Overlanding Truck

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The Big Orange Truck

While standing beside the Truck and speaking to a long haul driver that takes loads up to Prudhoe Bay I was told , “ that is a bus…I drive trucks,”
It sure feels like a truck when you see what a lot of stuff it holds and how high off the ground it stands and that you have to climb a ladder to get up to the seats..

Twenty-three strangers met at Anchorage at the Duke Hotel. The Big Truck was waiting outside when I arrived by cab at the parking lot. Introductions were made all around and as names floated about in the air we all prepared to find space on the truck.

Climbing the ladder to get into the truck proper at first was a bit tricky. It goes straight up! It is important to hold on to the railing provided. In the first five days Rob already fell down the steps. He has a big bruise on his back but his laptop is safe.

The back door is locked with two padlocks each having the same combination which must remain secret. Once inside the door, to the left is contained a deep freeze and storage shelf. As the door opens to the left the toilet is behind the door.
It is not a fancy toilet. It is simply the square container part of a portable toilet. It that must be emptied twice a day and is to be used only for small jobs while we are on long drives so as to save time. Big jobs are only to be deposited by diarrhoea sufferers….oh joy!!! The toilet has been locked so far on the trip.

On each side at the back of the bus are located two small tables for playing cards or doing written work or working on laptops. These tables seat four people each and are very popular with those who just want to sit at a table and talk face to face.

At the front of all the reclining seats, arranged two by two, are four seats with little enclosed shelves for e charging elecrticals. These two shelves are very busy charging iPods, cameras and other small gadgets. Two inverter chargers are available for laptops. They drain a lot of power from the battery especially when we have not done any long hauls.

On the right side of the balcony door at the front of the seats is a buzzer to alert the driver as to our wishes or needs. Will does all the driving. He is an excellent manouveralist, turning that huge 8mx3mx4.5m high vehicle in extremely tight corners like camp spots in National Parks. One buzz = please when convenient, two buzzes = stop immediately for photo or emergency.

The last one in the truck has to pull the ladder up and secure it with a bungee cord and hooked chain. The first one off has to let it down. All of us have managed to manoeuvre the heavy ladder at its exaggerated angle. The locks on the door once we are outside is another matter. On lock is situated so high up on the door that I cannot reach it comfortably. Climbing up would leave only one hand free to manipulate the combination numbers. Am leaving this for those over 160cm.

My seat has become the third one on the right side of the truck. Others have also parked themselves in convenient positions. The real rule is that no one seat belongs to one person but because of the cold weather (-28 in Prudhoe Bay) blankets, sweaters and other warm things have accumulated and people are finding it easier to just stay with their stuff in one place. This may all change once we get into warmer temperatures.

The seats are comfy enough and recline. Although if the person behind you is working on a laptop it is a bit rude to push your chair seat into their lap…. no pun intended.

The speed is slow and steady and never too fast to stop for a natural white quartz John Wayne depiction in a black cliff face or a small black fox running at the side of the road. Sorry to say we have not had to stop for a bear on the slower roads. The truck has stopped for four bears on the Klondike Road, but not exactly on a dime. On two occasions the noise of backing up scared the bear quickly into the bush. For the third sighting we followed the bear on a dirt road into a forest of spindly Aspens. The bear was so well camouflaged one can only state that a bear is behind all those little trees. After driving in. because of the size of the truck the only way to get back to the highway was to back out. Ten minutes later we were ‘on the road again”.

One person has the opportunity to sit in the cab with Will each day. for the smokers among us and for the weak bladdered. It would be nice to be able to say these stops are frequent … and so they are when we are not beating it down the road to get to a scheduled ferry departure.

At all stops if the bus is to be left alone it must be secured. All the stuff must be stored out of sight. At Dawson City the contents were already ‘eyed’. As we travel into more populated areas this will be a very important habit to stick to.

Access to the small ’balcony’ over the cab of the truck is by a door at the front of the truck. This door must be kept locked while the bus is in motion and in regulated areas no one can stand there while the truck is moving. Attached to the left side of the railing is a big outdoor motor. Will bought a small Kodiak inflatable. The ‘boys’ play with it but as yet have not brought any fish home for dinner.

Everything has a specific spot that it must be returned to and has to be put away in a set order.
Packing happens behind the silver doors that are arranged beneath the seats and windows of the truck. Inside the truck there arte storage compartments under the floor boards of the aisle. Long term storage of food gods happens here. When a container of jam or marmite, flour, sugar, rice or oil is needed under the dusty foot trodden boards we dive following a diagram to find the needed object.

One space is for Karen and Will.
One space packs away the inflatable catamaran.

Five spaces are for luggage and tents.

