I had told my friend a couple of times prior to leaving that I was very nervous and admittedly even scared about the trip. Exited... but afraid of the unknown. What I didn't tell her was that I was holding back tears. I couldn't explain the feelings at the time but, looking back, perhaps a deeper parting of me could sense the life-changing events to come.
I loaded up my gear and found a seat on the bus, just far enough from the TV for easy viewing. After everyone was settled and the announcements made, I looked at my watch and noticed that we were departing precisely on time: 700pm MST. I felt pretty lucky that the seat next to me was unoccupied. No share-sies! Until I found out we had a quick stop in Calgary to pick up a few more passengers. Oh well, enjoy it while it lasts.
We stopped no more than 15 minutes later to fuel the bus up. After that, it was straight to Calgary where the rest of the passengers were loaded and I met my new bus-buddy, Dave. He's an awesome guy that I was able to get to know over the course of our long journey to Portland. I found out that he plays poker as his main source of income. At one point, a few of us even started a poker game (for play money) in the middle of the aisle. Not to brag but I was winning when the game ended. ;)
After we left Calgary, I believe we managed to watch Just Go With It, I Am Number Four, How to Train Your Dragon, and Rainman. I was in and out of consciousness during Rainman. It was dark and nearly time for bed. After the last movie, it was lights out and quiet.
We stopped again in Cranbrook, BC in what felt like the middle of the night to switch drivers. After the swap, our next stop would be in Tri-Cities, Washington for the new drivers scheduled break. By that time, it was probably mid-day on Friday. The sun was out and it was quite warm. The stop was a much needed break for everyone so we all got off to stretch, use full-size restrooms, and find something decent to eat. Then we all piled back on the bus for the final stretch.
As the miles (not kilometers) passed, the entire bus was filled with the foul stink of the bathroom. It literally started to smell like a litter box whenever someone opened the door. It was the people, per se, but some malfunction of the facilities. On a 19 hour trip, the bathroom just HAS to work. The smell was so bad near the end of the trip that people had started spraying colognes and perfumes to cover up the smell. One guy was even offering up his scented hand lotion so you could smell your strawberry hands instead of the stank. Everyone applauded when some genius finally figured out that we could pop the 'emergency exit' roof vent halfway open for some much needed fresh air.
We arrived in Portland around 2:00pm local time (PST), again, precisely on time. Everyone quickly unloaded into the fresh air and checked into their respective hotel rooms to freshen up and relax and pretty much do whatever they felt for the evening. Me and the couple I was with decided that we would hit up the local mall for some food and shopping before making our way over to the product expo that evening. The expo was buzzing and full of people. There were new product booths with samples and even a large seating area where a few product information sessions were held. Believe it or not, I sat in on the cosmetics session.
We met up with some other associates later in the evening and nobody got to bed until after midnight... despite knowing we all had to be up very early in the morning to line-up for the function the next day. We were all just too excited for the day to come. Let me tell you, that alarm came way to fast.
The three of us got dressed in our business attire and made our way in a shuttle to the event centre, where we managed to get a spot in line pretty close to the doors. For an event of about 10,000 non-assigned seats, getting close to the front assures a pretty decent seat. We took shifts watching the spot in line while the others would go off in search of food or restrooms. I found a local Denny's and had the All-American Slam. Seemed fitting.
The doors finally opened a few hours later, with hundreds already in line (see, I told you I'm glad I was near the front), and we all rushed in to claim a decent seat as close to the stage as possible. Once settled in, we were free to move around and listen to the various leaders just answering casual questions from people on the floor until the function was to begin. When it did, we found our way back to our seats and listened to numerous inspirational, emotional, and often hilarious stories from people in the same business. It was an awesome experience and it amazed me how truly honest and sincere these people were about their lives and their struggles and successes in front of such a large group.
After an afternoon of that, we all made our way over to a hall next door for dinner... but not before getting yet another spot near the front of the line for the evening sessions. Again we took turns while the others went to the dinner hall. Never in my life have I seen so many place settings. I took a picture but it could only capture HALF of the entire place. Dinner was delicious and I had the chance to met and talk with a couple people from the US, as well as a couple of guys from Calgary. In fact, Canada had a really strong showing at the conference; I saw a lot of Canadian flags and Canadian leaders in this business were half of the stage line-up telling their stories. Personally, I was impacted by many of the stories from both countries.
