My two months spent in Vermont.

Rutland

The independent railroad contracting company I work for contacted me early February to see if I wanted a contract for about five months that covered all of Vermont railroads, apparently the state of Vermont was going to pay some temp conductors for a project to repair a bunch of track or something (gotta admit I never really pay attention to what type of work i’m needed for, just where I will be going). So I packed up my van and headed up to Rutland, Vermont from Pennsylvania. Reported to the Railroad February 24th and it turns out they hired about 5 Temps for a project that wasn’t supposed to start until mid may, they just had us out two months early to familiarize with the area. After our first week in Rutland getting qualified to work on their railroad, we were going to get send out to different stations across Vermont.

And after one week of training they picked were we were going to start training. I was getting sent to Burlington to train at that yard first. Which I was pretty excited about because Rutland was a bit dreary. And not just from the weather, just in general.

Burlington

Made it up to Burlington February 28th (Friday)and was told I would start training on the morning job the next week. Started at 7am and went until 3pm (for the most part). For 6 days straight.

And honestly I was like dang it. I had wanted time to go take photos and explore the area! But also it was cold too because it is still winter time. So my first weekend in Vermont I went out to get Pho and thrift and went to check out the goodwill to see what I could buy!

Working the morning job wasn’t bad at all, it was a really nice view for one. The Yard is pretty much right on the waterfront. But dang that railroad has an oldschool way of doing things. For instance they pretty much hand write everything (yard list, train list, etc). That was annoying. But oh well.

Dating Life

Of course I can’t leave this part out. I decided to re download bumble and make a profile. But I made it very clear in my profile that I was looking for something casual. Surprisingly I received a lot of matches. But I only went on a date with one of those matches. She was the first one to give me her number on bumble. We met up at a bar called The Other Place around 9pm on a Saturday night. My first weekend in Burlington actually, haha. Anyway we hit it off, I gave her the nickname Miss Burlington. One, because she was the first person outside of work that I met. And two, she didn't really know anything about Burlington, which I thought was kinda funny but in her defense she wasn’t originally from there.

Creative Projects

We will come back to work and the dating scene later, but for now let me take the time to show you all the projects I worked on in Vermont!

The Finished Video. I am actually really surprised how this came out.

Met Up with a photographer and took some pictures at Oak ledge Park.

Day to day life

Back to real life again. After my first week of working the morning job I was put on the second shift job. This job was the local and pretty much delivered products to customers throughout Vermont. It started at 3pm and went about ten our sometimes even 12 hours. Wasn’t really looking forward to that but hey. Also switched stuff up with Miss Burlington. Because working the morning shift when I would go spend the night I had to get up at around 6am. But now with the new schedule I made it over to her place really late and could stay a bit more in the afternoon. She was actually the only person I ended up going out on a date with. We just clicked really well. We had our routine down. She didn’t really have internet but she loves “Friends” I’ve never really watched the show so we started from season one together. Ordering pizza or getting pho (which I introduced her to btw, she had never had it before.) Things were going along great. And then the Pandemic happened.

Covid

The virus had never really caught up to Vermont like it did everywhere else. It wasn't until mid March that Vermont started taking it seriously. In fact it wasn’t until St patrics day that they shut down all the bars and restaurants. Working for the railroad I figured we would be essential and we were, so I thought I did not have anything to worry about. After finishing my two weeks in Burlington, It was time for me to Go to Bellows Falls. Which was all the way south, but Vermont is not a huge state. So basically it was only a two hour drive. I had to tell Miss Burlington the news, but I did promise to visit her on the weekends. So I packed up my Hotel and started heading south to Bellows Falls to work at that train yard.

Bellows Falls

Landed in Bellows Falls March 22nd Was going to work there for two weeks.

The railroad put me up in a town called Springfield, which was about a ten mile drive to the train yard. Which technical was In New Hampshire. I got confused as to which side and what state I was on half the time. The job started at 8am and went for about ten hours or so, sometimes twelve. It was basically a switching and industry job. So a lot of things had to be done. Small area of coverage but kinda a lot to take in.

By the end of the second week tho, thats when I was told all the Temps contracts were ending. So basically the five months that I was supposed to be in Vermont got cut down to just about two months. By this time people were taking the virus seriously here. In fact just that day the governor closed all state parks and hotels to everyone. And earlier in the week had closed all non essential jobs. Since the state was paying for all the temps for the contract, they put the contract on hold. Therefore, I was no longer needed. They let me have one more week of training and then I had to go. First thing I thought about tho was Miss Burlington. Even tho we were totally understanding of having something very casual, we both did not expect for me to leave so soon. This would be our 6th week knowing each other. And I had seen her every week, more than one time in a week. Discussing all the changes that were going on. She had lost her job because she works in retail. Spending more time indoors and ordering in. We had developed a sense of closeness, and now I had to tell her I was leaving. I waited a whole week to tell her. I selfishly wanted one more good weekend with her before telling her I had to go. April 11 was my last day at the railroad. I told her April 8th.

Saying Goodbye

The railroad said they are looking to start back up again in July if I wanted to come back. But we all know how that goes. I can’t really hold my breath for that, so we will see. I packed up my hotel room again and went back up to Burlington to spend one last weekend with Miss Burlington. Apparently I didnt convey correctly that I was leaving leaving Vermont. So telling her that I was going back down to philly on Monday (I had gotten there on Saturday) was not fun. The sun was out that day so we went to go get Chipotle and then went for a drive. I drove all the way up north to Newport. Then on the way back down to Burlington we stopped at the State Capitol.

This was ironically also the first time she has seen me in the suit. I didn’t know if I would be back in Vermont any time soon so I wanted to at-least take all the photos I never had a chance to yet in Burlington. On Sunday I asked her if she wanted to go around and take some photos.

Sunday was kinda a somber day after the photos. Went back and started watching more of Friends. By this point we were already up to midway season 7. Ordered Dominos for dinner and drank. Each of us knowing what type of morning we would have. For the first time since we met, this night we actually intertwined our fingers together afterwards. And she asked me what I was thinking. So I told her. I told her that I blew off every else on Bumble and that she was the only person I went on a date with. I told her that because of meeting her at the beginning of a pandemic that it brought us a lot closer than normal circumstances. And that I was going to miss her.

Got up at 9am to get ready to leave. It’s April 13th and I am gonna go back down to Philly for an undisclosed amount of time. Because I haven’t heard back from the agency I work for to see if they have an opening for me somewhere.

She told me it was unfair I was leaving and I had to agree, we both did not see it coming. We hugged each other for a good couple minutes on her bed and I let myself cry. I had a couple tears streaming down, I knew it was gonna happen. Got up, put my backpack on gathered all the stuff I had in her apartment and was ready to walk out the door. Gave her another standing hug for a bit and she asked if we could still keep in contact, to which I replied yes. I walked out the door, turned around to see her standing in her doorframe looking at me, her eyes started to well up and she said “I’m going to miss you.” I said “I'm going to miss you too.” I turned around and walked down the stairs out the door and headed to my van. Another stream of tears started coming down. I am grateful for getting to know her and having someone to go through these world changes with, and that time spent with her is something that I will always remember. I got in my van, looked up at her window, waved goodbye, and drove away.

Goodbye Vermont, Until we meet again.