# From Missouri to Alaska,... how far would you go to get your "ideal" plow truck?



## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

Well, it was time. The 'ole '92 is pushing up against 300,000 miles, and even tho it still runs great, it's getting worn out in other smaller ways. So, as I thought about what to get next, I considered everything,... but nothing made as much sense as getting the same thing as my last two trucks, which have proven to be far & away the most trouble/problem free pickups I have owned to this point,.. (about 15),... so that's what I did. And I know that most guys would not consider this truck to be their "ideal" plow truck, but that's ok. For me & my conditions, I couldn't see how anything else would be much of an improvement,... here's what I considered,...

A) Buying brand new made no sense to me, dollar wise. Sinking $35k to $50K in a brand new truck, and then subjecting it to the abuse of plowing like I have around here would never pay off. I could buy 6-8 trucks like I just did for the price of one new one.

B) Switching to a different "make" made no sense either, and even tho I don't consider myself "brand loyal", I have most certainly had better luck with Chevys than I have with Fords ( have owned 5 Fords, 1 International, a couple Datsuns, have never owned a Dodge). At this point I feel like the best I could do with something else, is hope they would hold up as well and as long as my last 2 Chevys did, but it's really not possible to do too much better than 300,000 on a plow truck,... by that point everything is wore out. Plus, I know these trucks pretty well now, and have all the shop manuals, etc., so starting over with something else just didn't seem like the best move.

C) Going to a diesel didn't seem to me to be any advantage either, at least in my area. The trucks will cost more to begin with (all things being equal), parts and maintenance costs are higher (10-12 quart oil changes, and $35 oil filters,... around here), extreme cold causes more starting issues around here (at least my buddies do), and diesel fuel is approx 50¢ to 80¢ higher per/gal than gas to boot. Do diesels last longer than gas engines? I don't know,... maybe,... but who owns/drives their trucks long enough anymore beyond 300,000 miles to prove it? By that point, the rest of the truck is worn out, so it doesn't matter. And all my 5.7's have had plenty of power to plow with, so more power didn't seem to me to be of any real advantage, especially if it drinks more fuel to get it.

D) And, going to an automatic tranny is just not going to happen with me, as long as my left leg still functions. I swore I rebuilt my last auto tranny when I got rid of my last Ford. I have never known anyone around here who has tried to plow as a business, that has gotten 2 full winters out of an AT,... and I can replace 10-12 clutches for the price of one rebuilt AT,... but that will never happen.

So, for the last couple years, I've watched everywhere in Alaska for a good - used Chevy 3500 SRW reg-cab pickup,... and they just don't exist,... every 1-ton is either a crew-cab or a dually, and I don't want either. And trying to find that with a manual tranny is like trying to find Bigfoot. So, I looked south,... on Auto-Trader and Ebay,... and could find one here & one there, but never quite right, or it was a junker, or a former plow truck, etc. (too many issues that I could not see). Ideally, I wanted to find something south of the snow belt,... so it wouldn't be a rust bucket either. And finally, I found this truck on Auto Trader (and the next day it was on ebay), in Jackson, Missouri. A 2000 Chevy 3500 SRW reg-cab with a 5.7L engine & 5-speed,... in mint condition! After calling the dealer, doing the carfax report, getting more pics, etc, I felt that this truck was just what I was looking for, but I was going to have to buy it on ebay now. And buying a vehicle sight-unseen is never a good thing, but I had no choice. I was determined that I was not going to let this one get away, because a truck like this, in this condition, is just too hard to find. It had right at 100k miles on it, (which is only 1/3 of it's life, if I have the same luck with this one), and even tho I may have paid a little more than I wanted to, (a little over $6k, but doesn't matter, it'll be paid for before the winter is over anyway), I wasn't going to let a few hundred dollars make any difference,... and I have to say that when I checked it over in person, it seems even cleaner than what the pictures showed,... this is the nicest/cleanest used truck I have ever bought,.... wesport


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

So, when I clicked "Confirm Bid" on ebay with 4 seconds left in the auction, I now began a trip of retrieving this truck which is sitting somewhere in southern Missouri,... a point of latitude farther south than I have ever been,... almost 5,000 miles away,... and I haven't even seen it yet in real life! Is this nuts,... to go/risk/spend all that time & money just to get a used pickup?? Maybe,... but there's no un-doing it now,... so I found a one-way ticket from Anchorage to St Louis for less than $300,... so off I go. And even before I got on the plane,... as soon as I cleared security past the gate area,... I saw one of the things I've wanted to see for myself more than almost anything,... the World-Record Halibut !!! It's hanging on the wall of the hallway of one of the gates in the international side of the Anchorage International Airport,... I have no idea why they would exhibit the biggest halibut ever caught on a rod & reel in a spot where almost no one can see it, but here it is !! (I'm a halibut charter boat skipper during the summer months, fishing out of Valdez, Alaska). So, at least my trip started on an exciting note,.... :bluebounc

(that's the ceiling lights reflected off the glass case,... I didn't see it when I took the pics :realmad


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

So, approx 10 hours later, we land at the airport in St Louis,... and I'm met there by rep of the company that I bought the truck from,... and off we go for a 2 hour drive down to Jackson, MO,... in 88° heat! (it was snowing all over the place in Alaska when I had left earlier in the day!). So, I checked it all over,... took it for a short spin to make sure everything worked,... we shook hands, and I now own another 1-ton Chevy,... 

(and tried to not pass out from a heat stroke,... )


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

By the time I took off from there, it was evening,.. and soon it getting dark. I headed back up toward St Louis,... and from there was going to head over toward Chicago, where I have a brother, so I figured since I was this close, I better stop by & say hi. I'm not used to seeing "flat country" like so much of the lower 48 states are,... and several things struck me as being kinda weird,... one of them is how fast it gets dark! In Alaska, when the sun goes down, it just goes behind a mountain, but it's still above the horizon for awhile. But down there, when the sun sets, it's set below the horizon, and it's dark almost instantly! 

(I think this was Interstate 55)


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

It was dark by the time I got to St Louis,... and I filled up with gas before setting my "nuvi" for Chicago,.... this was the cheapest gas I saw on the whole trip,...


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

I drove into Illinois then for maybe 100 miles or so, and crashed at a rest area for the night. Next day I continued on toward Chicago,... and as I got closer, the traffic got worse fast,... and it's like the more cars there were, the faster everyone tried to go,... trash was blowing around all over the place,.... half the roads were under construction,... I don't know how you guys from there can deal with all that,... I'd eventually have to.... 

(I think that's the Sears Tower there, but not sure)


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

I kinda wanted to see some other things in Chicago since I was there,... like Wrigley Field, etc, but I just knew that someone was going to side-swipe me if I didn't get out of there asap,... so I just went straight to my brother's place before I got in a wreck. I stayed there for a couple days & he showed me around some, but didn't have too much time to goof off. (he's a high-school physics teacher). He's also a big-time Dodge guy,... and has a 2000 Dodge/Cummins with more than 800 hp,... and always looking for more. He drove that truck to Alaska a couple years ago, and took it to the biggest drag strip in Alaska, and beat everything he ran against,.. cars & trucks. Now he's trying to put methane-injection (or something like that) in it,... it'll never stop.

