short of one end of our territory. I will also guarantee that when it comes time to try and spray this short section train traffic and wind and rail will prevent us from getting it done in any sort of timely manner! At least today was over and I could try again tomorrow, right? Not quite. My ground truck driver informed me that he couldn't find any of the chemical that was supposed to have been delivered to the yard today. Well, that's no good!

I had hoped he just didn't look in the right spot, that it was hidden behind some building, but after scouring the yard myself my fears were confirmed, there was no chemical; and it was five o'clock. I called up the chemical dealership and was lucky enough to get ahold of the secretary there. Not that that helped, she couldn't tell me if it was delivered or not, and if it was when it got there or where they put it. I'd have to call back at eight in the morning, the same time we would normally be trying to get started spraying. Well, this is no good!

At this point I had little to lose, so I figured, what the hell, I'd drive all over town scouring the BNSF property to see if they had dropped it anywhere out of the ordinary. I did have a sneaking suspicion about a place on the other side of the yard where the old passenger depot was. I was so happy when I drove over there and saw a stack of boxes and barrels! The delivery driver had simply found this open lot (the depot has disappeared since I was last in town) near both the tracks and the highway and just decided to drop it off there. As annoying as it was, at least we had our chemical for tomorrow.

So that was my first day, not exactly smooth. But things can only improve from here, right?

Santa Fe All The Way

Ship and travel Santa Fe - all the way. The Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe is perhaps the most storied railroad of the west. Famous passenger trains, amazing ad campaigns, and even songs have made a long lasting legacy for this railroad, better known simply as the Santa Fe. Interestingly enough, Santa Fe, New Mexico, was never even on the mainline of the railroad but simply served by a branch line. Nonetheless, it was always the Santa Fe.

The Santa Fe had numerous lines criss-crossing south central Kansas creating a web of mainline, branchline, and secondary lines. We have been working on the Emporia, Arkansas City, and Douglass subs of the BNSF, successor to the Santa Fe. To most people they are just railroad tracks, but in my view it's a historic trip to set on and take a ride down the Santa Fe, even if it is work.

The Emporia sub is part of the famous Transcontinental mainline and saw the vast majority of Santa Fe trains. The fast freights took a route straight southwest out of Kansas City while the storied passenger trains took the washboard profile line to Topeka. Both joined each other in Emporia, Kansas, and continued southwest towards California and the coast. Today the freight traffic is down and there are no more passenger trains.

But step back in time, back to the 1950s, when yellow and blue covered wagons pulled millions of tons of freight and red and silver engines headed up the Super Chief, traveling at high speed with well-to-do people and celebrities in the passenger cars behind them. These were the things that songs and stories were written about and it's a far cry from a dirty spray truck!

Today the freight still moves at high speed across the Kansas prairie through here. Most of the power is orange and green, but every so often you will still see one that says Santa Fe, back on its home territory. Old depots with the Santa Fe logo inlaid in the brick still stand in many towns, watching the passage of time and trains. Think of the generations of railroaders that have passed before them, it's almost chilling.

The Santa Fe may no longer officially exist, but in the memories, in the buildings, and in the occasional locomotive it still exists. It exists in the lines that were built well over 100 years ago that are still a vital part of the nation's rail infrastructure. It exists in the old boxcar in Winfield, still bearing the famous slogan - Ship and Travel Santa Fe All the Way!

The Next Step

I have been asked by Right-A-Way to become a crew leader since my current crew leader is leaving for a new job. So what all entails being a crew leader? A lot. First of all you have to manage the two or three other guys on the crew. That means putting one in the passenger seat of the hi-rail spray truck and another in the water and chemical chase truck. It also means putting them into a ground truck to go spray all the off track stuff. Plus there is the task of getting them a hotel room, handling their timesheets, log books, and receipts, and making sure they actually do their job.

Getting the actual job done is also very much left up to the crew leader; all they do is send a sheet with the roadmaster's phone number, the territory covered, chemical used, and a phone number for the chemical distributer. It's up to the crew leader to arrange work days with the roadmaster, know the territory, how to mix and apply the chemical, and arranging for a chemical delivery.

Then there's the paperwork. Every day you send the office a fax and fill out two sheets for every truck that sprayed that day. In addition all chemical used must be accounted for and acreage spread to the correct counties. Correct mileposts and line segments are a must.

There's also the phone calls, constant phone calls. The office, the railroad, other crew leaders, other crew members, all calling for this and that, especially when you are busy. Usually being busy means trying to go around objects with the boom on the hi-rail truck.

The hi-rail truck is its own set of problems. There's a lot that could go wrong and it's not always and easy fix. Each side has a boom that the person on that side operates. The boom can move like an arm and go around, behind, and over trackside obstacles. Running that is a challenge, but as a crew leader you not only run your side, but are also driving and have to watch what the guy on the other side is doing. It takes a lot of coordination! A lot! And a lot of concentration as well, which is why the phone is always ringing while you're trying not to run into stuff.

