Running produce to Alaska

I have never heard of or seen the show. I am not sure which roads they show in BC. But I see Nate mention the Canyon and I go up and down Fraser Canyon on every trip. There are some steep and windy parts to it and you have to be on your A game. If you go over the side you will have a long way down to the bottom. The weather can get pretty nasty in there, but slow and steady will do the trick. You have to be prepared for rocks and slides as well.
On my last trip North they had another fatality accident by Ashcroft, BC this time. A pick up had passed a motorhome in a blind spot and hit a semi head on. The driver in the semi survived which to me looked like a miracle in itself. Both people in the pick up were killed. It looked like the pick up went up the hood, through the cab and then into the trailer. I saw the after mass the next morning and there was not much left of the burned out semi truck and trailer.

 

Another interesting trip behind me that was plagued with things breaking and testing my patience. I actually got going earlier than usual, but after switching trucks and hitting freezing rain in Canada that went by the wayside pretty quickly. Highway 1 was shut down coming out of Chilliwack due to ice and downed trees. I went up Fraser Canyon in freezing rain. That itself is a mess, but when the windshield wipers started messing up it started to get old quickly. I made it to 150 Mile House that night and called it good.

The second day had more freezing rain and plenty of ice on the roads. I spun out on Wabi hill which is a steep grade coming out of Chetwynd thanks to a lovely b train driver that cut me off to take my lane when I was trying to pass him. He was spinning out and started taking lanes. I was in first gear wheels turning, but sliding backwards down the hill. Sand must be in short supply since it was so slick I could hardly stand while chaining. I just kept hoping for the truck and trailer not to slide over the side while trying to chain. Unfortunately, my current truck does not have full lockers which should have gotten me going again. It also has only a 13 speed and I got to climb Wabi in first gear since I could not manage to grab second gear at 86,000lbs. I broke two cross links on one chain trying to get going, but managed to get to the chain off area.

After putting my chains away I got a whiff of the sweet smell of coolant and found a leaky waterpump. I had lost one gallon of coolant so far. No big deal left the radiator cap off and the leak slowed down pretty good. I rechecked at the next fuel stop and no significant loss and kept heading North.

By the time I got to the Alaskan border I had gained almost 5000lbs in snow and was to heavy to cross the scale in Tok, Ak and it was time to get the winter suit out and start clearing the trailer to get under 38,000lbs on the tandems. My day just got better when I lost the grip on my hammer and managed to break the sight glass out of one of my trailer hub covers. I guess my frozen fingers let go and I watched with disbelieve at what had just happened. I guess plastic does get brittle at minus 20 degrees. Thanks to Gorilla tape I sealed off the hub cover.

I get to Tok and the scale was closed go figure. On to Glennallen on the way to Anchorage. I had to buy extra fuel since my return lines seemed to mess up and the right tank was getting down to a 1/4 tank and the left tank kept rising. Cleaned vent lines, but no success.I bought enough fuel to get to Anchorage. I made it to my delivery with an extra hour. The small victory was short lived after I stopped and got out of the truck. My reefer was making a weird noise and I realized the fan belts had come loose due to a bearing failure on the fan shaft.

The next day I picked up my return load and headed to the shop to have the water pump relaced. On my pre trip I found a broken hose clamp between turbo and charge air cooler and a leaking wheel seal on the trailer. Luckily the parts house is with in walking distance and I got a hub cover and hose clamp to fix those issues. The wheel seal and water pump got fixed, but after that the oil cooler started to leak and they had to fix that as well.

I figured out to trick the left tank and made it back to Washington to have the return line valve replaced. Had the truck and trailer washed and found another bad wheel seal on the trailer which at that point we replaced the other old one as well. Off loaded and dropped the trailer at Utility to have the reefer fixed.

I can't believe I am leaving again on Monday to do the same trip again. Maybe I do need some help or pills or both to help me with my condition.

 

I would have to own the truck and trailer to make that kind of money. Another option would be to run the wheels off a truck like our buddy Joseph does. I do not want to work that hard and my 10 days out and 4 days at home schedule works just fine for me. Also not seeing a lot of people and no traffic are priceless to me.