(He's the only one in our family that left Alaska)


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

So, after I left Chicago, I headed north into Wisconsin. My parents' family roots are in Wisconsin, so I decided to go see places/relatives, etc, where my folks lived when they were kids. The landscape, roads, etc, looked the same as Missouri & Illinois for the most part. And I actually found the farmhouse where my mom lived when she was a little girl,...


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## B&B (Nov 4, 2006)

Looks to be it was a very very worthwhile trip in all regards Dave. Good to hear the new purchase made the trek with flying colors as well.  Did you get the relay installed ok for those long dark stretches that you mentioned, or did you simply squint and bear it?


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

Then I found another very weird thing,... trees that had apples growing on them !!!

(I thought apples came in bags from the store,... )


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

B&B;829733 said:


> Looks to be it was a very very worthwhile trip in all regards Dave. Good to hear the new purchase made the trek with flying colors as well.  Did you get the relay installed ok for those long dark stretches that you mentioned, or did you simply squint and bear it?


Yep, I did HID/quad-burn relay thing at my brother's place there in Chicago. Couldn't use high-beams much tho until I got well into Canada,... but boy it sure was nice then. Thanks again Mike for the help!! :waving:


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

I decided from this point on, I was going to travel the back roads and just take my time going back and see things that I maybe wouldn't see if I just raced along the interstates. Such as these wild turkeys,... and sandhill cranes,...


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

Here's another very weird thing (to me) that I noticed while traveling thru all this "flat land",... which way is downhill ??? I keep crossing all these creeks & rivers all over the place,... and for a creek or river to not be a lake, it has to run somewhere,... but as I look around, I sure can't tell which way is downhill.... and since everything eventually drains into the oceans,... this water here in Wisconsin has to travel downhill for hundreds & hundreds of miles,...


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

I met up with a couple of my cousins while here, and they said no trip to Wisconsin is complete without a tour of the most famous thing in the Cheese state,.... Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers,....


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

Outside of the stadium, there's two statues,... one of Vince Lombardi, and another of Curly Lambeau,... the founder of the Packers. We took the 1 hour tour, and I found out that the Packers are called that, because in 1919, Curly recruited most of his players from the meat packing plants around Grenn Bay, and the team was first called the Acme Packers, and wore blue-gold jerseys, not green-gold. Curly paid the grand sum of $250 to enter his team into the NFL, whereas the Titans had to pay 870 million to join,... (the latest team to join, I think they said).


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

They took us up into the luxury "suites",... this one costs $168,000 for the season, and has 30 seats,... (I'll take 3 of 'em, thanks,...), we went thru the "tunnel", where the Packers come out of as they enter the field,... we could touch the grass, but not step on it,....


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

So, I finally left Wisconsin & headed into Minnesota,.... I think I was on I94,... and as I crossed over on this big bridge,... I wondered if maybe this was the new one they had just rebuilt after that huge collapse that happened here a year or two ago,... ??


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

Of course, I then went right into the middle of Minneapolis/St Paul,.... and now I know what a rat feels like when he's forced to run thru a maze,...


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

I don't even know what any of these things/buildings are,... it was all I could do to snap a few pics & not cause a major pile-up,....


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

One of the more cool things I saw in Minnesota, was when I visited this huge Cabela's store,.... I don't even remmeber where it was,... but I think they said it was #3 biggest in the US,... in any case they have built an actual mountain right in the middle of the store,... and it's covered with animal mounts,...


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

The front/middle of the mountain is typical mid-western animals,... elk, deer, etc,.... with Dall sheep at the top,...


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

On the right-hand side,... they've displayed an arctic environment,.. with polar bears, musk oxen, etc,....


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

and the left-hand side is covered with creatures found in the desert,....


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

Then you can climb up the stairs to the balcony & see more things you can't see from the floor,...


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

There's an African section as well,....

(I'll finish this tomorrow,... :waving


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## Supper Grassy (May 31, 2007)

Great Thread.
look forward to the rest of it


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## heavychevy01 (May 2, 2007)

Always look forward to yopur posts/pics AB. Can't wait to see the rest!


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## jomama45 (Dec 25, 2008)

AWESOME thread so far AB! It's reads like a great story.

On your way from Milwaukee to Green Bay, you probably passed within a mile or 2 of where I reside.
BTW, what town was it that your mom was born in?


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## mkwl (Jan 21, 2005)

Sounds like an awesome trip- congrats on the new truck!

I believe the largest Cabela's is in Buda, TX- my aunt and uncle live like 30 mins from there so every time I go down to visit them we make a run to Cabela's- an AWESOME store!


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## affekonig (Aug 5, 2008)

Good read! I hope you saw more of Chicago than the pictures would imply. It's such a nice city.


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## wizardsr (Aug 8, 2006)

Very nice write up and nice pictures! I look forward to seeing the rest!

You described the trip through Mpls/St Paul pretty well, good news is you're in and out of the madness pretty quick, unlike Chicago, provided you dont hit it at rush hour. If you ever come through again, 694 is much faster and takes you around the downtowns. Don't feel bad about not knowing the buildings, I don't know most either, usually try to stay away from that mess. The white dome you caught is the Metrodome where the Vikes play (and the twins and gophers used to). The bridge you crossed coming into the state was not the one that collapsed, you missed that bridge since you stayed on 94 and went through the tunnel. That Cabellas (Rogers, MN) is pretty amazing, a guy could literally spend all day there, you were 5 minutes from my place at Cabellas. :waving:

Looks like a fun trip, I love road trips! I can't wait to see the rest of your pictures!


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

jomama45;829871 said:


> AWESOME thread so far AB! It's reads like a great story.
> 
> On your way from Milwaukee to Green Bay, you probably passed within a mile or 2 of where I reside.
> BTW, what town was it that your mom was born in?


It was raining when I went thru Milwaukee, and all my pics I took while driving thru there were blurry,... that just happened to be the hardest rain I encountered on the whole trip. :realmad: My mom was born at home right there in that farmhouse. I think she said the town of her address was Larsen (or maybe Larson). I believe I entered Milwaukee on 94, then switched onto 41 as I left it,... :waving:



mkwl;829922 said:


> Sounds like an awesome trip- congrats on the new truck!
> 
> I believe the largest Cabela's is in Buda, TX- my aunt and uncle live like 30 mins from there so every time I go down to visit them we make a run to Cabela's- an AWESOME store!


Thanks, and it was. I thought the guy I talked to in there told me the biggest store was in Pennsylvania, but I could be wrong. But I had never been in any store like that,... the amount of money they spent just to build that mountain I'm sure would be staggering!



affekonig;829939 said:


> Good read! I hope you saw more of Chicago than the pictures would imply. It's such a nice city.