And there are always the social aspects of being a crew leader. Trying to keep the other two guys (sharing one room) from not killing each other can be tough sometimes. There's always railroaders you have to deal with that don't understand your job or just don't want you there. Don't forget the irate people with property along the tracks that think you are killing their gardens and lawns.

So it will be an interesting quest. Hopefully I don't lose too much hair, either from it falling out or being pulled out. The upside is I get my own room, but that's not really a huge perk. It will be interesting to say the least.

Journey to the Wedding of Aquaman Part III

Sunday morning. Clouds had moved in but the humidity remained. By the evening I would be gone, back on the road to the work I despise. Until then, though, I had a lot to take care of. Laundry, cleaning, some organization, and the big one, mowing my lawn. The first three were easy compared to the last. The clouds had moved out and brought in oppressive heat. The air was so heavy with humidity it was hard to breath. It was not the ideal conditions to be pushing a lawnmower in, but it had to be done.

I had planned to get on the road by noon, but then it was pushed back to one, than one-thirty. Finally at two p.m. I was able to be packed up and hit the road. I took one last look at my yellow cottage and then headed up Gladys Drive.

The drive back became a bit depressing. I was leaving behind my friends, my house, and I had no idea when I would be back, and when I was, for how long. Keri Noble's "Piece of My Heart" didn't help the mood. Indeed a cold wind was blowing in. It blew me far away, back to spraying. I was back on the job again today, the Journey behind me. Such is life.

Journey to the Wedding of Aquaman Part II

Saturday morning. Today was the big day for Matt and Jen, and it was a beautiful day. The torrential rain had given way to full sunshine, blue skies, and wonderful green foliage of southern Wisconsin. Before the big event I had business of my own to attend to.

First on the list was a drive over to my bank in Stoughton. The last time I had made the drive the landscape was still a drab brown with only a few shoots of green piercing through monotony. On this morning everything was a brilliant green. Corn fields, meadows, and streams were the variety to the rolling landscape. It was a bit depressing to know I was missing all of this working, not able to enjoy the Wisconsin summer in all its wonder.

The remainder of the morning was spent on trivial items, such as spraying the weeds in my sidewalk, cleaning, and wrapping the wedding present. I dug through my closet and found my khakis and dress sweater. They hadn't been worn since my senior piano recital. Then it was 12:30 p.m., time to head out for German Valley.

German Valley is a small town southeast of Freeport. The Chicago Great Western once dissected the town, but today only a trace of the railroad remains. White homes with immaculate lawns line the streets and a few people were out doing yard work and giving me a wave despite the fact they probably didn't recognize the car. That's just the way it is in small towns.

The church is seated on a small rise on the south edge of town. Beyond it is nothing but corn and farms. Upon pulling into the parking lot the first person I saw was Don. It was great to see a familiar face. Inside the church were more familiar faces; Ryan, Sayre, Andy, Adam, Ian, Lance, Chris, Kathi, Nick, and Tony, all people I hadn't seen in well over a month and all talking about our favorite subject: trains. It was great to be home.

The wedding passed in a blink. Before anyone even realized it Mr. and Mrs. Aquaman stood before the church. Outside the front entrance was Tony's new red Challenger and behind it was Paul's Challenger of a 1970's vintage. After Matt and Jen were inside Tony's Challenger and Paul was in his, both burned out of the church parking lot, leaving us all to bake in the afternoon sun. Of course, there was always more train talk and Adam and myself discussed the goings on at CP Rail.

I was about to leave to meet up with a group at Culver's in Freeport when Matt sent me a text and said I needed to stick around for the "beer photo." This was something I hadn't heard of and leave it up to Aquaman to come up with it. A bunch of us met up at his grandpa's farm southeast of town and cans of Leinenkugel's Original were passed out. A photo of us toasting with cans of Leine's was a perfect addition to the day.

The reception was to be held at the Masonic Lodge in Freeport. I met up with a big part of the group at Culver's. None of us really had a good idea as to how to actually get to the reception. I was under the impression Kathi knew how to get there, so I followed her out with Ryan following me. After a scenic tour of Freeport I came to the conclusion Kathi probably didn't know where the hall was, so I set off on my own, Ryan still following, and luckily stumbled upon the massive building.

Inside was a large room painted in a light green color. With paint like that it should have looked ugly, but for whatever reason it seemed appropriate, so vintage, it perfectly matched the rest of the building. On one side was a stage where the DJ was set up, on the other a full bar, and round tables filled the divide. Along the longest wall was the head table, slightly elevated from the guest tables. I found my way to a place with Andy and his fiancee, Adam, Nick, and Nick's parents. 

