A Somber Reminder

Not my dad! Running out of gas was not an emergency to him. The most infamous story was how he ran out of fuel in his truck with my mother with him. He left her there, and hitched a ride into town to get some. He didn't come back, and my mother panicked. After hours she hitched a ride into town and there was my dad, sitting on the curb, waiting for the station to open in the morning.

Why she married him after that still surprises me!

 

We started riding motorcycles, 3 wheelers (before they were banished), go karts and so forth from the age of 5-6. I think that taught a lot of respect for machinery that carried on into the driving years. It didn't take long to figure out that doing stupid stuff "hurts"!!

It's the same here with many not even bothering with getting a license. Maybe they're the smart ones!!

BTW I was fortunate enough to come up and ride your state a couple of years back on the motorcycle (obviously in the summer!). We covered the whole state; Homer, Deadhorse, Fairbanks, Chicken, Dawson City Yukon, Valdez, Seward, Anchorage... Out of all of it, the two most memorable areas (heck, it was all memorable) - Atigun Pass and the road between Anchorage and Seward. I'd sure love to do it again!!!

 

I rode a bike from the age of 9, and all over down south, but not nuch up here. A lot of bikes does the deadhorse run, and if I didn't run it all the time in a truck, and never been there before, it woulod be differemt, but I have no desire to make that run on a bike. lol

You do not have to ride in the summer, believe it or not, one febuary day in a blow, with visibility around 50 feet or less and the temp was 9 below. a truck ahead of me warned me that I was going to meet a motorcycle, I thought he was kidding, but out of the cloud came a bike pulling a trailer. lol

 

I was under the impression you needed a headache rack on loads like that?

(Nopes, in the relative safety of his dry van.)

 

An aluminum headache rack probably would not have done much good unless the truck was under 15mph when he hit the brakes and at that speed his securement should have kept the load from moving. 1/8” or less aluminum wont stop much unfortunately.

 

It is surprising what they do stop. My cousin had a driver leave the road with a load of oilfield tubing, and hit a driveway with a culvert. took the drive axles right out from under that K100. the headache rack stopped most of the load, but one joint went through the back of the sleeper, but did not tear the upholstery.