Ericks red truck n trailer...or what's left of it.

[garyhaupt]

If you saw my post, asking folks to watch out for my bud Erick, from Wisconsin?....his trailer self-destructed...this is how he is getting on with his trip.

The event...


2 days & 3 hrs to Penticton, B.C. (1900 miles) and then 3 days to Tok, Alaska. (2100). 100 miles down the Tok Cut-off Highway the 33 year old ancient internally rusted out trailer frame broke catastrophically in 3 places. Total desolation and no cell phone. The trailer would never be pulled again on its own suspension. 45 seconds after I stopped my truck, my guardian angel arrived with his heavy duty
truck and 35 foot flatbed trailer. I waved, Dusty stopped, and in a half hour the trailer was loaded on his flatbed. Now that was just unbelievable. I followed him to the widely scattered village of Glenallen and the busted trailer and truck got parked at Dusty's abandoned Rhodeside Bar. This was Saturday morning. Sat
afternoon I arrived in Wasilla and in 15 minutes I had purchased a 14 ton 20 foot flatbed trailer.......and then drove the 150 miles back to Glenallen. Sunday we transferred the trailer to my flatbed. Monday we removed the wheels, axles, springs and cut off the 6 spring hangers from the frame, and removed the broken frame from the front of the trailer.......and started welding the trailer coach to the flatbed. Tuesday we finished the welding and added 6 chains.......and by 2 pm I was rolling to Anchorage. That night bro Tod flew in. WednesdayTod and I worked to mount the bottle gas on the flatbed and get gas to the trailer coach. The trailer was coming back to life. Now I could cook again, Thursday (today) we drove to Homer, Alaska (the very farthest that can be driven west in the western hemisphere).......and tonight we had spaghetti and looked at the mountains and the Pacific Ocean. It is now 11:25 pm and the sun is still up. I am exhausted. We are here for 4 days. So much excitement. I have been asked......"Is it worth the trouble?" My reply is "What trouble?"









Gary Haupt

[PA12DRVR]

garyhaupt wrote:

PA12DRVR wrote:
Saw the red truck with "trailer" Northbound on the Seward Highway just south of Portage yesterday....seemed to be motoring along just fine although (as with many others) a re-read of the requirement to pull over with 5 or more vehicles behind would be in order.

Erick is a red neck from Wisconsin....you tell'im.


Gary Haupt

No problem...but to be fair to Erick, I'd have to tell the same thing to what seems like 40-50 people on weekdays and an additional couple hundred on weekends :).....and then Murphy's law says I'd be the one holding up a bunch of folks the next time I was on the road. :E .....so maybe I'll pass.

[garyhaupt]

PA12DRVR wrote:
Saw the red truck with "trailer" Northbound on the Seward Highway just south of Portage yesterday....seemed to be motoring along just fine although (as with many others) a re-read of the requirement to pull over with 5 or more vehicles behind would be in order.

Erick is a red neck from Wisconsin....you tell'im.


Gary Haupt

[PA12DRVR]

Saw the red truck with "trailer" Northbound on the Seward Highway just south of Portage yesterday....seemed to be motoring along just fine although (as with many others) a re-read of the requirement to pull over with 5 or more vehicles behind would be in order.

[MDKMDK]

tony lee wrote:

MDKMDK wrote:


You should drop by the Walmart parking lot in Fairbanks sometime, if you like seeing others with those same thought processes. Looks like an RV graveyard in some spots around the perimeter. But the "ghosts" are still on site and haunting them. :E :B

Not anymore. The manager comes around every afternoon and if you were there overnight, he gives you your marching orders. Those out for the day return to a formal notice tsped to the door.

So, they cleaned it up? Guess they must have got enough complaints about the "vacationers" to act. Did they tow/remove the ones that weren't mobile any more, too? I've got some pics around somewhere from 2 years ago, of about 4 motorhomes that looked like they weren't going anywhere without some serious heavy lift help. Couple of vehicles that looked like needing it, too.
I've seen worse elsewhere, but not much. Didn't really bother me. I was just sayin', that's all. I know there are folks that are just down on their luck out there, everywhere it seems.

[tony_lee]

MDKMDK wrote:


You should drop by the Walmart parking lot in Fairbanks sometime, if you like seeing others with those same thought processes. Looks like an RV graveyard in some spots around the perimeter. But the "ghosts" are still on site and haunting them. :E :B

Not anymore. The manager comes around every afternoon and if you were there overnight, he gives you your marching orders. Those out for the day return to a formal notice tsped to the door.

[BobsYourUncle]

I have been saying for years, decades:

There are no problems, only solutions!

Nice work. 🙂

[MDKMDK]

Grit dog wrote:
Wow, well that's thinking outside the box.
That trailer won't break for sure.
Have to wonder the thought process though from inception before the trip with a junk trailer headed to AK, to mounting it on a flatbed vs just picking up a decent used TT for the same $ as the flatbed.
But if the truck pictured is your Buddys tow vehicle then I totally understand.

You should drop by the Walmart parking lot in Fairbanks sometime, if you like seeing others with those same thought processes. Looks like an RV graveyard in some spots around the perimeter. But the "ghosts" are still on site and haunting them. :E :B

[garyhaupt]

Grit dog wrote:
Wow, well that's thinking outside the box.
That trailer won't break for sure.
Have to wonder the thought process though from inception before the trip with a junk trailer headed to AK, to mounting it on a flatbed vs just picking up a decent used TT for the same $ as the flatbed.
But if the truck pictured is your Buddy's tow vehicle then I totally understand.

Oh yes..that's his red monster.

This first time I met Eric was 10? 15 years ago..I was working in the Mojave Desert Preserve and he broke down there.




Gary

[Tom_N]

Interesting. Proves there's always a way out of all predicaments.

-Tom, W3TLN

[Grit_dog]

Wow, well that's thinking outside the box.
That trailer won't break for sure.
Have to wonder the thought process though from inception before the trip with a junk trailer headed to AK, to mounting it on a flatbed vs just picking up a decent used TT for the same $ as the flatbed.
But if the truck pictured is your Buddys tow vehicle then I totally understand.

[Lwiddis]

I’d be proud to park next to these wrecks. A good laugh.

[DutchmenSport]

I've always believed in repurposing old stuff. This is tops!

[romore]

Redneck rv'ing at it's best.