The reception was great. It was some of the most fun I've had in a long time. Munger Mark made for some great entertainment. Munger is hard to describe. Crazy may seem too extreme, exuberant not extreme enough. A fondness for beer fuels the party in this man and he was consuming plenty of fuel! At one point he came by our table with three glasses and explained they were all for a sick man at his table that was choking on an artichoke. Yes Munger, that was a believable story!

As the night unwound so did the guests. It seems like everyone was eventually out on the dance floor. All the standards were played, "The Twist," "Cha-Cha Slide," "Chicken Dance," along with a little Metallica and some polka music (this was a German wedding after all!). Munger seemed to be particularly enjoying dancing, often grabbing people and dragging them out to the floor. 

The night was capped with "Bohemian Rhapsody." Those of us that remained joined in a circle on the floor to sing along. It was by far some of the most fun I've had in a long long time. But that was it, it was time to say goodbye to Matt and Jen, Ryan, Sayre, Chris, Don, and everyone else I hadn't seen in what seemed an eternity. Who knows when I will see them again.

Journey to the Wedding of Aquaman Part I

June 20, German Valley, Illinois, at 2:30 p.m. That's where I needed to be, that was when and where Matt and Jen would be getting married. Where I was, though, was Andover, Kansas, doing the tedious and tiring work of destroying noxious and troublesome weeds on the old Santa Fe mainline. I had been debating whether or not I would be able to squeeze out some time and find a ride to the wedding, but after some spraying on the Emporia Subdivision, I knew I HAD to attend the wedding, not only for being at one of the biggest events in my good friend's life, but because if I didn't get away from spraying I may go insane.

Luckily for me our current spray crew has four people on it and it only takes three people to actually run a job, so getting away for a few days would not be a problem. Avis would provide me with a ride, a Chevy Cobalt. It's by no means any kind of glamorous ride, but I really grew to like it over the four days I drove it. I was happy it all worked out, and I know Matt was elated I would make the wedding.

I was all set to leave Friday morning, and let me tell you, I was excited to get out of here, away from the stress and the tediousness of spraying weeds. In fact I was so excited that I could barely sleep on Thursday night despite just how tired I was. I must have got up three times, all hoping it was 6 a.m., only to find it was 11 p.m., 2 a.m., and 4 a.m. By the time 6 did come around I was now so tired I didn't want to get up, but just the thought that at the end of the day I would be back at my house in Edgerton, Wisconsin, got me out of bed and out the doors of the Holiday Inn by half after. 

I opted to stay on the mostly two lane Highway 54 to soak in the local atmosphere across Kansas and Missouri and into Illinois. It was great to watch the grey path unroll over the hills in front of me and through the towns in front of me, just waking up for the day. Before I knew it the yellows and greens and beautiful curves of the Flint Hills were zooming by my window at 70 mph, herds of cattle occasionally looking up from their grazing to watch the only car for miles pass by.

By mid-morning I had hit Missouri, a state in which I had barely ever set foot in. Fields of corn and colorful meadows covered the rolling hills around me. Trailers and mansions alike fit into the scenery as if they had always been there. The meadows began to give way to forests and hills to cliffs as I neared the Lake of the Ozarks. Eventually the Lake came into sight, a wonderful deep blue set against towering green bluffs and lined with upscale condos and private homes. The traffic was horrendous.

Jefferson City and Mexico and Louisiana were the towns that brought me across the remainder of Missouri. The steep hills gave way to planes of corn and soybeans. Louisiana itself sits upon the west bank of Old Man River and wonderful old brick buildings line the Main Street. An ancient truss bridge carried Highway 54 and myself across the girth of the river and into Illinois. 

Illinois greeted me with a wide valley lined with fields of corn. An unexpected phone call from a good friend also greeted me in Illinois, providing a wonderful conversation and traveling partner across the summer prairie. On the horizon a huge cloud bank towered over the small towns and corn fields, flashes of lightning illuminating the deep blues of the mass in the sky. Soon the afternoon sun was replaced by near darkness and torrential rain. It followed me all the way into Edgerton.

I could feel I was almost home when I came around the curve on I-90/39 on the north side of Janesville. Underneath me were the rails of the Wisconsin and Southern railroad, rails that I used to work on. The rest stop, the second set of railroad tracks and finally the big hill into the Rock River Valley were all the final landmarks on my way home. My exit was at the bottom of the hill. A right past the Shell station and Comfort Inn, a left turn at the Mobile station, and a right on to Gladys Drive and my yellow cottage came into view. I was finally back home after a month.

While it was great to sit in my living room with an August Schell's Firebrick in my hand the drive had worn me out. As much as I would like to relax in my house I was too tired. But I was also quite glad to have my own bed to sleep in again. As soon as the lights were out, so was I.

Fed Up

For two summers I sprayed weeds. Two summers! There were some really crappy days, but it was still a pretty tolerable job. I got to do a lot of traveling and see a lot of things. Usually the weed infestations were not too bad other than in spots.

But this year it's all gone to Hell.

