Travis

A place that wasn't on the list

Travis Elkin has one Juniper Flat meter whose reading he can only take from outside somebody's garden. There used to be a note about a yellow post in the ground. After he came to a fence covered in new yellow paint, he spent enough time hunting for the post to see the new dog come in and out of a side door three times. The owner came to show him a small white peg with yellow string on it. Travis explained exactly what he'd done and where he'd been when the first dog came around, until she said she understood and put the kettle on. His manager has remembered the story longer than the route. Sometimes he asks Travis to ride out with a new reader when the written directions have stopped being helpful.

Nia at the meter office leaves a card for him when she's finished a new route. She writes a description of one thing here and there that only makes sense looking in the direction he'll come from. They've been friends since school and have always got along best with concrete instructions.

A stored first run

DGM had a high practice ramp that Travis used to approach in the Subaru Impreza and then stop a safe distance from. He'd have a clear idea what the first few feet looked like. After that he thought mostly about the way the end might fall. On an afternoon when he had time for two runs, he moved to one side and described as much of it as he'd imagined to Bob Harker. Bob listened until he noticed which place Travis came back to every time. They used the low ramp and put a yellow marker at that distance to give him a proper target. When Travis had felt it come past, it let him think about where the next one should go.

Bob could go through the same stretch and make the early part look considerably simpler. If asked he'd say something about having driven more recently. Travis knows the difference between being out of practice and having the sort of hands that allow you to pick up exactly where you stopped thinking last time. He'd rather be told what to look for.

Lower again

People are often ready to give Travis an encouraging word the moment he reaches the small marker. It's when he's loudest and least likely to remember it. He asks for a repeat now because on the repeat he knows where to look when the car stops pushing back up at him. He has used Tessa Okafor's description of an incremental setup to explain it to a crew who wanted to raise the low ramp immediately. It came as a surprise to everyone that he had a shorter explanation than they did.

He's working toward the route where he can feel the last bit of load come off the front and still look ahead to see the bottom. He has time to try it twice with Bob next week. Bob wants a low marker of his own, the first time Travis can remember being asked to place one for somebody quite that experienced.

At the other gate

For his next meter reading, Travis brings a spare length of yellow cord. The householder comes out through the side door with a mug as he ties it to the white peg. She says the new reader found the gate without it. He says good, because he tied this one for people who arrive from the other direction. The dog comes out and sniffs the peg. Travis moves the knot up an inch.