Beach
Transportation doesn't sell tours. Instead, we work with
several travel agencies, such as VanCampen, Kalispell's
Leisure Tours, Hamilton's Bestway Travel and Sapphire Travel,
and the Missoula Senior Citizens Center. We've also done
a lot of work for the bus company (Greyhound) in Missoula.
If they have overloads on holidays, they'll call us to take
a load some place, such as Great Falls.
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The
most popular tour, by far, is Jackpot, Nevada. That's the
closest place from Missoula (about 450 miles) where there's
legalized gambling. The Canadian Rockies tour is also popular,
and so are trips to Reno, Las Vegas, Vancouver and Victoria,
BC, Lake Louise and Banff.
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When
you first meet your passengers, everybody's strangers. By
the time the trip is over, you're a big, close group. Everybody
on the bus shakes your hand or hugs you when they get off.
It's absolutely great!"
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The
longest time I was out was 27 days. That was an East Coast
tour with senior citizens. (Driver) Randy Davis and I doubled
on that trip. We went clear up into northern Quebec and
back down into the New England states ... Then, after we
left New York, we went into Philadelphia and Washington
D.C. That was the year of the World's Fair in Knoxville,
Tennessee, so we went down there and back to St. Louis ...
It's hard to pack clothes for that long."
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I
don't particularly get a thrill out of driving in big cities.
I'll do it, but I don't really like it anymore. I like to
sit up there and help the other driver and read the map
and point to signs and say 'turn here' and 'turn there'
and so forth. It takes two guys in the big cities - one
guy driving and one to read the maps and find out where
you're going. You have to make sure you get off and on the
freeways in the right places.
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Preparing
for a trip is like going to school. You have homework. You
take your map into your motel room at night ... and learn
exactly where you have to go the next day. Map-reading is
important. When a driver gets confused in an unfamiliar
part of the country, it's just a matter of turning right
or left until you pick up something that says you're heading
in the right direction. Navigating for the other driver
is important too.
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Some
cities are easier than others to drive in. Surprisingly,
New York City may be one of the easiest places because the
streets and avenues are so straight. The hardest place I've
ever been - there's not even a close second - is Boston.
The streets are narrow and the drivers are absolutely as
discourteous as they can be. It's chaos when you get into
Boston. Terribly nerve-wracking.
Another
place that's hard to get around in is Washington, D.C.,
simply because the streets go off from the Capitol building
like spokes in a wheel. I've been there four times, and
I still couldn't tell you which way is east or west, north
or south. All of our drivers do real well in LA, because
we've been there enought that they feel at home. They just
about know where to go without a map.
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High
school band leaders take charge of much of the planning
for a trip, such as to southern California and the Tournament
of Roses Parade. (Beach Transportation took young Missoula
musicians there many times.) They
decide the places they want to go and the places where
they
want to eat and so forth; then it's our responsibility
to
get them there safe and sound and home again."
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We
expect all the tour buses to be in top-notch shape. The
old saying goes that no bus is stronger than the weakest
part. A lot of times, the weakest part doesn't show up when
you want it to ... We usually carry a spare starter on the
Beachliners. Starters can be a real nuisance; if you can't
get that bus going in the morning, you're up a creek ...
When something goes wrong mechanically, you try not to panic.
(Beach mechanic) Glen Brown has gotten us out of more than
one predicament when we broke down along the way. We've
called him long-distance, and he has explained the solution
step-by-step over the phone. But these buses just don't
fail that often.