Nearly a decade of a flawed vegetation policy (not my company, but the one we do the work for) have finally ruined the property. Instead of having mostly grass and native plants with a handful of noxious and trouble weeds spread throughout they now have solid weeds. Nary a blade of native grass to be found in most places. Where we were at today was solid marestail, peppergrass, Johnsongrass, ragweed, and thistle the entire right-of-way. That's over 30 feet on both sides of the rail, miles and miles worth. It's ruined. 

What happened was through this flawed policy a lot of grass was killed off and killed wide in order to eliminate all vegetation in certain areas, specifically leading up to crossings and around signs and signals. The reason they wanted to eliminate vegetation at crossings was because of visibility reasons, ie they wanted motorists to see the train coming. The problem is that before these crossings just had native grass growing around them which doesn't get more than a foot or two high. So they had all that grass killed and guess what came back? Yes, five and eight foot tall weeds! And they have completely pushed out all the grass, it will never come back unless it is planted. 

To do noxious control, in Kansas and Missouri in particular, you need a mixture that kills Johnsongrass. Guess what, that mixture also kills native grass. So spraying the entire right of way has killed all the grass and weeds have moved in. It looks like shit.

The problem for us, now, is trying to kill all of these weeds. Drift or runoff from previous years has pushed the weed problem so far out in a lot of places we can't even reach the weeds anymore. We also have to contend with all the trackside junk such as signs and signals and trees so we don't run into these with our boom all while trying to kill all the weeds around them! There is a person on each side of our truck running their own boom, so that all has to be coordinated so as to get everything covered on each side without destroying the spray boom. You would not believe the tension this puts in the cab of that truck and the intense concentration it takes to go around all these objects and cover the ground all while guessing what the guy next to you is doing on his side. And on this sub it is bad.

All day yesterday was spent constantly maneuvering that boom and concentrating on what I was spraying and what to look out for up ahead. I couldn't break my concentration long enough even to grab a drink of water or I probably would have missed something or ran into something. 

Now combine that with the big drift problems we are having even in relatively calm conditions. And there are no calm conditions in Kansas. Even a slight breeze sends a cloud of chemical up in the air and towards the nearest soybean field or garden. So how do you cover all the ground and not get drift everywhere? Good question. Even a second's worth of mistake can cause thousands of dollars worth of damage to a nearby field. Yet if we miss some weeds the County will be fining all the companies involved for not controlling the noxious weeds. It's even worse when a farmer sees you out there. You just better hope he's not carrying a rifle with because tempers can rise pretty quickly. 

Oh and did I mention it's highly illegal to spray in winds over 10mph? No one at the railroad cares, they just want the job done. It doesn't matter the huge fines a person could be held account for personally. We're lucky we don't ever get caught.

And then you have the whiney railroad employees. Don't even think about spraying within 100 feet or more of them, I guess they figure the smell of this stuff is toxic. If they even get a whiff you can bet your ass will be chewed by the roadmaster the next day.

Now combine all that with life on the road. We expect to be away for a minimum of four weeks up to and even beyond six weeks. And, unless you are a crew leader, you have to share a hotel room with someone. And from my experience most of the time it's a person you can't stand. Get blown out for the day and you spend it all just rotting away in your hotel room with someone you don't like. Sure you can use the company trucks a bit, but mostly only for short, small errands, or else you can expect a call from the front office. It's a little more tolerable when you stay in a decent sized town and there is stuff to do within walking distance, but some of these places are really in the middle of nowhere. You have to find your own entertainment. 

And for me, personally, I am becoming really dissatisfied with the pay. It's not a whole lot. If it wasn't for the vast amount of overtime one usually gets (20 hours average maybe) you would be just as well off finding a similar paying job and staying at home every night. To put up with the stress and life on the road and constantly being around people that you don't want to be around all the time is tough.

And another thing that irks me about pay as well is that this is not just any blue collar job. This is a very professional job and a risky job. You HAVE to be licenses, you HAVE to know the regulations, you HAVE to be vigilant. There is no room for mistakes here. Not to mention a train could derail on top of you at any time.

And what really pissed me off today is I found out, even on my third summer here, they started a guy out a few months ago, with no prior application experience, at $.75 less an hour than me. I have a bunch of experience, am really knoweledgeable, and good at what I do an I only get $.75 more an hour than a newbie? And they want to make me a crew leader besides! You know what the average raise for becoming a crew leader is? A buck! For three times the stress and all the other BS as a crew leader I may only be making two bucks more than some dumbass off the street who doesn't give a shit? Who will probably cause all kinds of damage? Who will miss half of what they are to spray?

I'm fed up with all of it. Reading this may sound like I'm whining, I think this is one of those jobs you just have to do to really understand it all. I could just as well be working at Wal-Mart and home every night instead of leaving my nice house and car and all my friends for months at a time. I can't wait to find a different job or the season to end, whichever comes first. This sucks.

