- Laura Karr

From Soldier to Driver

       Wayne Campau, a van driver for the Alaska Great Lakes says, “ Traveling with seven students for close to four weeks will be a very enlightening experience”

       Campau is like many of the drivers going to Alaska. He is married to Annette Campau and has two daughters, Emily and Alex. His wife Annette, another Tuesday/Thursday Club member went on half the trip last year. But not many of the other van drivers can say they applied to be a state trooper in Alaska years before they even knew about the trip or that they served in Iraq for fourteen months.

       Campau was in a group of 220 soldiers that were dispatched to Iraq. He was in a platoon of 25 soldiers where he was in charge of five other men. He has returned safely and has been home for about a year. “ It’s a considerably different traveling environment,” he said, “Alaska is a lot less dangerous, a lot less to worry about.”

       Campau has gone to Alaska before. When he was fifteen, he went to visit the state on a family trip. Wayne went to Portage Glacier, fished for salmon, and dug for clams. It has been a while since he has been to Alaska, but he’s looking forward to being able to see the scenery and relax. “ I love the openness, and I love the scenery. A city is a city no matter where you are. The mountains and glaciers are like nowhere else.”

       He is open to anything; the museums, climbing the glacier, or running the 10K’s. “ You name it,” he said, “ I probably enjoy it.”

       Campau also wants to go to be able to interact with the students. “I’m going to have an eight grader here in two years and this might help me to get a little hint at what that is going to be like.” Most of the people he has traveled with over the years have been adults. “ The bad or the good thing about it is sometimes adults don’t listen and sometimes kids don’t listen, but when adults don’t listen it’s a lot more difficult because you almost expect it out of kids so there are serious consequences.”

       Campau also hope that while he is a driver, he will really get to know that students individually, getting to see their own personalities. “ There are rules wherever you go, that’s a given. I think I’m going to be a fun driver, until you break the rules, then I’m not so fun.”