So you wanna to be a Glacier Red Bus Driver? Part 4: A Day in the Life

DISCLAIMER: Everything in this series is solely based on my own personal experience as a Red Bus tour driver in Glacier Park. The metrics from which I derive many of my insights and conclusions are based specifically on my abilities and performance alone. As with driving a car, your mileage WILL vary.

What to do you expect an average day for the average Red Bus Driver is like? Let’s bullet-point this out.

As a Red Bus Driver, you WILL:

Get to know the White Motor Company Model 706 Tour Bus really, really well.

• A first-year driver is not assigned to one bus and will rotate thru many. You will learn which ones burn oil and which roofs leak (the most) and other nifty personality traits and nuances.

• Every day you will pre and post-trip check it for safety. You will fill out DOT and GNPL transportation documentation.

• Every day the bus must be fueled, washed inside and out, and windows dried so there are no streaks. All chrome must shine.

• Every morning you hope the person who had it the day before didn’t screw you over.

Work longer and harder than you ever knew you could.

• While a five-day workweek it the target, that target can be a moving one. Especially at the start and end of the season as staffing fluctuates.

• Workdays can range anywhere from 2 hours (standby) to 14 hours on the clock. I only had a handful of 14ers, more than a few just over 12, and lots and lots of 9-10 hour days.

• Tours never start early (normally 8 am and after). But there are a few days when you have to run the HR Shuttle (more on that later), and you’ll be rolling by 5 am or earlier. And there are days you’ll just have a group tour in the afternoon, which are great for some AM housekeeping and laundry.

• There is a rhythm you fall into. Once you lose track of the days of the week, it’s smooth sailing. Just remember to punch that time clock in and out.

Learn to live and commune with people

• Employee housing has always been an issue. It is so seasonal and there’s just not enough of it. You will have at least x1 and up to x3 roommates.

• Having been married 30 years helps here. Know when to pick your battles. Be considerate, and tolerant, and have a large supply of earplugs and sleep masks.

• With cramped living, it was nice having the truck for extra storage. I kept everything in tubs, and all of my hiking gear in the back and ready to go mobile at a moment’s notice.

• The common food/cooking/kitchen wasn’t that bad. Those who did cook often never had any issues with the shared space. And my food in the fridge was pretty safe.

• Most people would load up when they passed an employee dining hall with to-go boxes. But after a couple of weeks of eating a diet of canned Sysco food and overcooked EVERYTHING, the old rice cooker really started to get a workout. And when I finished up at 9 pm on those long days, I was never hungry anyway.

Need to commit fully to the craft

• Talk until your lips fall off and your mouth is numb. Be physically and mentally tired from actively engaging 17 strangers while driving a narrow mountain roadway.

• I found I did better with tours by changing my commentary around. Take different stops when there was parking available and try different subjects. I think it helped to reach more people.

• My facts weren’t 100% and I got called out a couple of times. I’d research stuff back at the RV park after a shift and find out I had been telling something wrong for 30 years. Nice to finally use the internet for good.

• A lot of drivers had different strengths in different areas and topics of the Park. Always fun to ask and listen to what narratives they used and how they were received.

• The more comfortable you are with your own personal knowledge base, the more at ease your guests will be. It’s just a natural dynamic. You will definitely feel it when you are in the flow with a great bunch of people. And equally know when you are not and need to fix it.

• This job is about 20% driving. Once you figure out where that rear tire needs to be on the road to not hit things, all of your focus will be on the heads in the rear-view mirror.

Need to let Glacier Park consume you

• There will be some of the most incredible sunrises you will ever see.

• Storms raging across the mountaintops and thru the valleys will seem almost magical

• The bears are amazing. They are everywhere. And I mean EVERYWHERE.

• From the fierce power of a hailstorm to the wonderous shimmer of a rainbow, the sky will never disappoint.

• Never feel the same about the Milky Way again. It is almost as if you could reach up and touch that misty cloud of billions of stars

• Smell the sunset as the last rays dip from view, and the cool of the twilight softly grazes your cheek.

• Your forearms will be bronze from the deepest farmer’s tan you have ever known. You will almost feel those rays coursing thru your veins when summer starts to chill by the first of September. Maybe some wasp venom too.

• There will be moments you will smile SO hard, that the tiniest tear of pure joy will form at the corner of your eye. Worth more than a diamond. But you won’t know it until you wipe it away.

Yep. That’s about an average day. I guess it’s not that bad after all.