Oh I did,... and I know that there are some gorgeous areas of the city,... it's just soooo big, and as I went thru there, I thought that almost every square inch of this whole country here has to be plowed,... and what a nightmare it would be driving around here during a snowstorm. I think I went thru there during the morning rush-hour traffic too, which probably made it worse, so I couldn't take nearly as many pics of things there as I wanted. If you notice,... I only took pictures when I had a little space between all the cars around me,... I know that it's generally not a safe thing to do while driving, so I wanted to be sure I wasn't putting anyone at risk while doing it. Many times I just pointed the camera & shot without even looking exactly how I was aiming.


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## highlander316 (Oct 18, 2006)

sweet truck! What kind of MPG did you get?


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

wizardsr;829975 said:


> Very nice write up and nice pictures! I look forward to seeing the rest!
> 
> You described the trip through Mpls/St Paul pretty well, good news is you're in and out of the madness pretty quick, unlike Chicago, provided you dont hit it at rush hour. If you ever come through again, 694 is much faster and takes you around the downtowns. Don't feel bad about not knowing the buildings, I don't know most either, usually try to stay away from that mess. The white dome you caught is the Metrodome where the Vikes play (and the twins and gophers used to). The bridge you crossed coming into the state was not the one that collapsed, you missed that bridge since you stayed on 94 and went through the tunnel. That Cabellas (Rogers, MN) is pretty amazing, a guy could literally spend all day there, you were 5 minutes from my place at Cabellas. :waving:
> 
> Looks like a fun trip, I love road trips! I can't wait to see the rest of your pictures!


That's right,.. that store was in Rogers,... I couldn't remember last night! Yeah, there's mounts everywhere thur-out the whole place,... and then they have an antique gun display, etc,... you're right, you could spend a whole day there,.. it's like a museum! I wondered as well, if the white dome thing was maybe the Metrodome,... there's a real love/hate situation in Green Bay now concerning Brett Favre,... but they said on the tour, that they will no doubt still retire #4 someday at Lambeau. When going thru those big cities like that,... I just thought about what a nightmare it would be to plow there,... constantly something/someone to hit,... no where to put snow,... my hats off to you guys that have to plow there,... I think I'd do something else. "salute:


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

highlander316;829993 said:


> sweet truck! What kind of MPG did you get?


Anywhere from 12-15 or so. Having a 34 gallon tank was sure nice in Canada, where gas stations got to be few & far between,....


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

Ok, since I was falling asleep last night,... ,.... I'll try & finish this now. Another thing I did in Minnesota just before I moved on, was I found a huge wrecking yard,... and I ended up getting a pair of like-new power bucket seats with center & overhead consoles, sliding rear window, dual battery tray, and a few other odds & ends for this truck, all for $100 !! :bluebounc (in Alaska, even if you could find it, all that would run at least $500). Minnesota still had alot of corn out in the fields yet as of last week,... so I'm sure the farmers were hoping the rain & snow would hold off yet for a while,... I think I stayed on Interstate 94 as I headed for Fargo, ND.


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

I hit Fargo at night,... so couldn't take any pictures,... I drove west towards Jamestown, then turned NW & went thru Minot as I planned on entering Canada at Portal, North Dakota. In North Dakota, the country got just as flat as flat can be,.. that was just so weird to me.  This is also where I hit the first snow flurries that were blowing in from the west,...


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## Mark13 (Dec 3, 2006)

Very nice pics and write up AK Boss. 

You only paid $6k for that truck?? Good thing it's in alaska now and I can't get to it.

And Happy 1000 posts. :bluebounc


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## Stik208 (Oct 19, 2004)

I take it you will be swapping the Boss onto this vehicle. I have a soft spot in my black heart for these trucks also. I would have to say the K series and 93-97 Fords are the best looking trucks ever made. And what Mark said congrats on the posts.


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

Also, in North Dakota, I saw a few windmills, and started seeing these small oil drilling/pumping rigs set up in the fields all over the place. (I'm assuming that they're drilling/pumping oil),... they looked like giant mosquitoes, probing in slow motion, trying to suck blood out of the ground,...


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

Mark13;830011 said:


> Very nice pics and write up AK Boss.
> 
> You only paid $6k for that truck?? Good thing it's in alaska now and I can't get to it.
> 
> And Happy 1000 posts. :bluebounc





Stik208;830013 said:


> I take it you will be swapping the Boss onto this vehicle. I have a soft spot in my black heart for these trucks also. I would have to say the K series and 93-97 Fords are the best looking trucks ever made. And what Mark said congrats on the posts.


Wow,... I didn't even notice, but thanks,... altho I've kinda been an addict for sometime now anyways,... 

Yeah, I'm going to have a Boss on this truck as well,... I looked all over the place down there for a good V-blade, but never found one, so I'm going to have to buy one up here I guess. My current 9.2 is about as wore out as the '92 truck is, but it's still useable as a back-up,.. and I just like the idea of having 2 trucks & 2 plows all interchangeable. :waving:


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

Now this may make me a candidate for the Beverly Hillbillies, but since we don't have things like raccoons, skunks, opposums, pheasants, etc in Alaska,... I stopped once in a while to check out some of the road kill I came across,... I can imagine all the other cars that went by that saw me do this were saying,.... "Geez,.. look at that weirdo",... :laughing:


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

So, I finally reach Portal, ND,.. and fill up with the last US gas (and cheapest) that I will see for awhile. By this point, snow was on the ground, and the wind was blowing steadyfrom the NW,... and I bucked this wind for the next 2 days,...


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

So, now I'm in Saskatchewan, and it's just the same as North Dakota for the most part,... except the signs are different,.. tymusic


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## BMWSTUD25 (Aug 21, 2008)

Simply awesome AB. Truck looks sweet. I too like the look of those K series a lot. Cant wait to see it all mounted up with a shiny new BOSS


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

Southern Saskatchewan is doing some type of open strip-mining or something,... there were these huge dredges all over the place, and miles of huge dirt piles,... I have no idea tho, what they were doing,... and lots of trains running all over the place as well....


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

This early snow was not welcomed by too many farmers I don't think,... and even the cows seemed to be about half ticked-off,... grain silos/elevators were all over place, and there was still a lot of hay rolls laying out in the fields yet,...


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

Then something weird happened,... there were these flocks of thousands & thousands of sparrows, or some little bird like that,... trying to fly south,... and because the wind was blowing so hard, they stayed very low to the ground, but when they tried to fly across the road, they were getting moved down by the hundreds !! At one point I think I had at least 20 of them bounce off my windshield all at the same time,... there were hundreds of them dead on the road !!


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

And then the weirdest thing of all,... I'm still in southern Saskatchewan, just below Regina, when I saw something out in a field that made me slam on the brakes & drive down into the ditch to see if what I thought I saw was real,.... and it was,... a bull moose!!! I don't know what kind of grain is raised here,... (wheat maybe?) and here's this bull moose just walking thru this grain field,... I don't know if this is too unusual or not,... but it sure seemed out of place to me,....


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

So, I just keep going thru Saskatchewan,... thru Saskatoon, thru North Battleford, and into Lloydminster. Many of my pics turned out kinda blurry with the cloudy skies, blowing snow, plus moving when I take them,... but there was a little snow everywhere on the ground.


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

Then I cross into Alberta,... and things stay the same for a while,... but it's getting colder,... the smaller ponds are froze over here,...


