Saying hello to an old friend. Observations around Beargrass.

There are only a few benefits coming back for the second year as a Red Bus driver. Maybe another dollar an hour. You may get only one roommate instead of three. You may find a spot to park your vehicle so it won’t bake in the hot sun for three months and crack your dashboard.

But one saving grace (if you can call it that) is you can pick your Red Bus for the year.

Now, that might not sound like a big deal. But when you drive the same bus for a season, you know what condition it will be in the following day. Not all drivers clean with the same quality control, especially when they daily jump from bus to bus. Plus, you get to know all the individual quirks of each of those 33 vintage vessels.

I was on standby today, my first day of the new season. Ick. You punch in for two hours to see if someone else forgot to show up for a tour or a bus broke down, then swoop in at the last minute as the hero. But most times, it is just the two-hour punch. But… you still get to prep the bus. And so, I reintroduce myself to good old number 94. Since we almost burned down Glacier Park together (along with the town of Babb, MT), there has been this kind of bond.

Most other drivers complain the steering linkage is loose. Which is it? They usually replace everything new based on age, but not this time around. I don’t know. I guess I got used to it last summer. After all, Merritt is like me. A little rough around the edges. Some parts are in better shape than others. But in the end, it will safely get you where you need to go. AND…. Not burn a drop of oil! Bonus.

94 is a 1936 model, the first year White Motor Co. made the 706. At the time of purchase, all the buses were named for features in the park. This one is Merritt, after Mt. Merritt, one of the six 10k footers.

Now, the entire fleet was refurbished by Ford and came back in 2001. The bodies were reworked, and everything below (including the floor) was brand new parts and pieces off the Ford assembly line. Well, that was over 20 years ago, and that refurb has, in most cases, over 200k miles.

So, over the last couple of years, they have been sent out a few at a time for a new round of renewal during the winter season and come alive in the spring with a new (or more recent) heart and soul. About half the fleet has made the transition. And Merritt is one of them.

Now Merritt came back into service last summer (2022). But…. It was kind of the poor man’s refurbishment thanks to some pandemic supply line headaches with a revenue crunch. So it didn’t get the monster 7.3L engine with the hybrid electric package. Or the six-speed auto transmission. Or the upgraded 19.5 alloy retro wheels. Or the entire new dash cluster with extra heat controls for the FRONT and BACK.

It’s like looking at pictures of your prom date forty years later. She is less pretty than you remembered when everything was new (and you didn’t know better). But I’m loyal, and it is still a great bus.

For the drivetrain, they came back with the old 5.4L (non-propane this time) and 4-speed auto. I can see from the valve covers it was remanufactured. I would have at least expected a crate engine for the money spent on these things. They aren’t going to get 200k out of them like last time.

It also had upgraded seats and a center console. I really like this. For the older ones, you will sink about 3 inches and feel the springs digging into your rear end every time you hit a bump higher than a quarter. And the mic for commentary is wireless—no more jumping out of the front seat and almost hanging yourself a dozen times a day.

But the top is still pretty worn. Only leaks a little. And the dry rot in the bungee should get through at least another season. I don’t mind the old 16.5-inch steel wheels. The tires run a little narrower, making the vehicle sit a little lower for people to step up into the seats.

So I had some time to walk around Beargrass today. Naturally, you heard my rant about putting an expensive professional ping pong take in the kitchen area and reducing the seating by half. The other night, the place got pretty crowded around dinner time. And there don’t seem to be a lot of ping pong players among the seasonal worker set.

The former front desk building turned into an employee rec center still looks …. Well…… like the waiting room at a dentist.

It would have been nice to get some of those nice lawyer-looking leather chairs out of there and toss in a couple for sofas. And a ping pong table. But it’s a room you get an occasional employee sitting in, streaming something on the big screen while their laundry is churning in the back of the building.

The good news is the shared fridge is getting full AND staying full. No food theft! Or maybe my food sucks. Amazing what Mr. Yuck stickers can do.

It doesn’t matter how many signs you put up. People are still pigs—end of statement.

And this was surprising. For some reason we don’t know, Xanterra sent fifty cases of ten-count bottles of hand sanitizer to Beargrass (for only 68 people when wholly populated). I know what my employee gift is for staying through the entire season!

Red Bus Boy out!