It's been a month "workin fo the man"

"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a bananas..."

 A quote from somewhere inconsequential


A month ago I reentered the workforce, kinda at the lower end as a shuttle driver at a resort lodge in Alaska near Denali National Park. I chose to do this simply as a means of living somewhere else in an affordable way, and perhaps to make enough money for additional adventures along the way. So 1/5th through the season all seems to be going well, at least with respect to being a working man again.

First I must be honest, this is an easy job, basically sit for 8 hours and steer a "Sprinter" around a 1.1 mile loop with some promise of extra trips "down the road". I get to meet people from all over the world, most of who are pretty happy to be here and anxious to squeeze out all they can in their 1-3 days in the area.

And of course the company I work for tries to squeeze out as much money from said guests as possible during the same time and in the process give them an experience of their lifetime and smoother them with courteous kindness. Our company motto is, "be the difference".  I've really bought into this, and have been doing my part, mostly because it just comes natural to me, of making our guests feel welcomed and going the extra measure to make their stay the experience of a lifetime.

I do not want to dwell on the many opportunities for irony that I encounter on a daily basis such as what low expectations most guests have for what should be their experience of a lifetime and the best way to spend their precious hours/dollars in paradise. Naw, that's just low hanging fruit that has little value other than to stoke the fire of personal rage of how poor our adventure spirit really is, etc. A topic for another blog for sure.

Instead I just want to celebrate my month of employment, making the bucks, doing my part, making a difference; did I mention that I won some formal recognition for my effort? Kinda cool, really, I do take pride in giving my employer value for the money they spend on my labor.

Like all enterprises that require effort, it is worthwhile to evaluate the cost/benefit ratio of said enterprise. What would I have been doing if had chose to stay home in SUT and just ride MTB? Ugh, ride my MTB's obviously and bitch about how hot it is and how there is no place to go and wah wah wah. No, the real value is that of adventure, striking out on a journey to somewhere new and maybe somewhat unknown; we have done that and it is good. Bottom line this last month was very well spent both for the immediate value and hopefully as an example for future adventures.