Weeds have Funny Names

I always wonder how some weeds and plants got their names. Dalmation Toadflax, Hoary Cress, Saint Johnswort, Hogpotato, Oakleaf Goosefoot, and the list goes on. 

Those damn Johnson's and their Grass

Hogpotato, why?

Hoary Cress. Is it "hoary?"

Dalmation Toadflax. It doesn't look like a dalmation or flax. Do toads really like it?

Oakleaf Goosefoot. I could maybe see the oak leaf, but the goose foot?

I Forgot about the Stress of this Job

If you think about it, my spray truck has hundreds of gallons of liquid death on the back. Virtually any piece of vegetation it touches will cease to live anymore. Months of growing from seed to, at this time of year, the flowering stage can be wiped out in a matter of seconds. There is no room for a mistake.

We are targeting primarily noxious weeds along with some other troublesome weeds not yet considered noxious in all states. The biggest targets are thistle (primarily Musk Thistle), marestail, bindweed, and Johnsongrass. Except for the Johnsongrass all the weeds listed are broadleafs, the same category as corn and soybeans. Unfortunately the only way to get rid of the Johnsongrass is to add glyphosate to the chemical mixture which means all grass will be seriously burned or killed. 

The part of Kansas we are in is rife with corn and soybeans (remember, I mentioned them above for a reason), all grown close to the railroad right-of-way. Now factor in a little bit of wind and you can see the potential for disaster. And when is it not windy in Kansas? This is where the job gets stressful.

The weed agent for Butler County takes his job very seriously. He sees it as his personal mission in life to rid the county of every noxious weed sprouting in it. One of the worst places tends to be railroad right-of-ways, so you can guess who he is always on, us! If we don't do a good job of killing every strand of Johnsongrass and Musk Thistle in his county, who is he going to go after with fines? So the pressure is on to get as much as possible in the ROW, at the same time this increases the chance for drift into nearby cash crop fields. So what do you do? Try and kill the weeds regardless and have claims for 100 miles up and down the railroad or reduce drift and face the wrath of the Weed Agent? 

And what about just making a mistake, like turning on the wrong spray nozzle at the wrong time, or moving the boom in the wrong direction. A whole section of a soybean field can be eradicated by a wrong move. And what about those people's gardens in the small towns along the way? It seems like if a tomato plant even gets a whiff of chemical it's dead.

In addition the railroad is full of signs, signals, switch stands, crossing posts, and hundreds of other obstacles. It takes constant vigilance and concentration to get around all of these things and get the acres sprayed. This is where there's huge room for mistakes. Lifting up over a sign at the same time a gust of wind comes up can be bad. But you still have to get around all of the objects and spray the weeds.

For all of the federal regulations, state regulations, railroad rules, and angry farmers there are a lot of days this job just doesn't pay enough for the stress (and I'm not even a crew leader, they have it even worse!). This isn't even going into all the federal regulations regarding pesticides, especially restricted use pesticides. If you make a mistake in measuring chemical into a mixture and someone found out, say goodbye to your applicator's license and two months worth of pay. And don't even think about not triple-rinsing used chemical containers, there goes another month of pay. 

Don't you wish you were a commercial applicator?

Wichita Sprayman

Wyoming weather was rainy and in the 40s; Kansas weather is in the 90s and humid. What a difference a drive makes! Our new spray location has put us in Augusta, KS, just east of Wichita. Our job this time is about 30 miles each on the BNSF Douglass and Arkansas City subs and 100 miles of the TransCon between Ellinor and Wellington. 

For those of you not familiar with the TransCon it's the nickname for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe's transcontinental mainline and one of the most important lines in the country. In normal economic times it would be trains nonstop, but in our current recession there's hardly anything moving out there. It's sad really, but the silver lining is we can get track and time much more easily and get our spraying done. I'd rather see more trains running though.

The weather though, what could I really expect? Southern Kansas in mid-June, what else would you expect but high heat and humidity. It's quite a shock for us. Last week I was wearing a coat, this week any clothes are too many! It's a good thing the AC in our motel is working good.

Spraying in Wyoming

The whole time we have been in Newcastle, WY, the weather has been crappy. Cold, cloudy, light rain, but little wind so we have actually been able to get a lot done. Normally we can spray 12 to 15 miles with our hi-rail truck and then get filled by our water and chemical truck. The hi-rail then continues while the water truck goes and refills with 750 gallons of water. The problem is out here the land is so sparse there are no water locations every 15 miles or so. Try up to 40 miles for water! Tom, the crew leader, came up with a good solution though. Use one of our pickups to meet the hi-rail with 300 gallons of chemical pre-mixed. The extra 300 gallons give just enough time for the water truck to refill and make it to the next location.

