How does Jack stay warm? Part 2

Mar17

Another way Jack stays warm has to do with the generator in his truck that enables him to turn off the truck’s engine in the winter and not worry about the cab freezing or the engine not starting again. In fact, this generator is supposed to run at all times that the truck isn’t and keep the cab at room temperature or close to it. Unfortunately, reality is not quite that ideal. The generator sometimes breaks down and at those times Jack is forced to run the truck all night at any temperature below about 40 or 50 degrees (since even though Jack has an inner furnace, even he has a hard time sleeping when it’s below 50 degrees).

When I first learned that trucking companies run big trucks all the time during the winter, or at least used to before they got generators to keep the cab warm even when the truck was not running, I was shocked at the amount of fuel that must be needed on a daily basis throughout the winter. This is unfortunate, and it’s impressive that Carlile is one of the first trucking companies in Alaska to start using the generators in order to cut down on fuel use.

This 4KW generator runs on diesel which it draws from the truck’s fuel tank. It powers an electric heater under the bed in the cab and a fan blows heated air into the cab from there. On top of that, the generator serves another purpose: to circulate antifreeze through the truck’s engine in cold temperatures, preventing it from getting too cold to start. It’s a great deal and all big rigs driven up here should have them to cut down on fuel usage.

Not Canada-Bound At This Time

Jan26

Hello Everyone – It looks like Jack is not going to be on the next season of Ice Road Truckers. Who knows what the future holds, but for now it doesn’t look like he is involved in filming in Canada for next season . We’ll keep posting though, so stay tuned!

Here is Jack a few weeks ago packing down snow so I can get out of our driveway the next morning. It was really coming down!

(Just so you know, one of the pleasures of living in Alaska is seeing the landscape after a heavy snow…beautiful!)

Trucking Through Fires 2004

Dec9

I just wanted to share with you this amazing photo Jack took in 2004 when wildfires were raging on the Dalton Highway. Trucks were still moving through but the air quality for drivers was terrible. Smoke combined with dusty dry conditions. This was a non-digital photo that I scanned and ran some enhancing on, to a surprisingly interesting effect.

The Alaska West truck has just driven out of heavy smoke and has a substantial dust trail (click photo to enlarge to proper size). Windy dry conditions exacerbated the fire intensity and level of destruction.

Wikipedia says about the 2004 Alaska fire season:

The 2004 Alaska fire season was the worst on record in terms of area burned by wildfires in the U.S. state of Alaska.^[1] Though fewer individual fires formed than in 1989 when almost 1,000 were recorded, more than 6,600,000 acres (27,000 km²) were burned by the approximately 700 fires that ignited. The largest of these fires was the Taylor Complex Fire, which encompassed 1,700,000 acres (6,900 km²) and was the largest fire in the United States from 1997 to 2007.^[2] The Boundary Fire, Wolf Creek Fire, Chatanika Fire, and a fire that enveloped the Trans-Alaska Pipeline also received notable attention from firefighting services and the media. All together 426 fires were started by humans and 215 were started by lightning.

Map from Wikipedia:

You can see how at least one fire burned right over the Dalton. Even Jack thinks it was a little scary to drive through these fires. You really can’t see the road but for a few feet… he says the drivers call it “driving by Braille”. 🙂

Thanks for reading! More wildfire photos to come.

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Back at Home in Alaska

Nov17

Jack and I are at home enjoying normal life again. We had a wonderful trip coming back, saw more wildlife and beautiful landscapes… gained hours but lost sunlight and warmth. And now we’re settled in for the winter.

The thousands of photos I took on our trip down south will enable us to revel in our great times for days to come. We’ll be sharing them with you over the next couple of months.

It was cloudy most of the way through Canada until the last day of our trip when we crossed over into Alaska. Clear and cold!

Jack bought a trailer and plow in Minnesota. The truck took a bit of a beating.

