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Thread: Alaska

  1. #51
    Early S Reg #1395 LongRanger's Avatar
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    Trucks

    I'd mentioned trucks, earlier

    I have a lotta Respect (big 'R') for people who drive for their living. Most people take the privilege of driving for granted, and, as a result (I think) . . .

    . . . most people just aren't any good at it. Turn signals, lane discipline, common courtesy --- even common sense . . . aren't exactly on-display on most o' the roads I drive. And I drive mostly for fun, so --- I only see a little bit of the nonsense that goes on out on the road

    Now --- imagine being out on roadfulls of generally-pretty-clueless motorists . . . for a living

    I tell ya --- if I was in an 18-wheeler . . . I'd have a fighter-pilots 'scoreboard' on my door


    Well. Things are a LOT different Up Yonder

    Biggest thing is . . . the trucks themselves. I swear --- I've never seen rigs as big/fast/scary as I saw on this trip. Not that there were that many of them. I usually caught sight of 'em when they were coming in for a landing, to take on fuel

    Like this Beast. 18-wheelers, huh? I count 30. And check-out that nose-gear. Contact-sport qualified, or what?

    And these things are fast. Not like Down South, where the traffic, the confines, and the Constabulary . . . keep a pretty tight leash on things. It's wide open Up There. Especially as I got further North. And notta lotta topography to slow 'em down, either. With room to pick up a head o' steam . . .

    For instance . . . coming up to the Alaskan border, from the Yukon, I found myself being paced by a truck so big/fast that I could see the trees at the roadside do a wave, in my rear-views, all from this big boiling cloud of dirt that truck kicked up as it passed. Had to do ~100 MpH just to keep 'im behind me. Didn't get out of his way (!) 'till I was somewhere where I wouldn't have to take a gravel bath as he powered by

    Yikes!
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  2. #52
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    Pine Cone Inn . . .

    . . . I think

    Doesn't look so bad in these pics . . .


    . . . then again, after 5 days . . .
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  3. #53
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    Day 14

    Regular driving

    With only two days to get to home, I knew that wasn't a lotta time . . . but I don't remember being all that anxious or in a hurry or anything

    Summer weather/warm + kinda hazy/dirty, and, like when coming, almost no traffic

    Tanked twice along the way

    Quesnal ------- 09:05, mi = 66226 . . . . $35.75, 9.85gal
    Cash Creek --- 12:15, mi = 66425 . . . . $27.72, 7.34gal


    Mostly un-memorable. The day-time part was through open country, and warm --- 94 F in Cash Creek! . . . but as night fell/I got further South --- especially past Spences Bridge . . . the mountains closed in, again, 'till the highway was pretty-much surrounded

    There was a huge fire going at the time. I'd heard about it, from my Sis, when I was coming up --- burning somewhere to the East. So big that it'd been the cause of all the haziness I'd seen --- since Chetwynd. As it got dark, I didn't notice the haze, anymore. Cooled-off, too --- more comfortable driving. (I never use AC)

    Anyway, rolling South on a black/deserted stretch of Hwy 1 ---- all of a sudden . . . .

    . . . lights

    Up ahead



    Like --- lots of 'em



    Truck wreck. Tractor/trailer had gone off + seriously side-ways across the both lanes. Spilled/scattered what, in all that blackness, looked to me like a sub-division's-worth of lumber --- and I mean all over the place . . . even up onto the roadside

    Miles from anywhere

    As any traffic rolled-up --- everybody stopped . . .

    . . . parked-up . . .

    . . . turned-off their motors . . .

    . . . left on their lights . . .

    . . . got out of their cars . . .



    . . . and picked-up


    Not a horn or mutter or so much as a cross word to be heard

    Little teams of twos just formed-up, marched-up to the mess, took hold of the boards at their ends --- then dutifully marched-off into the not-so-dark-after-all roadside . . . and carefully/neatly stacked what they'd picked up. I saw some of the faces as went. All smiles

    And over to the East, glowing/flickering above the ridge-line towering over us, . . . smoke in a black sky, lit up by the fire it came from



    Didn't take us long --- maybe 20 minutes? . . . to clear the road

    Last pictures I took on the trip


    Drove on to . . .
    Abbotsford, BC, ~04:00, ? F, mi = 66606

    . . . called it a night. Bunked @my Sis'


    I'd called, so . . .
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  4. #54
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    Now where's the "Like" button? Thanks for the update Rick! Love reading up big road trips, especially on the other side of the world.... Gives a much better picture then a catalog or TV show.

  5. #55
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    Quote Originally Posted by Stevie View Post
    . . . Love reading up big road trips, especially on the other side of the world.... Gives a much better picture then a catalog or TV show . . .
    Thank you, Stevie . . .