After the event, we again met up with some other associates to talk about everything as a small group and just share our experience of the day. It was a fun night and again we all stayed up really late knowing it would be yet another early morning. That damn alarm came all too quickly yet again.We made our way over to the extremely large hall for a full breakfast first thing in the morning. It was delicious and I again met more people from both countries. In fact, there were even people from Jamaica there; but I didn't meet any of them. After breakfast was an optional mass which I attended since this was my first time to this event and I wanted to take in everything so I could make better decisions next year. The pastor was hilarious and very energetic. Even though I'm not huge into organized religion, this man did say a few things that connected with me so I'm glad I went.
The afternoon was filled with even more speakers who have advanced to a higher level and are eager to share their stories to help those of us new in the business. All were excellent and I even managed to capture a few on my iPhone voice memo recorder (why didn't I think of it earlier?!). The event ended about an hour earlier than expected so we all made our way back to our bags to change out of our suits and prepare for the long 19 hour bus ride home. To everyone's excitement, we actually managed to leave an hour earlier than scheduled!
However, not more than an hour into the return trip we would meet our first obstacle. Traffic on the interstate was backed up for quite a while. We eventually found out that a tanker had jack-knifed and diesel fuel had spilled onto the road. I had even heard that the road was on fire but that was just a rumor. So there we were, in a sweltering bus with a broken AC unit not moving anywhere on the interstate until the HazMat team could clean up the mess. We all eventually got off the bus and hung out on the road to get some fresh air. It wasn't much cooler outside but at least there was a faint breeze.After about an hour we were allowed to proceed a bit further ahead. Many vehicles were turning around at the rest point but our bus decided to pull in to make a plan with a couple of other bus drivers. The rest area was absolutely gorgeous; complete with an amazing waterfall and food shop!! I climbed as high as I felt I could given the limited time we had set for the break. The misty waterfall air was incredibly cooling and a great break to lift everyone's spirits during this unknown delay. I even had a delicious ice-cream cone that nearly melted faster than I could eat it - it was that hot out.
Despite return back to the
bus, no plan had been set. We all mingled around the bus on a grassy area while the cool evening air began to fall over us. Finally it was decided that we would turn back and attempt an alternate route since there was no estimate on how long the spill cleanup would take. We found out later that it took until 8am the next day for traffic to resume as normal. I think we all felt a little blessed for the refreshing stop. I mean, if you're going to have to wait, what better place??We resume our journey after what has seemed like an incredibly long delay. Night begins to settle and everyone begins to try and sleep as best they can in the sweltering heat of the bus with no AC. However it finally reaches the point where we have to stop the bus to get out for some fresh night air. The bus driver pulls off the interstate onto a road that seems to lead to nowhere, like the type of canyon road you'd go to dump a body, and parks the bus there and kills the engine. We all get off and it's absolutely pitch black and silent except for the blinking bus hazard lights and the chirping crickets. Some of us stagger into the tumbleweed infested darkness to find a good place to relieve our bladders and take in the cool night air. Looking up into the night, the stars appeared incredibly bright against the dark backdrop. Meanwhile, the bus driver and older gentlemen had began to look into this AC problem.
At one point, every compartment on that bus was open while they used flashlights and cell phones to try and diagnose the problem. The older gentleman was even on the phone with the bus mechanic at one point trying to troubleshoot the issue. Someone had whipped out their stereo because there was definitely tunes and dancing while we waited (amazing really, despite the conditions). Most of us just sat their in silence, reflecting on the events of the weekend and trying our best to laugh off all this adversity we were facing just trying to get home.
I don't know exactly what they did, all I know is that at one point they did take out the air filter to give that dusty thang a good tap to clear out some of the crud. Whatever they did, when we finally got going again, probably an hour later, we had COOL air flowing from the vents! It didn't have much pressure but it was cold and that's all that mattered. The bus again began to roll through the darkness and we all settled in for some much needed rest. Well, all of us except for the bus driver.