The Black Hills sub, originally built by the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad, was never built with the intentions of being a heavy mainline. A washboard profile and numerous curves are not good territory to run long, heavy coal trains over. However, with the discovery of vast amounts of coal in the nearby Powder River Basin the line was forced to become a heavy main. CTC signalling, ribbon rail, concrete ties, and a second main (over most of the line) have transformed this line into something else. But the light nature of the old Q is still evident in the grades and curves. If not for the distributed power on nearly every train I couldn't imagine running the huge coal trains over this line! It's pretty amazing.

Something else that is cool is the water in Edgemont, SD. Actually, it's not cool, it's hot. As evidence to the fact that the nearby Black Hills were once a volcano magma near the surface heats up the groundwater so it comes out hot! One of the BNSF carmen said he hasn't turned his hot water heater on in 10 years. It's crazy filling up the tank and watching steam roll out.

Tomorrow we are off for new territory in El Dorado, Kansas, on the BNSF Emporia, La Junta, and Arkansas City subs. Should be an interesting change of scenery.

It Fell Off!!

The wheel fell off! It fell off!! It fell the fuck off!!! Well, the words of Ron White almost described what happened to one of our trucks today. 

Our convoy consists of a '98 Dodge pickup and a newer Ford dually outfitted with spray tanks. Either can pull a trailer full of chemical and 400 gallons of water. In addition we have a '98 Ford hi-rail truck with a 750 gallon tank and homebuilt spray equipment. Today we were headed from Newcastle, WY, to Edgemont, SD, to spray the BNSF yard there. Myself and Tom were in the hi-rail and Wes was driving the Ford pulling the trailer.

Not far out of Newcastle Wes thought something was wrong with the truck because it was shaking at higher speeds. Since it had been driven through a lot of mud the previous couple of days we figured it was mud between the duals that was causing them to be unbalanced. A look between verified there was mud and was likely the cause of the problem.

I don't think we got more than five miles down the road when Wes said it was shaking so bad he had to pull over and check everything. It's a good thing he did because he discovered the duals on the drivers side were sitting at odd angles. A closer inspection revealed the lugnuts were missing! An even closer look also showed that the studs had been sheared off! The wheels were just barely on the axle.

It could have been a complete disaster if Wes hadn't pulled over when he did. Both wheels probably would have flew off and who knows what the heavy trailer would have done? It could have been very very bad. Luckily it was all able to be fixed within five hours.

What apparently happened was the lugnuts were not completely torqued on the last time the tire was changes. Between rough roads and mud the lugnuts had worked loose until a big bump causes all the studs to just shear off. It's amazing no one was hurt and the damage was a little as it was. Someone was looking out for us today!

Stardust Motel

In our weed spray travels we don't always get to stay in five star hotels. Sometimes there isn't even a five star hotel in town. Newcastle, WY, is one of those towns. The "best" hotel (er, uh, motel) in town was full so we were left with the scraps. We got the Stardust.

The Stardust is one of those old time motels that is set up where each room has it's own door directly outside. An old neon sign still attempts to dr

aw road weary travelers in; underneath the neon is the hotel amenities such as cable TV, air conditioning, and phones. 

Inside the small room is a green vinyl chair, some uncomfortable beds, and some other decor last updated sometime in the 1970s. The bathroom is not much bigger than a closet, the temperature of the water in the shower fluctuates hot to cold to hot 

without even touching the faucet controls. 

But at least the rooms are clean, management friendly, and there is eve

n Wi-Fi. Oh yes, there indeed is cable TV.

Rangeland

On Saturday afternoon our spray crew convoy departed the fertile cropland west of Alliance, Nebraska, for the vast rangeland of Wyoming. Another series of afternoon thunderstorms had cropped up putting incredible hues of blue in the sky above the fluorescent green carpet in front of us. Somewhere near Crawford a huge valley of grassland lay before us, shadows of clouds dancing across the floor with sheets of blue creating a perfect background; pronghorns grazed in the ditch, oblivious to the traffic flowing by. Eventually we caught up with the blue sheets, enveloping us in a rain squall so thick it became impossible to even see the road. Within 10 miles it would again be clear and sunny.

On our way to our new temporary home in Newcastle, WY, one road we took cut across the far southwest corner of South Dakota. Now this was a state highway, but it must be one of the last in the street that's still gravel. I thought they had all long since been paved. This road also took us through one of the strangest towns I've ever been through, Rumford, SD. The only thing that made this town strange is the fact that there is nothing in it. Now when most people say there is nothing in a town, there usually is a building or weed covered street, however Rumford had nothing. There were no buildings, or even re

mains of them, no streets, nothing. Just the highway, the railroad line, and a "Rumford" sign. It's as if the town existed without ever really having existed.

Our new territory has put us on BNS

F's Black Hills Subdivision. Unfortunately this line does not actually traverse the geological wonder of a destroyed volcano but instead lives in the shadow of it, just grazing the west side. The scenery is 

still wonderful, cutting through the wonderfully sparse grasslands where the pronghorns far outnumber people. Roads are nearly nonexistant and if not for the oil and coal all settlements would probably be the same way.

