Tag Archives: ice road truckers

Dr. Dee: Alaska Vet

Have you guys been watching Dr. Dee: Alaska Vet on Animal Planet?  Jack and I love it!  Dr. Dee is the most adorable, funny, amazing woman.  And we know this for a fact since we took our two dogs and two cats to her over the years.  Every interaction with Dr. Dee is a positive one, since even when you’re putting your pet down she is as insightful and endearing as is possible at that moment.  The same goes for her staff – they are all very caring and terrific people.

Dr Dee Thornell, via aknoahsark.comDr. Dee: Alaska Vet shows the surgeries she does on a variety of animals, and she flies her bush plane out to various towns and villages.  The animals featured are dogs and cats of course, but also birds, horses, goats, and once, a bull.

A few years ago when a production company was filming a teaser about her to try to sell to a cable company, Jack made a cameo with our dog Sport.  Here are photos, click on the first one and scroll to the right.

And by the way, production people like the ones shown below are highly professional and friendly people.  That is the experience Jack had with all of the guys and gals who came up here to shoot Ice Road Truckers, and we want to make sure that everyone understands how great they are at their jobs.

You’ll love Dr. Dee!  You can watch video clips on the Animal Planet website, and also full episodes.

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Overturned truck

Another set of photos from years past… this guy was coming over a small rise and when he got to the top he saw some hunters in a pick up truck turning around in the road, so he was forced to go off the side and into the snow instead of hit them.  Unfortunate.

Jack’s first grayling

You’d think that someone would start small and work up to a 75 pound salmon but Jack does it the opposite way.  When coming to Alaska years ago he caught the huge salmon first and then is working down and crossing the small fish off his list as he goes.

This summer he got his first Arctic Grayling.  Six to be exact.  We kept the first few and cooked them for dinner, but they were a bit mushy and muddy tasting, at least compared to the beautiful trout we’ve been getting.  From now on we’ll catch and release grayling.

Arctic Grayling are actually endangered in the lower 48.  In Alaska though they are quite abundant.

Here are some photos from our late summer Steese Highway camping trip and Jack’s first grayling.  Click on the first one and scroll to the right for the best viewing.  Hope you all had a great summer.

You can’t get a better camping spot than this one right by the river.
Jack trying to remember how to tie a leader onto the line.
Beautiful (and effective) beaver dam right next door.
There it is, his first grayling.
We were saddened to see that this one never got to deposit its eggs.
Two fully intact snails in the grayling’s stomach!
More fishing.
Another grayling.
Jack’s wife, me, enjoying the sun.
Jack next to his beauty of a firepit.
Nature’s beer cooler.
Ready for a lovely dinner. Better get close to the campfire though, it’s chilly.

 

 

Jack’s first heavy haul load

This was Jack’s first heavy haul load.  He wasn’t actually part of the a heavy haul division yet but obviously it was a landmark load for him.

You can see the partially melted snow and the dry road.  We are almost to that point in the year right now, and you can probably believe that it is an exciting time for us Alaskans who have snow 8 or 9 months of the year!

Happy Spring and Happy Easter!

Jack's first heavy haul load

Huge mod is pushed up “Koyukuk”

The hill that drivers call “Koyukuk” is right next to the Koyukuk River and it’s one of the steepest on the Dalton.  It’s about 30 miles south of Coldfoot.  The video was taken last winter.

Jack happened to be there to document this huge mod being pushed up the hill by push trucks and also being steered from the back because it’s so long.  If you look close you can see someone standing outside on the load as it goes up the hill – he’s steering the rear end as it goes around the curves.  The guy doing the steering is one of the former owners of Carlile and he comes up the Dalton for these types of loads that need some special care.  (Carlile was sold to Saltchuk Corporation a while ago.)

In case you are wondering, the truck is going pretty slow, about 5 miles an hour in 3rd gear.  The last thing you ever want to do, Jack says, is change gears when you’re going that slow with that much weight since you’ll stop before you get it into a different gear.  If you stop it’ll take a while to get going again and without the momentum you’re putting a lot of strain on the truck and there’s too much potential for breaking something.  The years Jack spent in heavy haul were great years he says, but he doesn’t miss it.

