Some people chase ambulances, others stalk celebrities. I like to catch linemen at work. If I'm driving down the street and see a pole changeout, I have this incredible urge to stop and gawk. I find most linemen will share with me what they are up to, as long as I'm not too much of a pest.

Line Work is Serious Business

I had my first shot at line work back in 1973 as a co-op student with Georgia Power. Several of us asked if we could spend time in the field in hopes we would learn something more useful than making copies and updating vendor catalogs.

My first day out with an overhead crew, I learned that “headache” has a different meaning in the field. If you're under a bucket, don't look up because some dropped thing, a bolt or a tool, is headed your way. One of the linemen on this crew must have been particularly worried about my health and safety, because he kept using my hardhat as target practice for outgoing streams of tobacco juice. Believe me, I kept my hardhat on and my head down.

My next stint at line work was back in 1981 preparing for a strike. I was sent to line school, directed to a 40-ft pole and handed a pair of hooks and a belt.

I demonstrated my native intelligence by strapping on the hooks with the gaffs on the outside. As I stood there, staring at my feet and thinking, “something doesn't look quite right,” the trainer spotted me and burst out laughing, wounding my city-bred pride. Grinning, he straightened me out, ran me through the basics and sent me back to the pole. Once I learned to lean back and trust the belt, going up came easy. Coming down wasn't too bad once I got the hang of sticking the gaffs in hard.

A month out in the field was a great learning experience for this “lineman wannabe” who did his share of driving ground rods, running triplex, splicing cables, replacing insulators and the like.

The Rodeo is Coming to Town

I had another chance to practice my climbing skills when Dale Warman with Kansas City Power & Light (KCP&L), and a longtime rodeo supporter, invited me to check out the rodeo grounds. At the site, KCP&L Superintendent Lance Midyett loaned me his hooks, offered a little advice, sat back and watched. I climbed 15 or 20 ft, high enough for Lance to take a photo with the sun behind me. Washed out, the photo of this lineman wannabe looks halfway decent. In reality, I was showing signs of age. My legs aren't what they used to be, and I managed to pick the hottest day of the summer. Wearing work gloves, heavy boots, jeans, a long-sleeve shirt and my old Georgia Power hardhat just about guaranteed that I would sweat buckets. A lineman's ability to work all day in all kinds of weather amazes me.

There is more work to be done at the rodeo grounds with nine KCP&L apprentices now changing out upwards of 100 wood poles. (The poles get pretty chewed up with spike marks.)

The International Lineman's Rodeo, now going on its 21^st year, has a grand history. In fact, there are a fair number of regional rodeos that feed into this event. Volunteers make the rodeo work. The executive committee is predominantly former linemen who hail from all over the country. I sat in on an executive meeting and chatted with rodeo Advisory Committee Chairman Steve Iaquinto, who recently retired from PECO Energy. I asked Iaquinto why he stays involved. His answer, “Once a lineman, always a lineman.”

At last count, 60 teams and 77 apprentices have signed up, which is right about where they were this time last year. I spoke with Ronnie Switzer at AEP who volunteered to be chief judge for the hurtman rescue. Switzer told me that many of the judges signed up to help are retired linemen who travel on their own time and their own dollar.

This lineman wannabe will be out on the fairgrounds on September 11^th, but I won't be sporting climbing gear. The rodeo is about and for linemen. It is their event. Once the whistle blows and the teams swing into action, the tension is every bit intense as at any sports arena. These men represent their companies, yes. But they also represent their craft. They come to compete but also to learn. I love to hear linemen explain techniques, show off tools and share work practices.

Linemen take what they learn from the rodeo back to their jobs, maybe feeling just a little more proud of their profession. But the best reward linemen receive comes at the end of a hard day when they kick back and admire the results of their labor.

Editor's Note: For more information on the upcoming International Lineman's Rodeo to be held Sept. 9-11, 2004, see page 19.