Saturday, June 2, 2012

I Love 'Ice Road Truckers'


"When you drive on the ice it's best not to put your seat belt on -
unless you want them to know where to find you on the bottom of the river."

How could I not love this insane show? I know what it's like to drive across an ice road that you can feel shift and move beneath your vehicle. Crossing Great Slave Lake in February is an adventure you don't want to miss out on. I was lucky because the road was frozen more than solid. I couldn't imagine taking the risk over melting ice and doing that everyday for several months on end.

This year they have no female truckers featured on the show. I will miss Lisa. She was a favorite.



They do have a chunky new guy named Pork Chop which is my favorite name for a trucker ever. You would think I had heard a better handle but you would be wrong. His diet will kill him long before road ever does so I want to enjoy him before he goes. He even has his own catchphrase - 'You Can't Stop The Chop'.

I think I could be an ice road trucker if I had some talk radio to listen to. The quiet cab would drive me nuts. I also think I would do well with a truck sleeper/living unit. I like to be cosy like a knitted toaster cover.

Slushy ice roads freak me out. Manitoba is not a good place to be when the roads are closed. If the bugs don't carry you away, the flood waters will.

Who would want to drive in the wilderness when the temperature drops to 50 below? The Dalton Highway in Alaska is also a nightmare to be on. The wrecked trucks on the side of the road look like toys against the huge landscape.

Austin is only 23 but he looks about 14. It's interesting to see if he has what it takes to conquer the road. I like the moxy on this kid.

2 comments:

M. D. Jackson said...

I drove on an ice road once. Well, not me personally, my Dad did. I was just a passenger. Of course, he didn't tell me it was an ice road until we were back home. (Nor, I suspect, did he tell my mother until we were safe at home).

Cal's Canadian Cave of Coolness said...

The worse part is knowing you are on the ice and you forget for a second then you are reminded and you freak out all over again. It's worse when EVERY passenger has a story about someone going through the ice.