Winter driving

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Driving the Alaska Hwy last Monday some of it was Blizzarding.  Heard it was worse farther west towards Alberta.  I drove my Stealth TT North with it's AWD and AWS capped with Ice Radials.  987km.  I'm gonna stay home today because of ice rain.  Drove out driveway, 'jumped' snowbank across end of driveway and slid across the road nearly into the snowbank/ditch on the other side of the road because of the glare ice.  I drove sideways for a mile or so - always looking to improve my driving skills - and decided today was NOT a good day to go onto the hwy and see if any of the retards were gonna hit me ...   Staying home.  Temperature is 32F.  Supposed to be snowing, not raining!  

Plow Truck in the Ditch.  This is pretty normal I was told, although I never had that problem when I drove plow truck.   



It was a complete 'white-out' each time someone passed you going the other direction.  You just try to remember where the road was going before the outer world disappears.  This practise greatly adds to your memory and driving skills.  It might not be too bad, unless you screw up and leave the road to go over a cliff or into a river ...  hit a 100' Fir tree, etc.  Here it comes ..

From behind a Truck this is what the road looks like.  You look beside you and you can see some of the trees.  Every so often it may be better to close your eyes and drive by ZEN  (joking) 

Sometimes the view almost makes it worthwhile

Ted, you have a lotta KaHooonies driving in the weather where you live haha!

'been thinking about snow tires for the daily driver.

havn't driven my GTS since my last track event 3 weeks ago, MIGHT be time to put her down:(

   I have a Guardian Angel.

Greg Phillips is way crazier than I am!  I was driving my sc'd Viper to Race the Base 2010 and a guy on a rice rocket (1000cc sport bike) in a tropical raing storm.  I was going 20mph in some spots.  When I emailed Greg he said he passed me going through the Rockies on his sport bike.  When I commented that my sport bike expereince really sucked in the rain and snow ... He said he loved it "the higher the degree difficulty of driving."  That's crzier than me. 

I was driving tractor trailer yesterday ... hauling Hay.  Today I jumped the snowbank the plow left across the driveway and nearly went straight across the road into the other snow bank.  After driving my AWD Stealth sidways down the road for a 1/8mile and having minimal control I phoned work and cancelled my Semi driving for today.  Two steep long hills, one has a stop sign at the bottom and the other has a corner at the bottom.  Boss was trying to phone me to say that they thought the Tractor had too much ice covering it to be able to open the door!  I'll go drive Semi (Farm tractors for loading and unloading) tomorrow, again.   I really hate Ice Rain and Ice Fog ...  and Ice on the road.

Let the games begin!  The whiteout thing with vehicles coming at you is a daily thing here as well.  Pretty tough to get around a truck in these conditions too as the cloud you see coming at you is the same cloud you see when coming up on a larger vehicle.  It extends a good 1/4 to 1/2 mile back depending on the amount of snow.

I put the Blizzaks on the Lacrosse a few days ago after we got about 5 inches of slop on Tuesday night.  There is absolutely no comparison between a good set of snow tires (4)and so called all season tires.  For those who live in snow country, traction is the lesser of the attributes you want.  Any FWD car with all seasons will probably get you around OK.  Steering and stopping capability are the most important.  Snow tires afford way more control. 

Steve

  I have a Guardian Angel.

Greg Phillips is way crazier than I am!  I was driving my sc'd Viper to Race the Base 2010 and a guy on a rice rocket (1000cc sport bike) in a tropical raing storm.  I was going 20mph in some spots.  When I emailed Greg he said he passed me going through the Rockies on his sport bike.  When I commented that my sport bike expereince really sucked in the rain and snow ... He said he loved it "the higher the degree difficulty of driving."  That's crzier than me. 

