Dalton Highway

[Griffin NoName]

Watched a BBC program on the Dalton Highway tonight http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalton_Highway

Would not have believed I could be glued to the programme, which I caught by accident, but it was just endlessly fascinating. Scary too!

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

Watched a BBC program on the Dalton Highway tonight http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalton_Highway

Would not have believed I could be glued to the programme, which I caught by accident, but it was just endlessly fascinating. Scary too!

Back when I was younger?  I actually made tentative plans to drive that sucker from one end to the other, and back.

I do know there are semi-formalized events, where groups of modified vehicles get together and drive it-- it's dangerous for a number of reasons, but rock-breaks of the headlights/windshields is considered part of the hazard.  (it's not really paved)

I saw a story on the road back in the '90s by the dead-tree magazine Popular Mechanics, chronicling one such event, including of all things, motorcycles.  The most amusing modified vehicle to me, was a Rolls Royce Silver Ghost limo that had been modified with a lifted chassis, and 4 wheel drive...

... most folk drove modified pick-ups, with wire mesh to cover the windshields, side glasses and headlights.  And all sported additional lighting, and auxiliary fuel supplies of one or more flavors.

The appeal to me, was it was one of the rare, few places on earth where you can drive without special permission, to beyond the Arctic Circle, year-round.   I had planned on going in the summer, when the truck traffic was not as bad as wintertime.   Had my vehicle selected, and all my modifications worked out.

Now, I'm older and wiser (and a bit poorer too) so I won't be making that journey. 

But the highway still fascinates me.

[Aggie]

   Sounds pretty good for a northern oilpatch road. 

I've a fascination with Highway 97, which goes through my hometown but starts close to the BC/Yukon border and runs all the way to Weed, California.  I'd like to drive the full stretch at some point.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

  Sounds pretty good for a northern oilpatch road. 

I've a fascination with Highway 97, which goes through my hometown but starts close to the BC/Yukon border and runs all the way to Weed, California.  I'd like to drive the full stretch at some point.

That little blacktop gem goes near to my own city, too.  I had no idea it was that long.

[Aggie]

I'm either confused as to your location, or there is another stretch I'm not aware of...  where else does the 97 pop up?

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

I'm either confused as to your location, or there is another stretch I'm not aware of...  where else does the 97 pop up?

Hmmm... I think I jumped to a false correlation here-- I have a "highway 97" near my city-- just east of Tulsa, OK in fact.  A spur runs through the actual city, called 197.

But it's probably just a state highway, not the US highway.  I don't know for sure, and I"m too lazy to google-map it.




Edit:

Okay, my senior memory is messing with me-- the spur is 169, not 197 (but there is a 197 somewhere in the state--I've driven on it).

And 97 is west of here, not east.... dammit, Jim, I'm a forum poster, not a cartographer.



Edit-edit:

I consulted Google Maps on my Android tablet conveniently lying next to my keyboard (It's on charge), and that revealed the highway I was thinking of is strictly a state one, not a US 97...

[Swatopluk]

Is that different from the Panamerican highway?

[Sibling DavidH]

Not to be confused with Herefordshire's mighty Moreton-Marden Motorway - almost a mile long, eighteen feet wide in places and only floods twice a year.  That's a road for real men.   

[Griffin NoName]

LOL@David and like the festive avatar.

 I had planned on going in the summer, when the truck traffic was not as bad as wintertime.   Had my vehicle selected, and all my modifications worked out.

Apparently it's almost worse in summer as the ice breaking up makes the road treachourous and unstable, and the surface breaks up - easier in winter on ice - but the winter storms are horrenddous. Overall, it seems there's not much to choose between winter and summer.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

Apparently it's almost worse in summer as the ice breaking up makes the road treachourous and unstable, and the surface breaks up - easier in winter on ice - but the winter storms are horrenddous. Overall, it seems there's not much to choose between winter and summer.

The road conditions were not what I was worried about-- I had picked out a 4 wheel drive vehicle with a manual truck-transmission and heavy-duty running gear.  And a diesel engine, as I figured those over-the-road trucks needed fuel too.  Wire mesh over all the glass, including headlights.  Extra headlights on the roofline.   A "station wagon" body for extra room, with extra fuel carriers hanging off the back, extra tires on the roof and so on.   Lots of ground clearance-- I was not planning on going fast, just going the distance.

So my worst fear was being run off the road by speeding trucks passing me in either direction.   So a couple of IR cameras front and back, with display screens, for better warning of approaching semis.   Navigation?  Not an issue-- the road has no turnoffs after all, once you get to it.   I had planned on driving the vehicle up to the road on highway tires, and having my gravel, larger tires shipped to the starting point.  I'd either store, sell or ship home the highway tires at the beginning of the trip, and then reverse the process when I got back-- or perhaps just sell the vehicle as it was then and there, and air-travel home.  I suspect I'd not have had a problem selling it as it was, unless it was wrecked.

[Griffin NoName]

So my worst fear was being run off the road by speeding trucks passing me in either direction.   So a couple of IR cameras front and back, with display screens, for better warning of approaching semis.   Navigation?  Not an issue

CB radio seems to be the way they deal with this. Navigation an issue when the road disappears under snow, ie can't tell where edge is..... the vehicle being used in the programme I watched (similar to what you describe) ran off the road, was rescued by a tow out by massive passing truck.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

So my worst fear was being run off the road by speeding trucks passing me in either direction.   So a couple of IR cameras front and back, with display screens, for better warning of approaching semis.   Navigation?  Not an issue

CB radio seems to be the way they deal with this. Navigation an issue when the road disappears under snow, ie can't tell where edge is..... the vehicle being used in the programme I watched (similar to what you describe) ran off the road, was rescued by a tow out by massive passing truck.

Hadn't thought of that-- you're correct-- if a snowfall was happening accompanied by wind, it could drift over the road, obscuring the edges.

I've seen that here in Oklahomer, and it's kinda scary driving, not knowing what's underneath 4 feet of snow...