I remember waking up near dawn as the outside began to get lighter. My eyes were drifting between open and closed when the bus suddenly began to jerk. My eyes quickly opened to see through the windshield as the bus was pulled into the ditch and we were headed towards the culvert of a small intersecting road. The bus hit that road and jumped up over and careened into the next ditch along a steep embankment. As it careened down the hill, the bus tipped over onto the passenger side before finally coming to rest against a few now uprooted trees. Nobody was sure how stable the was at this point. Looking through the window to the ground below, it was entire possible that the bus could roll even further if we weren't careful.
Luckily I was seated against the window on the passenger side and was awake to see the impact coming. I was able to brace myself for the impact. Once the bus came to rest I did a personal check to make sure I was uninjured. Aside from the older lady who was once in the seat next to me now being right on top of me, I felt uninjured from the crash - though I was also probably in shock so even if I was hurt, I probably could have lifted that bus over my head. The girl in front of me was now laying on the side of the bus looking at me; here eyes were HUGE and she looked terrified. I told her that we were ok because I knew in my heart we were. The bus was toast but we were fine and that's all that mattered to me. I told the older lady that I was totally fine and checked to see if she was ok. She said she was ok too so I told her to just take her time getting up.
There was a bit of yelling at first but luckily someone's dad was also along for the ride, and he happened to be an ex-firefighter experienced in emergency situations. People on the bus were instantly on their phones to 911 and apparently so was the woman who had been following the bus in her car.
Myself and another guy managed to pop the emergency side window open, as seen in the picture, and we were both out of the bus instantly. We began by helping the other passengers out through the window but the more that came out, the more concerned we became about the stability of the bus, so I got off to begin helping some of the ladies down the bottom of the bus. It was quite the treacherous area but thanks to the quick phone calls, emergency responders were on the scene instantly. I mean, instantly. I was barely down from the bus and an officer was already climbing up to help get people out of the bus.
Everyone was evacuated from the bus rather quickly and inspected for injuries. Most of the people on the bus were uninjured but there were a few sprains. Those individuals were taken by ambulance to the nearby medical hospital to be checked out... just in case. The rest of us were loaded onto a school bus that had been arranged to take us to the nearby elementary school in the small town (1 stop light) of Bonners Ferry, Idaho. Our bus had crashed less than an hour from the US/Canadian border and now we were stranded with no certainty as to when we'd be able to get our belongings (including passports) back and when we'd be able to get home.
Despite the circumstances, the local community was very kind. Red Cross even came by to give us blankets, food, and water. A counselor was even provided for anyone who just needed to talk. The school had some volunteers come in to make us a cafeteria lunch of chicken burgers, fries, pudding, peach slices, and milk. It was an incredible experience to have complete strangers give so selflessly to someone they'd never met before. I sense that there's a message in all this. ;)
We were told it would take a few hours for the bus to be recovered; there was nothing we could really do but just relax and get some fresh air around the school. The bus would be towed to us and our belongings would be transferred to a new bus that would be waiting.
I took my blanket and food and found a spot in the sun on the lush grass and started working on my tan. At one point, a couple of footballs and a soccer ball were brought out. So we tossed one around but I had to stop after awhile because it was just too hot. I moved into the shade for a peaceful nap. Probably the most peaceful nap of my life.
Our broken bus finally arrived around 4:00, which was about 8.5 hours from the time we crashed. Our bags were unloaded from below and the emergency responders went through and removed every item from the interior. For safety, the didn't want to allow us inside the bus. I found all of my gear and aside from a bit of spilled water, everything was perfectly fine. We loaded everything up as quickly as we could and hit the road by around 5:00pm.
The border patrol had been notified of our situation so by the time we had arrived, they simply extended their condolences for the incident and let us pass through ahead of other waiting vehicles. That was a nice touch because we were all eager to get home.
We stopped again in Crankbrook, BC to switch drivers and grab a quick bite to eat. A&W was my 'I just survived a bush crash' meal of choice. It was delicious. We then hit the road, stopping only when we hit Calgary to unload some passengers. I slept the rest of the journey into Edmonton before arriving safely back at our starting spot around 4:00am MST... 14 hours later than anticipated.
I'm not sure what to say about this experience. It certainly has impacted my life but I don't think I can say exactly how just yet. The function was incredible and the people I met are too, so this won't scare me away from attending again next year. It's just unfortunate that we had to have such a rough journey home but all 51 of us made it back. Apparently our journey through life isn't over yet...
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