I was driving tractor trailer yesterday ... hauling Hay.  Today I jumped the snowbank the plow left across the driveway and nearly went straight across the road into the other snow bank.  After driving my AWD Stealth sidways down the road for a 1/8mile and having minimal control I phoned work and cancelled my Semi driving for today.  Two steep long hills, one has a stop sign at the bottom and the other has a corner at the bottom.  Boss was trying to phone me to say that they thought the Tractor had too much ice covering it to be able to open the door!  I'll go drive Semi (Farm tractors for loading and unloading) tomorrow, again.   I really hate Ice Rain and Ice Fog ...  and Ice on the road.

Dang Ted.... So am I'm going to see you on Ice Road Truckers Too

No time for that.  Not on World's Most Dangerous roads either.

I do think that I'm only a about 100+ mi from Alaska though ...

Moved a trailer and because there was a propane tank welded on the trailer, when I got stopped at the scales I was informed that there is a HUge fine for not having my Transportation of Dangerous Goods certificate.  Then he informed me that I didn't fill out the last 2 weeks work time on my daily log.  I didn't work the last two weeks and I'm only going 20 miles round trip.  Then I was informed that I couldn't start drawing my graph/line starting work I needed to start at midnight - didn't matter that I wasn't sure if I started at 8 or 9.  The fine for the Bill of Lading (I couldn't find) was $485 and $185 for each log book infraction.  Without the TDG certificate I wasn't allowed to drive that Truck.  At least he didn't fine me.

However, he could have informed me that that certificate is $40 and takes 4 hours to complete on-line.  So the WHMIS - Workplace Hazards - which isn't much about workplace hazards or chemcials, but how to write the labels, the amount of information that is required on the Bill of Lading and identification of the groups of dangerous chemicals, etc.

The 2 above certificates are about the same course except one is specific for Trucks and the other is specific to workshops, offices, warehouses etc.  So now I have a Class 1 with air ticket license, First Aid certificate, TDG - H2S - WHMIS certificates and soon will be getting a new Propane dispencers certificate (because the one I need at my store expired).   Only the license and the Air Ticket actually have anything to do with driving the actual Truck.

Another danger of winter driving I never thought of is Drinking and Driving (the other guy).  Pickup pulled over by RCMP cop across our driveway.  Guy walks in and asks if he can leave his trailer in the yard - OK.  He said that the cops were towing his truck for no plates and insurance (although it had valid plates and stickers).  We told him OK.  He parked his trailer with a 1100 Turbo and M8 sleds on it in the yard and unloaded a bunch of water bottles and food out of the truck.  Tow truck showed up.  Cop came by and gave us his card and phone number - in case there's a problem he said. 

Guy's pickup was being towed for drunk driving ...   

I just drove 10 hrs back to kalifornia over nite, happy to report the roads and Donner (sp?) Pass is clear

I worked for 5 years in the Pine Pass which is between McKenzie and Chetwynd and all I can say is the scenery is spectacular and the snow is deep. The average snowfall in the Pine Pass is 57 feet and the only stand of sugar maples in Canada west of Ontario is here because they are completely buried in snow for the winter so they can survive the extreme cold....saw them myself so know it is not an urban myth. Also some of the best Grizzly territory in Western Canada. would make a great VG cruise event
Ted, valley view is only 4 hours from my place....drop by

TNT

Sometimes the view almost makes it worthwhile

That close to Leduc?  Only 3 hours out of Dawxon Creek, but no water heating frack jobs yet.  Guy didn't call back.  We're upgrading the plumbing and fabricating a new style of self priming water pump that can draw 28'!   The Texans come to Fort Saint John to check out these trailers after they've been working here because all the improvements here work so well they get incorporated into the new Heater trailer designs made in Texas and shipped world wide.  I'm learning a lot.  LOL, not just water heating trailers, fracking but ranching and farming as well.  Russ went to the Rodeo finals in Edmonton yesterday. 

Hard to believe that rent here is as high as $1800 per month.   

Ted,
Welcome to the oil patch where drilling rigs fall out of the sky at 2:00AM in the morning , everything is an "EMERGENCY" and planning is a word from a "VERY" foreign language Naturally this all leads to a teepee that rents for $1800 per month.....doesn't this make sense?


TNT