    . . . my favorite thread. Took my name from this trip




    Reminds me why I drive cars --- + the places they can take me . . .





    . . . still

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  6. #56
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    The Longest Drive

    Notes have me leaving Abbotsford @12:30, then hitting the Border @13:00, mi = 66636

    Don't recall having breakfast, saying good-bye to my Sis, tanking the car . . or really much-of-anything. (Then/again --- it's now almost 15 years, since, so . . .)

    All I do remember was that I'd been told that My Boy was gonna be back home for a few days --- before shipping-out . . . on his 1st deployment

    Yeah . . . X dropped that on me at some point. Maybe she just wanted to surprise me? . . . I don't know. And deployments weren't something to broadcast, anyway

    Whatever

    So. I was motivated

    The weather was kinda overcast in WA, then mostly clear the rest of the way, with some little traffic in the larger towns, but basically, clear sailing. So all I did was point the car South, on The Five . . .

    . . . and just stop for gas

    22-Aug, Kelso, WA, 19:05, mi = 66849
    22-Aug, Medford, OR, 23:00, mi = 67166
    23-Aug, (not noted), 03:15, mi = 67440
    23-Aug, (not noted), 06:30, mi = 67663

    During the daytime, I kept a reasonably sedate pace. Slowed-down some when I passed anyone, then picked it up when I was clear. Which was most of the time. Pretty uneventful for the most part

    One incident that I do remember was going through the Siskiyous, middle of the night. Kinda windy/weavy four-lanes hula-dancing around mountainsides. Zero traffic . . . going either way. I'm tired and feeling it, so I open the windows, get a good chill going, then pick-up the pace, and hit the high-beams . . . try to stay awake . . . and not hit anything

    So as I'm swinging around the corners and curves, I catch sight of the headlights of a vehicle up ahead. Hey! Company, whaddiya know? So, with something/someone to focus on, I feel that much more alert

    Somebody to pass. I like to pass

    So I pick up the pace a liiitle bit, looking forward to seeing who's out at that time of night

    Now I don't always have this vehicle in sight --- I catch glimpses as I come around a corner, or see his lights on the mountainsides up ahead . . . but after a few bends, well . . .

    . . . I'm not making much progress on catching this Guy

    So. I pickup the pace a biiiiit more. Now, a Real M3 's a pretty handy car for mountain roads anyway, and I'm not really pushing it, yet, but it's been a few miles, and that Guy wasn't THAT far ahead, so I shoulda caught this character by now . . .

    . . . fact is --- he looks like . . .

    . . . he's . . .

    . . . pulling ------------ HEY, wait a minute! . . .

    . . . That Guy 's doing what I'm doing. He's speeding-up to keep me behind?


    K --- I'm all-kinds of awake, now

    Up go the windows, crack the 'roof + open up the vents + hit the fan . . . then drop down to 3rd ------------ and bury it

    Real M3s don't exactly have a lotta horse-power, but --- ears back, claws out . . . this is exactly the kinda place the cars are built for

    After flying around a few corners, I catch sight of him --- at the end of a 1/4 mile straight, crossing a bridge, going up hill . . . and I'm winding-out in 4th, closing fast as he disappears around a bend

    I hold for the next corner, then push the throttle, feel the car bite --- and now I'm aaaaaall over him

    So. I'm expecting something 'interesting' vehicle-wise --- maybe not a Corvette, but how 'bout a pony car or a Z or something --- I dunno . . . worthwhile


    It's little pick-up . . . Toyota?

    And Beat

    To

    Shyte

    Couldn't even tell ya what color it was, I went by so fast


    Embarrassing. So I made sure that I was good looooong ways away before I went back to my regular pace


    Which I pretty much kept up the rest of the way

    Did stop for a two-hour cat-nap at a Rest Stop, just above the Grapevine

    23-Aug, Tustin. CA, 10:05, mi = 67911 = arrived home




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  7. #57
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    Going Back for More . . .

    . . . only this time? . . .

    . . . I'm doing it in a Porsche

    'Cause, after all? --- it's why I bought the Nasty Car in the first place! . . .

    Quote Originally Posted by LongRanger View Post
    . . . My basic approach is, as long as something's functioning . . . I can put up with how it looks. But if it's not, then I'm doing a forty-year fix, finances allowing.

    None of my stuff is perfect --- its all used. That's why I get stuff --- to use it. And I love using my stuff --- tools, guns, watches, and especially cars --- it's just fun. Like that Cobra, 30-years ago; think of all fun people must've had, blasting the paint off that car.

    'Cause that's what I'm gonna do with 1059. I've already told John. And Tony. Next Summer? . . .

    Alaska
    . . .





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