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Petie...oh how I will miss thee!
As some of you may know I spent the last year and half driving a Super B logging truck in Alberia (northern Alberta hehe) working towards meeting a financial goal. The days were long, the hours were random, and the money was good! I will miss the latter, but I will also miss the beautiful scenery! Spending so much time in the bush is so peaceful, and some of the views are just beautiful. Working so hard was also very satisfying. I actually ended up being 5th Top Driver (most hours put in, no incidents, and no infractions) in a fleet of about 80 which was extremely honoring. For anyone familiar with trucking, they let us haul up to 72,250kg GVW in the winter. New tri-drive trucks hauling 73,000kg in summer and 80,000kg in winter.
I like to describe driving truck as complete and utter boredom with fleeting moments of sheer terror! :lol: Don't let the pics fool you, the highways are mostly fairly flat, but the bush roads have plenty of hills and curves. The snow always adds some excitement - risk of spin-out on snowy uphills and risk of inability to turn at those neato corners they like to put at the bottom of the downhills. :eek: I would like to share a few photos. I have lots of pics, but here are my favs... "Petie" the Peterbilt truck I drove: http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...Mar2620103.jpg Petie getting loaded in January (damn cold): http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4.../Jan122011.jpg Sunset in the bush just before Christmas: http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...Dec1820102.jpg On the road again... http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...g/IMG_0969.jpg A field of canola (and bugs on the windshield): http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...g/IMG_0966.jpg |
You could have had a small tank it that truck ! :lol:
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#5 that's awesome! :biggrin: Great pic.'s
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What is done with poplar trees? Here in B.C. those trees are just left in the bush. Good to see them on a truck rather than laying on the ground rotting. 6 wrappers? You must have built up some strong pipes.
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Hehe...8 wrappers. :D Throwing wrappers was my favourite part of the day! I made a game of it...see how fast I could do it! I was down to throwing and tightening them all down as well as flagging in 9 1/2 - 10 minutes consistently. My fastest time was just under 8 minutes. Good times! And yes, I do have pipes. I preferred the 1/2" cables to the 3/8" cables as well. All the guys in camp were complaining because we ran out of 3/8" cables so they had to use the odd 1/2" cable when they broke/lost one. So I switched out any 3/8" cables I had for the 1/2" and all the complaining stopped because "The girl can do it....go look at her truck!" |
Ms M
Does thing mean you are ou tof big rigs and retired? |
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm sexy
a lady truck driver. that gives me reason to hitch hike.:razz: |
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Good for you.... still can't leave my job(going to be at it till 95...thats when I reach my magic number ;) )....next time you pass through Edmonton lunch is on me
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Great photos Mindy. If it weren't for logging trucks & FSRs I wouldn't be able to go for the odd ride on my motorbike in the summer & check out some great backcountry ski touring in the winter. Amazing the FSRs these rigs are able to negotiate, especially in the winter.
I purchased a VHF radio a few years back for the sole purpose of being able to communicate with the truckers (& truckettes?) when I'm headed for an FSR about an hour north of Vernon (near Malakwa) in the winter. There's a great spot up there for some fine skiing if there's active logging in the winter & road is ploughed. A licence is required to own a VHF radio & I've been keeping it current with the annual fee. It comes in handy on the highway some times as well, with the truckers providing heads up on any road hazards etc. Also hear a few life stories on that radio... like you mentioned, I guess driving these rigs day in, day out can get a little boring. About 3 or 4 winters ago, I was on the way up the Gorge Cr FSR, reporting my position every Km as required when a loaded rig came tooling around a bend and I had to take the snow bank to avoid getting smacked. Luckily I didn't go too far in & was able to easily back out & continue on my merry way. The driver of the rig, "Sharkey" came on the radio reporting to base that he had just put a Toyota into the snow bank & that he hadn't heard any radio calls. Also said "I think he got out ok." Base replied "Yes Sharkey, he's been calling his position every Km." I didn't hear any calls from Sharkey that he was coming down the road either. Hard to say whether Sharkey was zoned out & honestly didn't hear my calls, but those one lane FSRs in BC are super twisty and while VHF radios are pretty good, they still work best transmitting line of sight, not that good at transmitting through mountains. Mine is also a relatively low power handheld. In any case, I have a lot of respect for the driving skills of you folks. Here are some pics of my adventures on local FSRs. Photoshare link of summertime trip on local FSR, Aberdeen Plateau above Kal & Wood Lakes: http://photoshare.shaw.ca/view/78203...79-42652/7820/ Another photoshare from trip on FSRs north of Vernon I explored. Also includes a fall hike into Boulder Hut for a work week: http://photoshare.shaw.ca/view/78206...02-86864/7820/ Here's Km 13 of the infamous Gorge Creek FSR 30 Jan 2008. This is a good location to park & where the good skiing is to be had. I think Sharkey almost took me out at about Km 7. https://blu1.storage.live.com/items/...