My very first tour!

Welcome back. I have been very busy with work, training, going out, hangin' out, so I haven't had much time to write in the last few days. I am still loving it here in Skagway, probably even more then the last time I wrote! Everything and everyone is amazing; and I especially love that I get to wake up to beautiful snow-covered mountains everyday. I could talk about the scenery for hours, so let's move on...
We had our first ship day about a week ago. The Disney Wonder came into Skagway. This was the first time a Disney ship has ever been to Alaska so there was a lot of pressure. I didn't tour, I just rode along, listened and took some notes. All of the returning drivers give really good tours. I was very impressed and figured there was no way I could do that well. So I decided to try and study and read more about Skagway. Me and my friend, Alisha, (she lives with me) made plans to sit down and study every night for about 3 or 4 nights in a row, and what ended up happening? We always went out instead of studied. You'd think in this small town there would be nothing to do but it's completely the opposite. There is always something to do, even if it's just walk around downtown. Most of the time we'll go out and grab some dinner and a beer, but one night we went to Dyea. Dyea is a small town about 9 miles away right by the water. There is a historical cemetery you can walk through, woods, tidal flats, wildlife and gorgeous views. Me, Alisha, Jake and Tony (2 other drivers) drove out there just to hang out and walk around. We walked through the cemetery then walked around the tidal flats, along the water and actually saw a couple people that we work with up there. I got to see a couple bald eagles, a couple seals, and what we thought was a bear's paw print! (Turns out it was just a big dog haha) But it was absolutely beautiful up there! (I'll post pictures on Facebook soon). So pretty much every night we planned on studying and found something better to do. Finally on Thursday night we went to the library and studied because we had our first tours on Friday.
I wake up on Friday morning at 5:30am, get ready and go out to the driver room to get all of my paperwork and go to my coach. I started the pre-trip (which is the inspection of the entire motorcoach before you can drive it anywhere to make sure it is safe and in good condition), and I let the coach run for 20 min. but it wasn't building air pressure. Our coaches are equipped with air brakes, so we have a couple air bellows that have to fill up with air and build air pressure so our brakes will work. The air pressure meter(?) on the dashboard wasn't rising so I radioed into dispatch (dispatch are managers that are always on our CB radio to help us out) and let them know. This was about 10 minutes before I had to leave to go the dock and pick up my guests. So he switched me to a different coach and I had to do another entire pre-trip. Of course I was late getting to the dock and by the time I got there, there was already a few of my guest waiting for me! Ah, I hated that. So I checked all of their tickets and passports and counted them up. Because some people arrived on my bus late, I had to get off the dock really fast and I didn't really have time to tell them a little bit about myself or give them a proper safety speech. I only drove them about 2 min. to the train depot and dropped them off. I then had about an hour break, then I went up to Fraser, B.C. to pick them up off the train. Now, to get from Skagway up to Fraser (which is where Canadian customs is) you have to take the Klondike Highway, which we call "the pass". We start down at sea level and we reach the summit which is at 3,292 feet. So it is quite a climb and it's curvy, on the side of a mountain. I had only driven up the pass, which is the easy part, but I had never driven down it. There is something called a "jake brake" that we use to slow down the engine when you're going down hill. So instead of picking up speed like you would in a normal car, the jake brake helps hold the coach at one speed. You can't ride your brakes down the hill because you would burn them, and probably start a tire fire. There is also a special braking technique we use so we don't burn out our brakes. So there is a method to going down this steep hill and I knew it, I had just never done it. So that was making me very nervous that the first time I was ever going down this hill was with a group of passengers with me. I picked them up in Fraser and we headed out. As soon as I pull out and start heading down the pass this little boy yells out "How many times have you driven down this road all the way into town?" Shit! What are the odds that someone would ask me that on my very first time driving down the pass?! So of course I lied and told him at least 20 times =) Hey, these people were already hesitant getting on my bus on the dock, because I look so young, I don't need to freak them out anymore. Anyways, I get down the pass and everything was fine, it was super easy because I had a great jake brake. The touring part was a little rough though. I started saying some things about Skagway and then my mind went blank. I was just sitting there driving in complete silence for about 2 minutes. I was shuffling through my brain trying to come up with something, anything! that would kill this awkward silence. I finally squeezed out some information about the gold rush and everything was all good. The rest of the tour went well. I dropped them off at Liarsville, which is one of our vendors we use where they get to see a little show, walk around, have a snack and pan for gold. After that I drove them through downtown Skagway, gave them a city tour and then dropped them off so they could walk around town. When they got off they all said thank you and were very nice; and there was even 4 or 5 people who said I was a great tour guide, they had so much fun, they loved the tour, etc. but I wasn't happy with my performance. All well, I'm glad the first one is over. I won't be as nervous for the second one now.
Not too much else is new... Last night we had a company barbecue that was really fun. There was probably about 60 people there? We hung out, ate, played frisbee, football, and then after that we went to the company softball game. It was the most intense softball game I have ever seen! So much shit-talking and heckling. I loved it! I don't even know who won to be be honest, but we had a good time. After that a bunch of us went to a friend's house and had a big bonfire. There was probably about 20 of us. It was lots of fun, just drinking and hanging out around the fire. All around it was a great night!
Today is my first day off since I arrived. Hallelujah! I have worked the last 14 days in a row, and I think the past 8-9 days I have worked almost 70 hours. Great overtime, but I'm so ready for a day off. I think that's about all I have to write about. I'll try and write again after I have my next tour.
Stay tuned...