As a final thought, things are a little different west of the Missouri. Cattle become the cash crop and baseball caps are replaced by cowboy hats. Trees are far and few between and towns seem to be laid out more haphazardly, fitting in streets and buildings wherever they fit into the landscape. And most importantly, the skies do seem bigger!

Below is a photo of one of the man

y BNSF coal trains heading timetable east with more Powder River Gold. In the background are the Elk Mountains. The Elk Mountains is also the subject of another photo. Across the street from our hotel is the Howdy Drive-In.

Just what are those Sand Hills?

We've been working in the Nebraska Sand Hills east of Alliance for the past several days and as a curious person I have to ask just why are they there? And even better, why are they sand? From what little research I've done it's a fascinating chapter of geological history.

The sand was deposited there as outwash from retreating glaciers. The winds that followed (and continue today) blew the barren sand into huge dunes, some as high as 400 feet and as wide as 20 miles, so they appear as hills. If you view satellite imagery, however, it's very obvious they are sand dunes. Vegetation eventually began to grow and (mostly) cemented the dunes in place where they remain today. 

The area is the largest sand dune formation in the western hemisphere covering about 20,000 square miles. The dunes also sit on the Ogalla Aquifer which contains 1 billion acre-feet of ground water. Because of this the otherwise very dry area contains numerous lakes when water levels are high. I have noticed some of these small lakes.

If not for the railroad, Highway 2, fence, and some scattered ranches the area looks much like it did after vegetation took over the dunes. The sand is terrible for farming but great for ranching. Numerous windmills use the power of wind, the very source of power that created the massive dunes, to bring Ogalla water to the surface. It's an interesting circle here in the Sand Hills.

Back in the Saddle plus the First Storm

Alliance, Nebraska. It's an island of civilization set between the Sand Hills to the east and more fertile plains to the west. The town is only populated by about 8,900 people but compared to the endless hills of sand and grass just out of town it seems like a metropolis.

Our spray crew, consisting of James, Wes, and Tom, has been working on sterilizing the BNSF Sand Hills sub. Sterilization means we are spraying all BNSF property where they want no vegetation to grow. Primary areas of concern are the tracks and ballast, around buildings and bridges, material piles, and parking lots. The process is intense as every square inch of property must be covered and it must be done so when the wind is below 10 mph, not a small feat on the windswept prairie.

The BNSF Sand Hills subdivision stretches east from Alliance through the Sand Hills to Ravenna, NE. After the mining of coal began in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming this former Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy line became an important cor

ridor for coal moving east. Today there is a steady torrent of Powder River coal going east and empty aluminum gondolas going back west. 

Our job today was to spray about 20 miles of track near Mullen. The mainline varies between single and double track meaning we would have to dodge the coal traffic. We were lucky today, most traffic was moving east and we were heading west which meant few delays. Tom decided to put me back in the saddle of the passenger side of our hy-rail vehicle.

After getting back up into that seat everything began to come back to me. The switches to control the spray nozzles, the proper positioning of the Radiarc, finessing the boom arm to dodge signs and switchstands without stopping. Strange to be back.

Unfortunately the track inspector that accompanied us had other duties that day and a prohibition on overtime, so we had to quit earlier than anticipated. This was unfortunate since the weather was perfect for spraying and

 train traffic was slow. But that's the way it goes.

After getting done, cleaned up, and grabbing food Wes and I were back at the Days Inn taking in the beautiful Nebraska spring weather. Out to the west, however, was a massive, blue front, that dominated the sky. Rain. This was one of those beautiful isolated storms that pop up out of nowhere during the spring and summer. Green hills underneath a mass of swirling white and blue with whispy strands falling off the back of the front and backlit by the orange glow of a setting sun. Adding the spice to this wonderful mural of color are the purple blasts of lightning. Simply amazing. 

I grabbed my camera and a truck to get a few shots of this storm and got luckier than I could ever imagine. Just by chance, somehow someway, I photographed a lightning bolt. Just by chance that one bolt would appear in the 1/100th of a second I exposed the frame. I should have bought a lottery ticket.

Across the Desolation

Today was the 650 mile journey from Cooperstown, ND, to the work site at Alliance, NE. In order to get from there to here involves traveling through some of the most desolate prairie in the upper Great Plains; acres and acres of hills and grass punctuated only by an occasional town such as Pierre or Valentine. Most people would say it's a vast space of emptiness, and while it's true the area is very much devoid of any population, the landscape is far from boring.

The journey across central South Dakota is amazing in many aspects. Out ahead of you it appears as if someone has simply laid down a swath of asphalt across the rolling hills of green grass. There are no ranches, farms, or homes within the range of vision, there's not even any cattle to be seen, just a pale green carpet with rogue brown spots still adding texture. It would appear as if the road is the only human aspect to the entire landscape and you being the lone temporary inhabitant. 