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

And suddenly, it seems like I start seeing more wildlife along the roads,... some less lucky than others,...

(by the way,.. Alberta coyotes are the finest in all of North America,... even better than Alaska coyotes)


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## Milwaukee (Dec 28, 2007)

Nice pictures and that truck you bought are very nice.

Does it have cruise control on it? 15 mpg you should get 17-18 for manual transmission with 5.7L


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## Mark Oomkes (Dec 10, 2000)

Beautiful, as always AB. 

Nice score on the truck too. 

Have to laugh at your comments about the cities. I agree, I live in too populated of an area.


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## towpro570 (Jul 23, 2009)

nice truck and good luck with it AB liked your post and the biggest Cabella's is in PA about 20 miles away in Hamburg PA pumpkin:


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## Grass Master (Feb 17, 2008)

Thanks for sharing the story of your journey Alaska Boss. Even though we are the biggest city in the state here in Fargo, I am certain you noticed it didn't take you long to shoot through town. :waving: I look forward to the rest of the story.


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

Continued to travel north-west thru Alberta,... the roads were in great shape,... even saw some V-plows from the Alberta DOT in one area,...


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## partsguy08 (Sep 1, 2008)

Waiting for next post. Awsome story and pics.. love the truck too


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

Then I came into Edmonton, the capitol of Alberta,... a very modern-looking city as one drives thru,... and if Chicago is known for Michael Jordan, then Edmonton is known for Wayne Gretzky,...


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

The country here was starting to get alittle more "wave" to it,... and soon after I left Edmonton, I hit a mini-blizzard,... I was hoping this wasn't going to get too bad, since this truck only had regualr road/summer type tires on it,...


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

But it wasn't too bad. The deer I was seeing now appear to be mule deer,... they don't look quite the same as the ones down south farther,... but they only appeared during low light conditions,... not good for taking pictures from a moving truck,...


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## iceyman (Mar 1, 2007)

very nice AB...thanks for sharing:waving:


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

Finally I got across Alberta, and entered British Columbia,.. (at night), and soon got to Dawson Creek,.. the beginning of the Alaska Highway,... now it seemed for the first time that I was getting closer to home,... :redbounce


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

Once I could see in British Columbia, it became apparent that BC is much more "wild", and less "farmed" than anything I had seen in Canada to this point,... and I liked it,..


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

Not only did my cell phone not work here,... I couldn't even pick up a radio station most of the time,... I'd scan both the AM & FM bands,... not a blip,... This is also the first area that I could see where the roads were plowed when this snow fell a day or two earlier,... :bluebounc


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## asps4u (Sep 16, 2009)

WOW!! That trip looks amazing! Thanks for sharing. And the best part is, now I don't have to make the drive to Alaska to take in the sites, I can fly. lol Great score with the truck too.


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

As I went thru some of the higher country,... it was just flat-out looking like winter,... lakes were frozen over w/snow on the ice,... I was getting pumped !! :redbounce:bluebounc


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

And wildlife was becoming commonplace,... I came around a bend,... and there's a caribou !! And another bend or two later,.. more !! (didn't seen that in Missouri or Saskatchewan,... )


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

Then I came around a bend,.. and there were some Stone sheep standing right in the road,... it looked like they were eating the gravel on the shoulder of the road !!


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

One thing I noticed in British Columbia,... is that many of the bridges are not decked over,... it's just a steel grid, and you can look right down into the river. I guess at least one advantage to this is that you probably eliminate snow/ice pack and you don't have slippery bridges,... just don't drop your truck keys,...


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## ABES (Jun 10, 2007)

Really nice truck AK Boss, I am a big fan of the old body style chevys. The rodgers Cabellas really is a nice store I have spent the better part of the day in that store lol. Driving in downtown minneapolis st paul really is no fun at all I havent driven it in about 3 years.


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

As I came back down out of the higher country, the snow got less, the temps warmer, but the scenery still great,...


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

More Stone sheep,...


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

I'm really glad I had nice weather as I went thru this area,....


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

Another group of caribou,....


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## Mark13 (Dec 3, 2006)

Alaska Boss;830145 said:


> I'm really glad I had nice weather as I went thru this area,....


That last picture looks straight out of a mid 90's chevy truck commercial.


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

There were some rather profound bridges that spanned some of the bigger rivers,...


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

Then I suddenly came up to this sign along the road,... "Buffalo on Road",....


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

and around the next bend,.... there they are!


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## THE-BOSS-PLOWS (Feb 20, 2009)

Alaska Boss;830158 said:


> and around the next bend,.... there they are!


That truck isnt clean anymore lol


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

They paid no attention to me whastsoever,... I probably could have ran down & jumped right on one of them and had an exciting ride for a minute or two,.... (but that would not have been one of the better decsions of my life,... )


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

The snow had mostly gone away toward the upper parts of BC, but it got cold at night with the clear skies,...


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## DareDog (Oct 22, 2007)

i want to know how you drive and take pics with a standard??


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

And it was so much less stressful to not have to deal with bumper to bumper traffic anymore,...


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

DareDog;830166 said:


> i want to know how you drive and take pics with a standard??


Same as if it had an automatic,... I rarely had to shift, but many times I stopped,... but I'm not advocating doing this. I had my camera sitting on the dash & usually just pointed & shot without looking at or thru it.


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

THE-BOSS-PLOWS;830160 said:


> That truck isnt clean anymore lol


Nope, but it got a bath as soon as I got home. I finally hit the Yukon Territory, and the roads were more messy here than anywhere


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

Actually, once I hit the Yukon, the Alaska Hwy dipped back down into BC and back up again, so I entered it twice,...


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

At a place in the Yukon called Watson Lake,... there's the world famous "Sign Post Forest",... where people from all over the world have brought their own town/street signs and posted them on one of the "trees" there. There are literally thousands of signs here,.. these pics don't even show half,... and they have to add more "trees" every year,... :waving:


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## Mark Oomkes (Dec 10, 2000)

Alaska Boss;830168 said:


> And it was so much less stressful to not have to deal with bumper to bumper traffic anymore,...


My kind of traffic jam.


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

Another thing I noticed in Canada, is that there doesn't seem to be any real standard for bridge design,... seemed like almost every bridge was of a different design...


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

Finally I noticed I was headed back into a weather front,... and this was the last sunshine I saw on this trip.


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

An interesting sign,.... I guess the plow trucks in the Yukon turn,....


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

Kept on driving, and finally made my way into Whitehorse,.. the capital of the Yukon. I would bet that Whitehorse is a lot like Anchorage, AK,... that there are more people in Whitehorse than all the rest of the Yukon put together, just like Anchorage is to Alaska


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

Better put on your shades so the blinding lights of downtown Whitehorse don't blind you,...


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

oooops,.. forgot the pics,....


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## jg244888 (Dec 22, 2008)

looks awsome!!!! how long did the whole trip take??


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

Nothing much else to report from this point on,... but I did see a couple elk between Whitehorse & Alaska, which was a little surprising,... but it was too dark to take good pics,...


