Ice road truckers feel the economic freeze

Things picking up again now. '11 and '12 are already looking like busy years ('busy' meaning how it used to be.

 

Zameet! I'd really like to do a run there, just to do it.

 

Believe me - you're not missing much!

 

Likely not, I just like the north, any time of year. Yeah, I know, there's something wrong with this laddie.

 

How hard is it to drive very slow on a flat lake?

I watched a couple of episodes of those sissies and just laughed, those trucks look like fugitives from the scrap yard for one thing. The only one I saw that impressed me was the young fellow on the lowbed, he looked like a good hand.

 

not hard to strap and chain at -45--

 

What ???

4 months remaining in 2010...and you're already betting on, predicting, and spending money from 2012 ??

Are you a politician ?

When my buddy who likes to run 3500 miles a week screams uncle...I'll believe it's picking up.

 

The lakes is the easy part.

Johnday, if you want to take a drive on the winter roads head on up here in February and drop me a line. We can take my half-ton up the road and then you can see if you would want to try a loaded tanker.

There is a reason those trucks look like they are resurrected from the scrap heap. On any given trip your truck may not be coming back.

Happened last year, some 50 trucks were stuck on the winter roads because there was a minimal snow cover and then it melted early and fast. Some trucks are still there. They get stuck in the swamps and mud and as the season gets warmer they just sink further and further into the mud. Recovering one becomes a huge undertaking and usually not worth it.

Here in Red Lake a group of 7 trucks headed up to get some much needed supplies to the communities, they were followed by a D9 to help them get up any hills. That is extreme trucking. The guys who go are not normal and not sane.

Until you have been on these roads you can't say much.

 

not only that...the trucks are not insured, its dangerous, white outs ALL the time, if the truck breaks down YOU better be able to fix it yourself, and on and on and on