3 Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon | www.plso.org I am not saying I have much grit, perseverance, courage, and toughness, but I do know what “it’s so bad it’s good” means now. Also, there is something to be said about how challenges completed successfully can and do build virtuous character traits. From the PLSO Chair defeat. Shame on the man of cultivated taste who permits refinement to develop into fastidiousness that unfits him for doing the rough work of a workaday world.” Teddy had “True Grit.” Sounds like a great movie title, eh? Teddy really had grit—he was wounded in an assassination attempt yet went ahead with a scheduled speech. On to the Bad and the Ugly. We’ll start with the survey truck stuck on the railroad tracks at an unauthorized crossing. Just south of Bend is a subdivision named Deschutes River Woods whose eastern boundary is the BNRR tracks. We had an ongoing Road L.I.D. survey in progress and had to do some measuring on the east side of the tracks. So, being the party chief and also being young and foolish I had the “bright” idea to cross the tracks. I mean, what the heck, the truck had tall tires and had no trouble driving up on curbs so the rails should be a piece of cake. Little did I know that this was not one of my better ideas. I was driving and was able to get the front wheels across the front rail, and since we had taken a diagonal approach, one front wheel went over the east-most rail and that was the end of that! We were soundly stuck. You should have seen us scrambling to find items to place under the tires, long heavy limbs for leverage, etc. I think we would have made The Three Stooges proud! Finally, after what seemed like an eternity we were able to drive off the rails. Once while Roy was driving, we were surveying the north end of Fryrear Road at the intersection with Highway 126. We had pulled over off the highway for one of those breaks to drain some coffee, and while we were pulling out onto the highway Roy had failed to check his blind spot and in the blink of an eye we heard a loud bang and we had spun around in the middle of the road! Dazed and confused, we looked over the situation and found the truck was still mobile, so Roy drove us on to the shoulder behind the new F-350 with a newer camper on the back that was towing a boat. While Roy was talking on the cell phone to our supervisor, I walked up to talk to the gentleman who owned the truck. Nobody was injured, but, if we had pulled onto the highway one or two seconds earlier we would have been t-boned at 55 mph and probably would not be here. As if the RR tracks and the Highway 126 incidents aren’t enough, I will spare you the details until another time about the Suburban hill climb up the southerly most Cline Butte, the chainsaw cut on my inner right leg, the full-on sledgehammer blow to my left shin, and walk on a 8"x8" timber across a raging canal. Oh, I almost forgot this one—the crazy drug dealer who held a Gerber Mark I combat knife to my throat as I begged him to spare my life when I was in high school. I attribute my continued existence on this planet to the benevolence of the Almighty God through His son, Jesus Christ. So, you may be ready to ask, Scott, besides being interesting stories, how do these stories apply to surveying? I would say, mainly directed to the Emerging Leaders—some of the positive character traits shown in these stories are virtuous and desirable for all surveyors to have. Another lesson is to never take shortcuts and never, ever get impatient. By the way, feel free to ask me sometime to tell you about the undetailed incidents listed above. I will be happy to visit with you. How to Send Us Your Work Please email the editor Vanessa Salvia with submissions: vsalvia@gmail.com. Your submission should be in .doc format. Please send images separately (not embedded in the document) and at the highest file size available (MB size range versus KB size range—larger sizes are encouraged). Please include the author’s name and email address or phone number for contact.
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