 

Jack’s Freightliner

Jack is driving a new truck, a Freightliner.  He’s discussed this a little in the comments section of the About page.  Jesse Aird asked:  “Why the Freightliner? Hard to beat a W9.”  Jack answered:

“Well, my bosses asked me if I wanted to try it out and I know a lot of owner operators have them up here and like them, so I did. Turns out the engine is great (DD16), there’s lots of room in the cab, and I don’t feel exhausted at the end of several trips in a row, maybe because of the comfortable seat. The truck rides better. I don’t care what brand it is as long as it’s comfortable and reliable.”

He added to Pete Wylie aka Straight Arrow:  “There is something about the Freightliner that makes a better ride. It takes bumps better.”

So there you have it, why Jack is driving a Freightliner.

Happy New Year!

Dalton Highway road construction – June 6 (3 of 3)

Here are the last of the photos from when Jack was leaving Prudhoe Bay on June 6th.  There’s more info on the captions. Click on the first one and scroll to the right.

The top is the berm that was created in hopes of keeping the river back and the gap underneath is from where water was flowing.
The remnant on top of the hole was snow pushed up into a berm to try to stop the water flow.
This is the west side of the road, not the Sag River to the east.
East side where the river is, still partly frozen.
A big chunk of grounded river ice in the background.
The Sag in the background.
Eroded road and the pipeline is buried right there.
Staged culverts, but not needed. Probably 40 feet long.
Those white broken pieces are foam board insulation used to prevent the ground ice from melting if it is exposed for some reason. They are now trash.
Another section of reconstructed road.
These concrete forms were originally used to weigh down the pipeline as it was laid, in the 1970s, so that it wouldn’t move or float away, but aren’t needed when the oil is flowing.
Here they’re being used as erosion control for the natural gas line that runs from Prudhoe to Pump Station 4.
Waiting as material gets laid.
Staged culverts, probably not needed.
A Kenworth logo on Jack’s steering wheel thrown in for good measure.

Dalton Highway road construction – June 6 (2 of 3)

Here are more photos from when Jack was leaving Prudhoe on June 6th.  There’s more info on the captions. Click on the first one and scroll to the right.

The gap on the right between the tundra and the road used to be road.
This gravel was part of the old road.
The trench where the fiber optic cable is was eroded.
This is where the river normally is.
More wash out.
The mile marker had a rough time of it.
Old gravel, for the new road.
Gearing up for road “reconstruction”.
The start of the new gravel pit, for the new road job.
Equipment in front of the gravel pit.
The top is what’s left of the berm that was created a while ago and the gaps underneath are where the river was flowing.
You can see one of the trenches that were created in hopes of reigning in the river, in the background to the left.
The right side of the road has been eroded. More on the next post.

Dalton Highway road construction – June 6 (1 of 3)

The first ten or so of these photos are from when Jack drove into Prudhoe Bay June 6th.  The rest are from when he was leaving Prudhoe about 4 hours later.  The place is barely recognizable.  There’s more info on the captions. Click on the first one and scroll to the right.

The original road goes straight – the detour is to the right.
This is wash out between the original road and the detour road.
You can see the delineator marking the right side of the old road, on the far left in the photo.
Now you can see new culverts and the orange fiber optic cable that ran along the old road, now exposed.
The window is up, sorry. The old road was right there where that big hole is.
Those are culverts (on the left) that were used to try to save the road, but they didn’t work.
They used super sacks (on the left, big white sand bags) to line the road while they filled it in. It was eaten away though as evidenced by the collapsed tundra. Water started eroding the tundra and exposed layers of ice.
This tundra was supported by ice that has been eroded/melted.
Looking south at the end of the detour.
Now Jack is heading out of Prudhoe with the detour to the left.
Motorcycle tourists are common even this early in the season.
The water from the Sag River eroded ice and material from under the road.
Here is the orange fiber optic cable that was buried next to the old road with a layer of ice behind it. Prehistoric ice, that is.
Layers of ice under the tundra.
On the left, the Sag River, the culprit.
The base of this building was underwater a short time ago.
Just snow that hasn’t melted yet.
Melt water that has frozen over night.
On the right, that gap between the road and the tundra used to be road.
The pieces of 4×4 at the ends of the crumpled culverts are used for marking the ends.
Gravel from the old road on top of tundra on top of ice. More on the next post.