Thinking about trucking
 

Hello there. I am thinking about a career in trucking and would like some honest opinions/information from women who drive for a living. How flexible is your schedule? Are you always on the road or is that a choice depending on who you drive for? Is the money good? Does anyone know anything about driving the ice roads in the Northwest Territories in Canada? I currently live in southern Ontario, Canada. I love the winter and from what I can tell, it is a great opportunity for those who can take it.
Any advice, information or opinions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Nancy:)

All your questions depend on what your needs are, and who you'd choose to work for. Maybe tell us what your needs are? My job is very flexible, but I'm not sure everyone else is so lucky.

The ice roads are just a 2 month a year gig that truckers with some experience head off to do to make some money, usually taking leave from their regular job.

Welcome Nancy,
Both Lady & I run the far North, Lady in the Yukon and myself in both the Yukon & NWT. Winter in the south is WAY different than winter in the North. For one there's almost NO light, only 4 hours, then there's the cold...it's nothing like the south, it can be -50 for WEEKS at a time, and that DOESN'T count in the wind. Then in the Yukon there's mountains...REAL mountains, not the bumps in the road you have in Ontario. Running up here is not for the inexperienced, & unfortunately too many inexperienced drivers think it's a piece of cake, it's not. It's cold, extremely isolated & dark. The roads are barely maintained, the weather changes in seconds, there's no truckstops, no showers, no place for anything except a wide spot in the road to sleep. Everything you might possibly need you have to carry with you, cause there's no place to buy it up there. I'm not trying to discourage you, just tell you like it is. If you want to know what the Ice Roads are like, do a search using my name & you will find links to the threads I have posted complete with pictures. Oh, one more thing I forgot, if you want to run in the NWT, unless it's strictly hauling fuel you will HAVE to have your extended length, & that certification is only available after you've had at least 2 years or 150,000 miles of experience.

Here's another link to a very good Ice Road website, it's the REAL thing...NOT the fantasy they have on TV.

http://www.thedieselgypsy.com/Ice%20Roads-3B-Denison.htm

Here's some pictures from the trip to Whitehorse, YT I made on the weekend...THIS past weekend...

http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s...8/DSCF0617.jpg

http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s...8/DSCF0619.jpg

http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s...8/DSCF0645.jpg

http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s...8/DSCF0661.jpg

http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s...8/DSCF0670.jpg

http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s...8/DSCF0676.jpg


And this was on the way to the NWT THREE weeks ago....

http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s...8/DSCF0556.jpg

http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s...8/DSCF0552.jpg

http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s...8/DSCF0553.jpg

Oh, and one last thing...winter can last up to TEN months...it did last year. :-)

Wow. I couldnt imagine. That's crazy.

Really nice pictures.

I dunno....Those pics look just like the pics from last year. And that link....alll I saw was cats...not Ice Road trucking.

:lol2::lol2::lol2::lol2::lol2::lol2:

Since the road is the ONLY one up there I suppose they would look somewhat the same...there's no choice in the roads to take when there's only ONE to take! LOL

That's odd OTG I will check it & copy it again...


http://www.thedieselgypsy.com/Ice%20...3B-Denison.htm

This one DOES work...I checked it...don't know what happened on the other one!

Much better link Kat! Thank you for reposting it.

I watched the Denison story on History Channel, before the Ice Road Trucker show started. His story was much better than the show with Huge and his sorry gang.

most welcome & thanks....much agreed!

Hey Kat...How often do you need to chain up on those roads up there ?

I've been lucky so far Graymist...not at all... but then I have fully locking diff's so when most guys are throwing chains I'm just flippin' switches! :thumbsup::thumbsup: I've seen quite a few superB's spun out on the big hills already, but usually, unless you blow a gear, us guys that just pull the lighter loads don't have too much trouble. I did really feel for a guy on Thursday tho, he was hauling a D-11 on one of those super low double drop decks they use to haul oversized equipment on...poor SOB was spun out just south of Nelson, but the roads have been just brutal between Ft. St. John & Ft. Nelson, alot of freezing rain then snow on top of that.