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

I hit the Alaska border around 1am, and so I just kept going & drove almost the whole way backhome in the dark, so no pics of that. It's funny tho,... there was snow from North Dakota all the way thru to the upper end of the Yukon, but as soon as I hit Alaska,.. nothing. There was more snow when I left than what there was when I got back. This whole trip took 15 days, but I could have probably cut that in half if I was just determined to get back asap. It was a great adventure,... and something that got me out of my rut. I'm glad I did it, and it would have been great to meet some of you guys on your turf if it would have been possible. I saw a lot of different things, new country, great scenery, etc etc etc,... but in the final call, I like where I am. I know this thread got off course at times, as it's a lot more than just pictures of a truck, but most people won't go thru all this to get a plow truck. With everything I saw on this whole trip,... it's still tough to beat the views I have right in my own back yard,... :waving::salute:


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## dfdsuperduty (Dec 12, 2006)

Alaska Boss;829741 said:


> I met up with a couple of my cousins while here, and they said no trip to Wisconsin is complete without a tour of the most famous thing in the Cheese state,.... Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers,....


up until this point this was a great thread GO BEARS wesport


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## DeVries (Nov 27, 2007)

Awesome post and pics Alaska. Trip of a life time by the looks of it. All the best this winter with the truck.


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## JDWalkbehind (Oct 14, 2007)

Wow talk about a rode trip. That's awesome! Great pic's Congrats on the truck and all the goodies you got at the junk yard. Very cool trip i alway like reading your threads!


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## 2COR517 (Oct 23, 2008)

Great thread AB. As usual, the pics are top notch. That's a good truck, I hope it works well for you. I'm glad you were able to take the roads less traveled. So much more to see. 

Does the truck have cruise control?

"Nothing to see on the interstate but interstate"


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## toby4492 (Dec 28, 2005)

Just got home from work and spent the last hour doing nothing but looking at your pix and reading the thread. It looks like you had a great adventure Dave. Thanks for sharing all the pix with the rest of us. Glad to see you made it back home safe and sound. I guess I better go say hi to the family now LOL.


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## captntim (Dec 12, 2002)

Thanks for sharing all this, Dave. I read through the whole thing & I'm more excited than ever for my road trip of a lifetime. Downeast Maine to Alaska...can't wait! I'm taking my Dodge Cummins, a Lance slide-in camper and going to keep off the interstates as much as possible. 

Thanks for taking the time to post the pics and good luck with that truck!! You have much better luck on eBay that I do...lol


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## mercer_me (Sep 13, 2008)

Looks like a wicked fun trip and a very nice truck. I hope you have fun with both.


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## ponderosa (Jan 8, 2006)

i am usually quite great pictures great story thanks for sharing


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## [email protected] (May 29, 2009)

Great pictures and congrats on the truck!


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## xtreem3d (Nov 26, 2005)

congrats also....what happens if it snowed while you were gone all that time?
steve


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## Mark13 (Dec 3, 2006)

xtreem3d;830414 said:


> congrats also....what happens if it snowed while you were gone all that time?
> steve


I'd guess if his wife can handle living in a semi remote part of alaska then she can probably hold her own running a plow truck to do a good enough job to keep places open until he got back. I believe he only does customers who he is familiar with so I'm sure they would have understood if his wife showed up in a truck and did her best just to keep them open.


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## deere615 (Jun 1, 2007)

That was so awesome! Great Thread, I laughed out loud a few times one about the road kill but I never knew you didnt see those types of animals in Alaska. Beautiful Pictures. I have been to the cabellas store in WV they all have that mountain setup and they are very cool stores. That sign forest is pretty neat-I bet theres alot of stolen signs there! I look forward to seeing pictures of the new plow on and of pictures of the truck plowing through the winter!


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## Brian Young (Aug 13, 2005)

Thanks AB, this is one of the very few threads I actually read word for word,lol. One of the best post's EVER! thanks for sharing! Congrats and good luck with the new truck.


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## MatthewG (Jun 16, 2009)

You deserve the poets prize for this thread, my favorite part is how you stopped to look at the road kill, and the buffalo of course!pumpkin:


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## raceyz125 (Nov 14, 2008)

AB Great job with your story. Great pictures. Plus 1 very nice truck. My dad had a truck just like that, same color, its a great truck. Thanks again for the sharing the story. Its something that you can share with others, big trip just for a plow truck 
Kipp


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## heavyiron (Dec 7, 2007)

Great thread. Thanks for sharing. That is the type of trip I'd love to take some day but I don't have the time. Good luck with the truck this winter.


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## rebelplow (Jan 30, 2008)

Hey AB. Loved the write up. I really enjoyed that you took the 'scenic route' and got to take in what this land has to offer. I have a question for ya, what was the name or where was the junk yard you went to for those great deals on parts when you were in MN?


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## plowdog (May 13, 2006)

Hey buddy, your Minneapolis/ St. Paul pics are my backyard ! Welcome to Minn. and enjoy yourself!!!


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## T-MAN (Jan 9, 2001)

Well as always great thread AB


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## partsguy08 (Sep 1, 2008)

Wow! As usual, your pictures are amazing. That is the classic guy trip imo, 15 days, open road, no wife, no kids, just you and the truck. That was a heck of a shakedown cruise for the new ride. Good luck with it. :salute:


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## fireball (Jan 9, 2000)

Sorry you had to travel North Dakota during rush hour, can see why you were afraid to take your hands off the steering wheel. Thanks for sharing and the truck has already given you some great memories


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## kickin'a (Jan 12, 2009)

Well I see you had to take a picture of the Dome down town mpls LOL. SKOL VIKINGS!!!!! Love the pics and the narative of your trip felt like I was with you on it. Thanks.

P.S. My dream is to come to Alaska, and I will make it one of these days!!! or yrs lol


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## KJ Cramer (Aug 20, 2009)

Absolutely awesome! Not much else to say.


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## T-MAN (Jan 9, 2001)

You guys crack me up about to much traffic. All those pictures in Canada had NO cars. ND had a few. I doubt Mn holds a candle to Chicagos nightmare traffic. AB mentioned he thought do to rush hour the roads were a mess. No rhyme or reason down there to gridlock. High noon or 2pm can be just as bad as 8am. One things a given though, 6:30am to 10am is bad every weekday. AB is your brother in Skokie or Niles ?


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## FEFMedia (Sep 17, 2009)

Great thread.. thanks for taking the time and posting them up!


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## Kollerman (Jan 2, 2008)

Purely amazing. I always look forward to reading your posts.


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## Banksy (Aug 31, 2005)

Unreal!! That takes the cake for the biggest adventure to buy a vehicle. Awesome write up and fantastic pictures. Thanks.


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## Geary44 (Jul 18, 2009)

WOW!!!! that is truly a beautiful truck


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

xtreem3d;830414 said:


> congrats also....what happens if it snowed while you were gone all that time?
> steve





Mark13;830423 said:


> I'd guess if his wife can handle living in a semi remote part of alaska then she can probably hold her own running a plow truck to do a good enough job to keep places open until he got back. I believe he only does customers who he is familiar with so I'm sure they would have understood if his wife showed up in a truck and did her best just to keep them open.





rebelplow;830583 said:


> Hey AB. Loved the write up. I really enjoyed that you took the 'scenic route' and got to take in what this land has to offer. I have a question for ya, what was the name or where was the junk yard you went to for those great deals on parts when you were in MN?