People are having a lot of lug gages on this trip. Seems they did not read the directive about ONE bag and one day bag. On the first day it was requested that the tents be separated from the sleeping bags. Because the tents are sometimes… make that often … put away damp or down rite wet. My sleeping bag crunchable stuff bag already has a holy torn into it. The protective corner of my duffel bag has been torn off and my tent bag is becoming dirtier by the day because of the dumping to the floor when we arrive at the next campsite be it gravel, dirt, dry or wet. People have packed away their bigger bags … again a reason for the accumulation of stuff and laundry in the seats … and two people have appointed themselves to be the sorters and packers of our gear so that it fits reasonably well in the allotted spaces. When everybody was putting their own tents, bags and sleeping gear away it just did not all fit in. The two men who do the packing have their truck cleaning duty done by another. Once we are out of the possible cold weather regions the “stuff” should hopefully diminish. Even I will have to rid myself of the king-sized fleece blanket I have been using to ward off the cold inside the truck. At Prudhoe Bay I had to take my sleeping bag into the seats because we all … except for two die-hard couples … slept in the seats for the night of -28. I made sure the bag was wrapped in the fleece blanket … to keep it from contaminating floor dirt don’t you know. And the putting up and taking down of the tents continues!


Three are for kitchen utensils and food.

Whenever things come out they must be stacked correctly so as to fit together again. This is extremely important when putting away the milk box sized containers filled with foodstuff and the bigger plastic rectangle stackable bins for condiments and utensils.

The group has been divided into cooking and truck cleaning groups. Thankfully my group is pleasant and easy to work with, each person pulling their weight. We attempt to be hygienic by using disinfectant to clean our hands. Soot from the cooking pots is not removed in this process. There are three aluminium bowls for washing the dishes; one - rinse, two - wash in soap, three - rinse in clear water. It is hoped that each group remembers to put some disinfectant into the first bowl. Watching the people rinse their plates or bowls tells me that they either do not have dishwashers or their dishwashers are clogged to the gills. Have we heard of scraping one’s dish as clean as possible? ….. NO!

Big pots are used for boiling water and cooking. Two blackened kettles boil water for tea and coffee. The boiling water in the cold weather has not stayed boiling for long.

To cook we have an old English army oven that has been used to bake potatoes, a large iron grill to balance the cooking pots on and a large Dutch oven that hangs above the fire on a tripod. Needless to say everything is covered in soot. The first time I cooked I was a sooty disaster. By the fourth time I could walk away from the event without having to go directly to a laundry or the dirty clothes bag. Have also started to wear surgical gloves to cook. Its saves the hands from being ravaged by cold, soot, grease and …. did I mention the dirt? Good thing I have a cast iron stomach! Its all for a good cause…. Am preparing for anything they can dish out south of the Tropic of Cancer! And north of the Tropic of Capricorn!


Wood is the primary source of heat. Most camp sites have metal cooking pits and our iron grid fits over them. Usually fallen wood is gathered by a number of people. Bigger pieces are sawed down to size. The truck carries enough wood in case we find ourselves above the tree line or in an area with no scrounging possibility.

Spare tires ride under the cages of wood on the back of the truck. Two 800 litre water tanks take up the left side of the undercarriage. On the right side are two tanks holding 600 litres diesel fuel. The water froze during our time in Prudhoe Bay and the truck had to be left running so as to keep the fuel line open.
The truck has not yet gone in for an overall wash. It sure as hell needs it. One vomit session has been scraped off the side. The dead mosquitoes have been clawed off the front and side of the cab. The water tank spouts have been repeatedly un-crusted. Any slight moisture on the road brings the dirt up and around the handle and the spout. After the Dalton Highway ride the colour of the truck was barely discernable.

The ride is smooth on pavement, bumpy on dirt roads and lurching when off the road negotiating a ditch or rut. All in all not unbearable. The speed limit on paved highways stays at 50k/h.

To work on the laptop while riding in the truck is a difficulty for me. Have yet to determine whether it is the road conditions or the lack of space in my ample lap. There are plug into the charger hogs. One has to be quick and steadfast not to be over run by the stampede to the inverter at he front of the truck. Same goes for space on the balcony during a ‘quick’ photo op. And the people on the bus are all nice! Having only 50min left on the camera battery and reaching an important stop like a glacier or mountain range.

The tables at the back of the truck have up till now been occupied mostly by the same crowd. Same with the four front seats. Am happy not to have to move from my space. For now anyway!

It is difficult not to include the truck in photo shots when we stop at the camp sites.
It is and going to be ‘HOME’ for a long time.
It has been three weeks since the beginning of this endeavour.

As pre-arranged one of our number will be leaving us at the end of May. Another person is joining us. Have not aligned myself with anyone in particular. Speak to some more than others. Stay out of reach of some. No one needs to be avoided ….. Not yet anyway!!!

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Photos

Getting Ready to Cook Dinner
It is getting much warmer and the fingers are no longer turning blue when preparing meat and chopping the veggies. The work is becoming easier.

The Truck is an Ice Box
Will it be equally HOT? Probably!!