But then there is the fence; the fence is a sure sign that somewhere there is a human presence. The fence lines cut straight lines over the organically shaped hills demarcating property lines determined decades ago. And as with nearly all fence west of the Mississippi it is the ubiquitous barbed wire. Three strands stretch for thousands of miles across the prairie, suspended in the air by wood or steel posts. The barbed wire holds in the imported creatures but allows passage for indigenous wildlife; they simply jump the fence or go underneath.

The hours pass much more quickly if one admires the job nature did of shaping the landscape, noting the ridges and how the coulees and valleys fall away from them. Lush grass and trees grow in the bottomlands while yucca and a few sparse weeds are all that thrive on the sandy hills. Occasional sheds and shacks scattered about haphazardly add the spice of human activity. 

Soon the sandhills of Nebraska give way to a plane and Alliance pops up above the flatness surrounding it. Watertowers stand above the trees, buildings become more numerous and so do the roads. Alliance, home to a huge BNSF mechanical facility, and a Days Inn motel, my new temporary home in Alliance.

Must be Associated with a Railroad

Obviously RAW is associated with railroads and everything that goes with them including the fact that plans change minute by minute. No Nebraska trip for me today, it's been postponed until 0700 tomorrow now. But that's like anything with the railroad, one plan now, another two minutes from now and a new plan four minutes later. 

I Hate Testing

Today found me in Cooperstown, ND, the home base for RAW, filling out paperwork, taking a drug test, and worst of all, retaking the tests to become a certified commercial pesticide applicator. My previous licenses for ND, MN, and NE all conveniently expired about three weeks before I was furloughed, so that meant I had to retake the tests instead of just getting them renewed. It's not a fun experience.

The test consists of two parts, the Ground Core section and the Right-of-Way section; both are open book, but it still takes forever to hunt down the answers. In addition, you are also tested on ND laws and given a pared down book of the Century Code as a reference. Any of you that have looked the wording of a law know how confusing the wording typically is (if an applicator as described in chapter 1 subsection 23 part B is licensed as approved by the state extension office acquires an emergency exemption as outlined in subsection 14 part J that person shall be subject to rules prescribed in chapter 12 except as outlined in, etc.). Combine that with wording on the test that differs from the law and it can take a while to determine the right answer. In fact it took me three and a half hours to complete the two sections. It does appear that I've passed though.

In addition I had to do the mandatory Department of Transportation drug screening and all the associated paperwork with becoming a commercial driver subject to DOT regulations. Fun. I also got to watch a video on defensive truck driving. More fun. The upside is the new per diem system my company is using to pay for on-the-road meals.

When I left nearly two years ago the company issued a credit card to each employee to charge everything on including meals, three a day. You had to keep all meal receipts and there was to be no alcohol charged to the card (obviously), but you could have drinks with your meal if you were not working anymore that day. The downside was you had to pay for your meal with the card, then pay for the drinks out of pocket, and be sure the receipt for the meal did not include the alcohol. It was a pain in the ass. The new per diem system now pays $30 a day into your bank account. The upside is that you get to keep whatever you don't use on meals that day. It also means that it can now be used on adult beverages. Freakin' awesome. Or a guy could be frugal and only eat baloney sandwiches and pocket the other $29, but what fun is that?

So tomorrow I show up to the shop at 0800, have to take a DOT physical, and then it's time to hit the road for the long drive to Alliance, Nebraska. I've never been there, but it's located in the far west side of NE in the sand hills. Basically it's the middle of nowhere, but that makes our job of spraying so much easier. There's always got to be a silver lining.

Smoking the Weeds

For two summers during college I worked for a company called Right-A-Way Applicators; the company does contract vegetation control for railroads, primarily BNSF, Union Pacific, and a handful of shortlines. It was a pretty good summer job but I never saw myself coming back after school.

But then I got furloughed from the railroad.

Luckily the recession doesn't affect weed growth and for safety reasons the railroads still need those weeds smoked, so RAW is actually in need of people, so I'm going back to finish out the rest of the season spraying weeds. This will put me on the road for four to five weeks at a time. I'm away from home, but I do get to do some traveling which is nice, not to mention my hotel and meals are all fully paid for!

What entails railroad vegetation control? A few things. There is the "on-track" spraying and the "off-track" spraying. If you haven't figured it out, on-track spraying means spraying everything with tracks. This is accomplished by a custom built hi-rail truck with a 750 gallon tank and a variety of spray nozzles and boom options. Off-track spraying is all other railroad property, such as parking lots, material piles, roads, and buildings. This is done mainly with a pickup outfitted with a tank and booms. In addition is a hand-held sprayer for those places you can't get to with the truck.

Before I can officially go back to weed spraying I have to retake the test to acquire my commercial applicator's license, which I will be doing tomorrow. It shouldn't be a problem, the North Dakota test is open book and not too hard to figure out. Then Wednesday morning it's off to the spray site.

Another summer smoking the weeds.