T-MAN;830908 said:


> You guys crack me up about to much traffic. All those pictures in Canada had NO cars. ND had a few. I doubt Mn holds a candle to Chicagos nightmare traffic. AB mentioned he thought do to rush hour the roads were a mess. No rhyme or reason down there to gridlock. High noon or 2pm can be just as bad as 8am. One things a given though, 6:30am to 10am is bad every weekday. AB is your brother in Skokie or Niles ?


Well, thanks everybody for the comments,... but this trip did put me behind the 8-ball now as far as being ready for snow (we got about 2" last night). I'm leaving on a hunting trip tomorrow for a few days, so I hope the snow holds off for at least a week or two yet. To answer a few questions,... if it would have snowed a ton while I was gone,... then everyone would have been screwed, including me. I did try to keep tabs on the weather up here as much as I could while I was down in the states, and it actually turned warmer while I was gone. But, since I'm not married, I doubt that my wife would have showed up in one of my trucks,.... :laughing:. It would be a quite rare event to have so much snow this early, that people couldn't move, but knowing my luck, I'm surprised it didn't happen. So, I guess all's well that ends well.

The name of the junk yard in MN that I found all that stuff in was Isanti Auto Parts, north of the twin cities about an hour or so. It actually wasn't all that big,... but this "cash for clunkers" program that Obama put into action has caused a lot of nice rigs to go into wrecking yards, as vehicles paid for under this program cannot be re-registered, and must be destroyed, no matter what condition they are in, as I understand it. The seats I got came out of a loaded Tahoe that didn't even have a dent in it.

And for sure, downtown Chicago had the heaviest/fastest/most nerve-racking traffic of anything I encountered. And that doesn't mean that other cities could/would be just as bad at other times,.. I don't know. And it wasn't like I didn't expect it,... but it's different from anything else I'm exposed to. In Anchorage, when traffic gets really heavy,.. it slows way down & almost stops,... so that's more frustrating than scary. I drove thru downtown Seattle a time or two over the years too,... and it's the same way,... heavy traffic doesn't slow down, it seems to go faster,... so you don't dare drift out of your lane for even a second,... and if you're not in the proper lane for your exit,... you're toast. Just a life-style a person would have to get used to I guess,...  My brother lives in Waukegan I think,... at least that was the address I typed into my GPS when I went to his house. All those smaller towns thru-out the whole area seem to just blend into each other, so it all just seems like Chicago to me,..

The new truck is in my shop right now, going thru all the updates, changes, modifications & preperations to get it set up for winter snow plowing in Alaska. I'll probably take a few pictures of that and show the end result when it's ready to go. Thanks again for all the comments,... and hope everyone has a good winter,... payup:waving:


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## accipiter12 (Jan 24, 2003)

Wow, I think I'd need to leave my wallet in another state if I were to visit that Cabellas store!


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## 91AK250 (Nov 28, 2007)

can wait to see how this truck works out for you. i'm thinking it'll be a home run. thats a very clean truck!

one hell of a trip too, i hope to make a trip back to ND some time. driving would be a differance because i normaly fly and i've never really driven outside of AK(alittle bit in williston ND) 

great pics!


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## IPLOWSNO (Oct 11, 2008)

the bad thing is he put 75000 on his new truck just getting back home lol


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## T-MAN (Jan 9, 2001)

My brother lives in Waukegan I think said:


> Darn AB, I am 2 minutes north of Waukegan. I could of taken you salmon fishing on the pond. Same style as the Alaska captains, we just tend to run more gear at once. Not quite as picturesque as fishing Sitka or Juneau, but those waters are a damn good elixir for the nerves after driving threw that Chitown nightmare. Next time your in town look me up, especially if your bro is working and you have time to kill, even a cup of coffee at Bob and Annes would be cool.
> 
> From the looks of the Bungalows I figured Skokie or Niles, they have the same style in Waukegan.


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## BMWSTUD25 (Aug 21, 2008)

well one thing is for sure, I certainly dont have to spend the money to tour Alaska and Canada now. Thanks again and post those new plow pics ASAP!!


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## merrimacmill (Apr 18, 2007)

Very nice pictures and it looks like an awesome trip. Congrats on the truck.


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## Ramairfreak98ss (Aug 17, 2005)

well living in NJ i KNOW i miss out on a lot of the damn country, but wow... we drove from NJ to Salt lake city UT for a 10 day trip and then back last spring... that was far lol.

Awesome pictures though, i cant wait until my company is big enough to move to another state and keep the business here and expand somewhere else like michigan, ohio, IL etc.


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## nicksplowing (Oct 5, 2005)

excellent post dave and amazing pics thank you for sharing and best of luck with the new truck


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## NBI Lawn (Oct 15, 2007)

Alaska Boss;829752 said:


> So, I finally left Wisconsin & headed into Minnesota,.... I think I was on I94,... and as I crossed over on this big bridge,... I wondered if maybe this was the new one they had just rebuilt after that huge collapse that happened here a year or two ago,... ??


Wow, that was one heck of a drive for a plow truck...

Up untill a couple months ago I lived right behind the Harley Davidson store in that pic... you can kind of see the sign. the bridge is not the one that fell. The one that fell it about 1/4 mile from the white dome building (Metrodome) in your pics. Cabela's is in Rogers, MN. 
I see everything you posted on a weekly basis so its funny to see someone just passing through town.


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## farmerkev (Dec 7, 2007)

Very very cool thread. The Pics of Saint Paul MN were cool to see, saw one right by my house and one a few blocks from my work. 

Looks like a fun trip, gives me a few ideas for a trip of my own...


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## JTK324 (Nov 4, 2008)

great thread man


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## L.I.Mike (Dec 28, 2002)

Wow, what a great trip and as always great pictures.


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## erkoehler (Sep 25, 2008)

AWESOME thread! I'd be interested to here some of the final number on mileage/fuel used/total expenses? 

Did you make it the whole way with no breakdowns?


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## Mark13 (Dec 3, 2006)

erkoehler;833901 said:


> Did you make it the whole way with no breakdowns?


I'm sure he did, you think he was driving a Ford or something? He knows better to then to attempt such a feat in a 2000 Ford and expect it to go that far with no breakdowns.


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## revtoyota (Oct 17, 2009)

Yeah Alaska boss. I to live in Alaska and did the same thing but on auto trader. baught the truck in kentucky. Took off the same day. met the guy went over the truck then started driving. Only took me 4 or 5 hours to start going nuts from all the people. Made me remember why I live up here.. ohh and I did the trip in a ford with no problems.


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## nekos (Oct 16, 2003)

This is probably the best thread on Plow Site. 
Alaska Boss, Good luck with the truck. 


(side note)
You shouldn't have passed threw Chicago so fast. Sure 4 or 5 people would have run into you, The pot holes would have torn your front end apart and the Garbage would have filled the bed of your truck if you parked it for an hour. Still It's one of the greatest city's in the world. You should have at least taken a drive down Lake Shore Drive.


