My Hubby's First Day on the Commuter Line

Last night I helped my husband get ready for his passenger service training. I ironed his uniforms and packed them. I packed his lunch for today. He's spending the week at a motel near the station where the conductors board for his line. It's really only about 30 minutes away, but because it is a certain distance from the railroad regional headquarters, they offered to put him up in a motel. He decided to take them up on it for two reasons: First, he'll get to sleep in a little longer if he is right next to the station. He has to be there at 4:30 am.; Second, his trainer said that family members are welcome to stay with him at the motel.

This particular motel has a pool and cable t.v. We don't subscribe to any television service, and our antenna doesn't work very well, so watching t.v. is a treat for us. We really like Discovery Channel and History Channel. My daughter loves TLC. My son loves those channels too. We don't get to stay at motels very often so we are going to stay with him for one or two nights this week. I think the kids would get cabin fever if we stayed too long.

The room has a microwave and a fridge so I am bringing a spiral ham and potato salad and some microwaveable meals. The motel provides a continental breakfast. This will be a nice getaway for me and the kids.

So hopefully things are going well for him today. He has a seven hour layover in the middle of his day at a station at the opposite end of the line where he starts. He says there's a break room there and a t.v.-- but no one watches it because there's always someone sleeping in that room. They have recliners for train crew to sleep in when they are in between runs, working extra long shifts. They also have a workout room, but you have to pay an initiation fee to fund purchase of more equipment and maintenance for the room. My husband won't bother to join that until he is back from furlough, which is projected to start mid-January2009.

I am really glad that my husband chose to stay at the motel, because, according to the traffic report, the roads were super messy this a.m., with lots of ice, lots of wrecks littering the roads. He might have been late if he wouldn't have stayed in the motel. I think it would
not be good to miss the train when you're the conductor. Not good at all. What do you say to your boss-- "Sorry I'm late, I missed the train?"