Winter Wonderland

Absolutely amazing this time heading to the mine, the Snow was fresh. Thursday the road was closed by an avalanche and a supply truck left the road. Come Friday, when I entered the logging road system all was cleaned up, the sky was clear and it was a fresh -20c. The road was hard packed with a layer of snow, it was smooth and really nice to drive on this time. At the mine the truck was put on steam and unloading took place Saturday morning, everything went smoothly. The only down part of the trip was the accommodations and the satellite phones. The Mines and my satellite phone were having problems holding a signal, the joys of being in a remote location. Rooms were limited, I was not on the reservation list so they lodged me in a cross shift room (who knows what that means, it was more of a musty closet). It had vinyl floor, try putting your bare tootsies on it with a draft coming under the door. The Internet was down and the room had no TV, apparently someone stole it. Okay, follow me here; You are 377km in the middle of know where and you have to be flown in and out. Would you not think someone would question you if you had a TV under arm? As they say, stranger things have happened!
The drive down back to Mackenzie BC was pretty much the same as the trip north, uneventful just the way I like it! Here are a couple of pics of the morning sun, I was waiting for another truck to pass.

SIZE MATTERS!

Wow, on the way back from Fort McMurray Ab. I ran head on with this truck pictured here. It had two tractors pulling, and man in a cab on the front part of the trailer, a man in a cab on the rear part of the trailer and three tractors pushing. It must be a bitch to parallel park!

Rhinoplasty

Well the Trimac garage in Oakville did an amazing job installing the new bumper. The new bumper by AliArc looks amazing and will protect more than that flimsy plastic bits that the manufacture puts on. Delivering loads in Northern BC and Ontario can be dangerous especially at night when there is a danger of striking animals crossing the highways. In the past I have had Wolf, Caribou, Moose, Deer, Ram and Fox not to mention smaller animals like Raccoon's crossing in front of me. Travelling in areas that I do, I am usually alone and out of cell phone coverage, hitting an large animal can cause serious damage to the truck, putting you out of service and stranding you out in the middle of no where. The new bumper will not stop damage, it will lesson the damage and most likely will allow you to get to safety should a collision occur. This bumper also has incorporated in it a better tow hook system should a tow need to take place. When I was in the ditch / Snowbank last time I used the hooks that came with the truck and one snapped. Can you believe that the toe hooks are cast steel!

I did have a word with a gentleman that expressed concern with pedestrian safetyand bumper systems like this. His concern that head injury could occur should a pedestrian happen to strike there head in an accident. I see the concern and agree that hitting a plastic grill would be better than hitting an aluminium bumper. Should a pedestrian / truck accident occur I think that would be the least of your worries as seeing that trucks weigh in excess of 80,000 lbs. Remember, look both ways before stepping from the curb. Like trains, it is hard sometimes to determine a trucks speed due to there size and like a train the shear mass takes longer to stop in an emergency.

The picture is not the best, I will up date it later.