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## T&M SnowMan (Sep 29, 2008)

great thread, with the excellent pics and great story it was like being in the seat next to ya on the trip...very sharp looking truck, good luck this winter and many more AB...like to see a plow on that truck next time you post pics!!


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## mercer_me (Sep 13, 2008)

erkoehler;833901 said:


> Did you make it the whole way with no breakdowns?





Mark13;833918 said:


> I'm sure he did, you think he was driving a Ford or something? He knows better to then to attempt such a feat in a 2000 Ford and expect it to go that far with no breakdowns.


:laughing:


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## TwoBrosLawn (Sep 10, 2009)

awesome thread...really enjoyed reading and looking at the pics....cant wait to take a trip like that......


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## KL&M Snow Div. (Jan 2, 2009)

Awesome thread Boss! Looking forward to the truck pictures.


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

T-MAN;831680 said:


> Darn AB, I am 2 minutes north of Waukegan. I could of taken you salmon fishing on the pond. Same style as the Alaska captains, we just tend to run more gear at once. Not quite as picturesque as fishing Sitka or Juneau, but those waters are a damn good elixir for the nerves after driving threw that Chitown nightmare. Next time your in town look me up, especially if your bro is working and you have time to kill, even a cup of coffee at Bob and Annes would be cool.
> 
> From the looks of the Bungalows I figured Skokie or Niles, they have the same style in Waukegan.


Thanks T-man,.. that would have been great,... I saw Lake Michigan back in '88, the last time I was down in the states in that area,... I should have spent a day or two more looking around there at stuff,... but when you don't know what's all there or where anything is,.. it's tough to know what to do,... :salute:



NBI Lawn;832800 said:


> Wow, that was one heck of a drive for a plow truck...
> 
> Up untill a couple months ago I lived right behind the Harley Davidson store in that pic... you can kind of see the sign. the bridge is not the one that fell. The one that fell it about 1/4 mile from the white dome building (Metrodome) in your pics. Cabela's is in Rogers, MN.
> I see everything you posted on a weekly basis so its funny to see someone just passing through town.





farmerkev;832801 said:


> Very very cool thread. The Pics of Saint Paul MN were cool to see, saw one right by my house and one a few blocks from my work.
> 
> Looks like a fun trip, gives me a few ideas for a trip of my own...


I was kinda hoping that I went right past things/places that someone on Plowsite would see as their own backyard, etc. I have no way of knowing any of that,... but I specifically remember that Harley shop,... thinking how big it was,... lol. I took over 500 pics as I drove around, but so many of them were either blurry, or not aimed right,... 



erkoehler;833901 said:


> AWESOME thread! I'd be interested to here some of the final number on mileage/fuel used/total expenses?
> 
> Did you make it the whole way with no breakdowns?


Well,... I don't have final expenses, until my next credit card bill comes,... (that one is gonna hurt). But total miles for the whole trip from Jackson, MO to my house was just over 4,600 miles (over 7,300 km). I spent a little over $1,000 in gas, and averaged about 12.6 mpg. It was right at about 15 or so, until I hit North Dakota, then drove against a hard headwind non-stop from there almost to Alberta,... so that really knocked my mileage down. Cheapest gas was in St. Louis @ $2.12/gal,... most expensive was in Fort Nelson in British Columbia @ $1.19/liter or approx $4.50/US gal. The truck runs & drives like it's still new,... and I think cruise control is the most needed feature on a trip like this. I thought I got home totally unscathed,... but 2 days later I noticed a small crack in the windshield just under the passenger-side wiper, about an inch long,... :realmad:



revtoyota;834147 said:


> Yeah Alaska boss. I to live in Alaska and did the same thing but on auto trader. baught the truck in kentucky. Took off the same day. met the guy went over the truck then started driving. Only took me 4 or 5 hours to start going nuts from all the people. Made me remember why I live up here.. ohh and I did the trip in a ford with no problems.


Howdy neighbor !! This truck was on Auto Trader as well,... that's where I found it first,.. then a day or two later it showed up on ebay. People/tourists drive to Alaska all the time every summer, so it's not like this is really something unique, except maybe for the purpose of getting a plow truck. I drove the Alaska Highway once back in the 1970's, and then it was still mostly a gravel road,... so you needed to carry at least 3 or 4 spare tires, and know that your windshield will look like it took a hit with a machine gun when you get back. Plus no cell phones/gps, etc back then either. Kentucky should have pretty clean vehicles too I would think, since they wouldn't get the snow that the more northern states do. Hope we have a good winter now,...



nekos;834181 said:


> This is probably the best thread on Plow Site.
> Alaska Boss, Good luck with the truck.
> 
> (side note)
> You shouldn't have passed threw Chicago so fast. Sure 4 or 5 people would have run into you, The pot holes would have torn your front end apart and the Garbage would have filled the bed of your truck if you parked it for an hour. Still It's one of the greatest city's in the world. You should have at least taken a drive down Lake Shore Drive.


Yeah, I know,.. I have several friends from Chicago, and they all told me to go here & see this, go there & see that, etc,... I'm sure I could have toured around for a week & not even seen all the high-lights. You have to have someone as a guide for that,... someone like me who has no clue where anything is, would just be wasting time driving around aimlessly when I don't even know what's there, etc. It would be the same if you came to Alaska too,... I could show you stuff that you'd have no way of knowing on your own,.. even tho there are like only 3 roads,... lol



KL&M Snow Div.;835347 said:


> Awesome thread Boss! Looking forward to the truck pictures.


Well, I just got back from my annual deer hunt out on the islands where I fish at in the summer, so I'm still behind in getting ready for winter, even tho we could get buried in snow now any day. I was planning on getting a new 9.2 V-blade from Jim @ ESI, but now a buddy of mine wants to make me a deal on his 8.2, which is several years old, but has never been used,... plus his truck is just like mine,.... so now I gotta decide quick if an extra foot is worth over $2,000,... my wings on an 8.2 would put it at 10',... so that would work I guess,... gotta decide pretty soon here tho... I'll show all the mods I'm doing to everything when it's done,.... :salute:


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## revtoyota (Oct 17, 2009)

Yeah did the same trip a few times now, the longest was from florida to fairbanks in the middle of winter. So where are you located at up here AB?


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

revtoyota;837388 said:


> Yeah did the same trip a few times now, the longest was from florida to fairbanks in the middle of winter. So where are you located at up here AB?


Copper River Valley,.... :waving:


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## T-MAN (Jan 9, 2001)

Alaska Boss;837214 said:


> Well, I just got back from my annual deer hunt out on the islands where I fish at in the summer, so I'm still behind in getting ready for winter, even tho we could get buried in snow now any day. I was planning on getting a new 9.2 V-blade from Jim @ ESI, but now a buddy of mine wants to make me a deal on his 8.2, which is several years old, but has never been used,... plus his truck is just like mine,.... so now I gotta decide quick if an extra foot is worth over $2,000,... my wings on an 8.2 would put it at 10',... so that would work I guess,... gotta decide pretty soon here tho... I'll show all the mods I'm doing to everything when it's done,.... :salute:


How was the hunt ? Was this for winter meat, or sport, or both ?
Stuck a dandy whitetail a few weeks back with the bow. Put a couple pics up in the Off Topic forumn, Got me a Buck Thread.