…a wonderful trip, but it’s good to see the Alaska Range again!

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Truck Shots From The Road

Oct21

Taking photos from the truck is tough, but possible, as we have discovered.

The back of this truck looked quite fabulous reflecting the sunset.

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Driving out of the sunset, surrounded by trucks.

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The trucker didn’t know that this piece of wood was near to falling off the rear of his truck. It must have worked its way out of the load. Jack tried to tell him on the radio but wasn’t able to find the right channel and soon we were passed him.

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This dump truck was losing it’s load, spraying gravel all over the road. (The coffee cups look like they are floating but it’s just the reflection of them sitting on the dash.)

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Trucks pass under these wildlife corridors in Canada with plenty of room to spare.

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And Jack, enjoying the setting sun, driving south.

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Sign Post Forest & Fans

Oct12

One of the best places to stop along The Alaska Highway (aka “The Alcan”) is The Sign Post Forest in Watson Lake, Yukon Territory, Canada. Even back in the 70s it was a sight to behold but now it’s almost too much to take in: thousands upon thousands of license plates, signposts and pieces of metal or wood with the names of hometowns showing how far people have traveled to get there.

There was also some old heavy machinery that was used to build the Alcan.

That’s one big wrench!

And these are some fans we happened upon.

People are still adding to the Sign Post Forest. Hope you can make your way there someday and leave your own signpost. 🙂

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Elk – Yukon Territory, Canada

Sep28

Hope you guys like wildlife photos!

This male elk was protecting his harem, watching as we pulled up and snapped photos.

A female was about 15 feet away; she walked up to the edge as if checking in with him to see if it was okay to stay there and graze:

The rest of the harem grazed nearby and stayed pretty calm while we eavesdropped. The light was poor so these photos needed touching up but we definitely checked “ELK” off our list! 🙂

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Congrats to Jack for winning the load count!

Sep25

Well the season is over and Jack won the load count!

Jack says it was a hectic season. We are now on a month long road trip, heading down to the states. I plan on posting about our adventures when we get a chance. For now, I want to brag about the AWESOME custom bed cover Jack made to keep our belongings safe while we are traveling. It had to be custom because of his fuel tank (he hauls heating oil for our house) and toolbox that is already in the back. Here are a couple of photos of him building it and getting ready for our trip:

The end result:

It looks great and even makes the truck more aerodynamic!

We are all having a great time.

More to come!

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The Shed Saga

Sep16

Jack is happy to report that he has finished at least one project so far this summer (actually it’s autumn now in Fairbanks).

He fixed the roof on the shed and shingled it. (I’m telling you, Jack can do anything!)

Here is a photo of him in the middle of the project:

This shed has a bit of a story.

When we first moved into our house, we had to move it since we wanted to build a garage and it was in the way. Jack tackled the job himself.

This is him putting the shed on the trailer, getting it ready to be moved:

We realize this is probably the equivalent of drinking while using power tools. Kids, take note, do NOT drink alcohol while moving a shed! 🙂

The next day, with the shed on the trailer, Jack just barely gives it a little gas to see how sturdy it is. It was just fine.

This is where it ended up.

(If you want to see a few seconds of this heavy haul project in progress, click here.)

The 4-wheeler is holding it in place.

He had to prop it up on blocks until he could give it a more stable foundation…!!!

Here is the “more stable” foundation when the project was mostly done.

This is not where the shed finally ended up, though he didn’t do the moving this time. It’s present and permanent spot you can see on the first photo. We will finish siding it at the same time we side the garage that has yet to be built.

Hope everyone is doing well! Thanks for reading. 🙂

Dirty Truck!

Sep1

Hello again, sorry it’s been so long since we’ve posted. Life has been hectic. You would think that it would slow down a bit if you aren’t working, but that just means more things need to get done…!

Since Jack is taking some time off (he still works for Carlile) he had to clean out 2019 so it can be used by other drivers while he’s gone.