=1&ck=0&ex=720 Nice view of the cutblock which provides a good reference as a return point from ski touring: https://blufiles.storage.live.com/y1...72e.JPG?psid=1 The reward, plenty of untouched champagne pow: https://blu1.storage.live.com/items/...=1&ck=0&ex=720 End November 2009, my ski partner Glenn. Always a good idea to travel in the backcountry with at least one other person. Amazing amount of snow this early in the season: https://blufiles.storage.live.com/y1...nn1.jpg?psid=1 Last one, yours truly. No active logging the last couple of seasons so FSR wasn't ploughed & since I have no sled, no way to get up there: https://blufiles.storage.live.com/y1...ke3.jpg?psid=1 Hope this doesn't constitute some kind of thread hijack, but hey, it is about logging in a small way.... |
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----------------------------------------- Great stories Mike!!! Thanks for posting! No hijack at all. :D I have had my fair share of meetings with oncoming trucks too! I don't swerve for pickups at all...I could kill myself and even dump the load and kill the oncoming pickup too so that's a bad option. I pick the spot on the road where I am safe to travel as far over as I can get, and it's up to the pickup to get out of the way. Sometimes the pickups are traveling too fast to get out of the way, and sometimes the logging trucks are traveling too fast as well (depending too much on the radios) and accidents do happen. I have seen A LOT of collisions in the last year and a half. It is surprising the damage that can be done, and people walking away. Highway 63 is a flipping dangerous road! :eek: VHF radios aren't perfect, and they are affected by some other receptions and transmissions like GPS monitoring. Good VHF radios work much better than cheap ones, some get less than 1 km of good reception/transmission. VHF radios definitely help a lot and are worth their weight in gold, but some people rely too heavily on them. The REALLY scary thing is the suicidal drivers out there that purposely drive into big rigs and the drivers under the influence of alcohol or drugs. We had four of these type of incidents while I was driving in the area and two of the passenger vehicle drivers died. We didn't have any log drivers get overly injured in any collisions. The number one reason truck drivers go in the ditch is because they fall asleep or job complacency. --------------------------------- A friend of mine was driving up the 63 hwy empty just south of Ft McMurray at about 4:30am. He comes around a bend and sees something on the road. Turns out there is a car parked in his lane with its lights off. :eek: As he comes around the corner his lights wake up the passed out drunken driver who starts his car and tries to get back into the proper lane. The logging truck hits the car going approximately 90 km/h. The logging truck goes up over the hood, jack knifes, and goes into the opposite ditch backwards. The car is thrown about 60 ft backwards. It took investigators 4 hours to find the engine of the car - it was under the logging truck's engine. Both vehicles were a write-off. The driver of the logging truck walked away, and the driver of the car had to be cut out with the jaws of life. Believe it or not, the driver of the car only suffered a broken arm! If the logging truck had a moose bumper on it, I don't think the driver of the car would have been so lucky. http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4.../Truck1232.jpg http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4.../Truck1233.jpg http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...g/Truck123.jpg ------------------------------------------------------ This driver approached a blind bridge going well over 80 km/hr (speed limit is 80 on dirt rds) with a GVW of 68,000kg. There was an oncoming fuel tanker truck that was already on the bridge. The drivers called the bridge on the radio at the same time ("walked on each other") and were unable to hear each other. To avoid collision, the logging truck driver took the ditch, which in this case was a swampy stream. The weather was -38C. The logging truck driver walked away amazingly but suffered severe frostbite on his legs from getting wet, and nearly faced amputation. Why he was approaching the bridge at that speed and at that weight is beyond me! If you look closely at the top right of the first picture you can see the drivers' side stack and the hood of the logging truck in a horizontal position. The truck jack-knifed, and then rolled which ripped the bunk off the first trailer. The second photo is after clean up and shows the first bunk of the trailer still attached to the truck. http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...g/IMG_0032.jpg http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...g/IMG_0040.jpg |
Yikes! :jaw: :crazyeye:
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So what's next, the ice roads or maybe the Dalton in Alaska? Got to love IRT.
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On the other hand, I'm pretty good at catching crabs. :D Hmm...that doesn't sound right. |
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