How about trapping, looks like a prime area were your at.


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

T-MAN;837790 said:


> How was the hunt ? Was this for winter meat, or sport, or both ?
> Stuck a dandy whitetail a few weeks back with the bow. Put a couple pics up in the Off Topic forumn, Got me a Buck Thread.
> 
> How about trapping, looks like a prime area were your at.


Our deer hunts are always good,... the only deer in Alaska are Sitka Blacktails, which are probably about the smallest deer in North America, and are only located on the islands of Prince William Sound (in my area), so it takes a decent boat to get to them. The whitetails & mule deer I saw driving home on this trip seemed to be close to twice the size of these deer,... but our bag limits are 5 deer per/person, so that helps make up for the lack of size. Our hunts are strictly for meat,... and the fact that it is a very enjoyable activity is only a bonus. More pictures in the "Off Topic" forum.

Trapping here starts in early November, and it should be another good year again,... altho the international fur markets collapsed along with the rest of the world's economies. So, if Russia, especially, can get it's economy back on track, fur harvesting could become a viable occupation again,... altho I'll do it to some extent no matter what,... :salute:


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## revtoyota (Oct 17, 2009)

yeah my south african mastif is biger then the deer we have up here. We have the black tails here in ketchikan also. just getting ready for my trip to get a goat this year.. woohoo


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## SnoBull (Oct 1, 2009)

Any updated pics of the modified truck yet AB? How's the plowing season going for you?


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## DAFFMOBILEWASH (Dec 9, 2006)

Read and viewed every picture and sentence from start to finish with out moving from the computer. Felt like I was sitting next to you during the trip. Myself love the sites of the north country and the wildlife was top notch. 

So, after winter is over sell the new old truck and do it again please!!!! This time from California up the west coast!!! The only way the story could get any better is by running a Cummins.... LOL Great road trip and a definite sticky candidate!!!!

DAFF


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## wewille (Jan 20, 2009)

Wow, thanks for sharing your trip!! Hope you had a good time in wisconsin and the not so frozen "frozen tundra"!!!(lambeau field) I always enjoy checking out your pictures!!


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

SnoBull;853364 said:


> Any updated pics of the modified truck yet AB? How's the plowing season going for you?


Still working on the truck, got a lot of things done, but still a lot more to do. I'll post pics of it when it's done & ready to go,.. hopefully in a week or so,...

And I haven't plowed one single job yet,... just scraped a little bit in my own yard. Last year by now, I had around 2 feet,... this year maybe 2 inches. There has been almost no snow to speak of anywhere in Alaska yet this winter,... a few areas have had some, but virtually everywhere up here is well behind normal so far this winter. It's been somewhat cold tho,... going below zero F° almost every night (-22° F is the coldest I've had so far), so everything is froze up nice now,... no digging up dirt or gravel when it finally does come. I just came back from Anchorage tonight,... and it was snowing hard for a while thru the mountains, maybe 2" on the road, but it was just a local "cloud burst",... :realmad:



DAFFMOBILEWASH;853853 said:


> Read and viewed every picture and sentence from start to finish with out moving from the computer. Felt like I was sitting next to you during the trip. Myself love the sites of the north country and the wildlife was top notch.
> 
> So, after winter is over sell the new old truck and do it again please!!!! This time from California up the west coast!!! The only way the story could get any better is by running a Cummins.... LOL Great road trip and a definite sticky candidate!!!!
> 
> DAFF


Well, when the time comes for the next truck, I probably will do it again, because trucks like this just can't be found up here (at least I can never find one). So, depending on where it is, I probably would like to take a different route anyway,.. but that may be a few years down the road, because this one should last for awhile,... at least it better,... wesport



wewille;853858 said:


> Wow, thanks for sharing your trip!! Hope you had a good time in wisconsin and the not so frozen "frozen tundra"!!!(lambeau field) I always enjoy checking out your pictures!!


Yeah, I did,... and the Lambeau Field tour was pretty cool for me,... never been in a professional stadium like that before. I guess I've always been a Packer's fan, simple because that's the area of my parent's roots,... and it was neat to learn that the Packers are a rather unique Pro sports team,... owned by the people of Green Bay, and not some mega-rich guy that could just move it/sell it if he felt like it, etc,... ussmileyflag


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## 2COR517 (Oct 23, 2008)

AB - how do you like the Vortec so far, compared to the TBIs?


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## RONK (Jan 22, 2008)

AB,myself along with others are looking forward to your truck modification details.I'd also like to thank you for opening up my eyes to Chevy/GMC as a viable plow truck,I always thought that the IFS was an inferior design but now I believe otherwise.I was also very interested that you use a gas engine and a manual trans,it shows theres room for more than diesels and autos.Thanks again.


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## revtoyota (Oct 17, 2009)

Hey AB not sure if you have looked but down in the Kenai/Soldotna area usually has a good selection of trucks.


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## sjosephlawncare (Jan 17, 2008)

GREAT thread!!!!! Awesome truck. The 350's are work horses that never let you down


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## Burkartsplow (Nov 1, 2007)

I just spent the last 45 minute reading this thread and it was worth every minute. You always take great pictures and every time I head to my girlfriends parents house I show your pictures to her dad who is a professional photographer and he will spend hours looking through your threads and always tells me you take great pictures. Like you said you are happy where you at and that is what matters most. Just like I am happy living in Cleveland Ohio. I would not want to move for anything. The truck looks great and I cant wait to see it all outfitted. Good Luck this year and congrats on the school contract.


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## Lux Lawn (Jan 5, 2004)

Sounds like you had a nice trip, how many days were you gone?
Hope you have dependable employees to work for you while you were gone.
Nice truck.


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## Ultra Strobe (Oct 26, 2009)

Great thread very interesting thank you for the 45 min drive from MO to Alaska a trip that i would not ever do i give you alot of credit and dedication to your work. Great pic and amazing pic of the wild life. Thanks again for the great story good luck with the new truck.


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## KL&M Snow Div. (Jan 2, 2009)

Hows it coming?


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

Burkartsplow;859680 said:


> I just spent the last 45 minute reading this thread and it was worth every minute. You always take great pictures and every time I head to my girlfriends parents house I show your pictures to her dad who is a professional photographer and he will spend hours looking through your threads and always tells me you take great pictures. Like you said you are happy where you at and that is what matters most. Just like I am happy living in Cleveland Ohio. I would not want to move for anything. The truck looks great and I cant wait to see it all outfitted. Good Luck this year and congrats on the school contract.


Thanks,... I always have a camera with me,.. no matter where I go. Before the days of digital things, I always took slides,... and I would buy raw film in 100ft rolls, and buy empty canisters, and "reload my own", just like ammunition. A 36 exposure roll of film would cost me less than $2, plus I could get a profession-quality film that wasn't available in most stores. I've sold many photos over the years with and w/o articles, and some of the best shots I've taken were when I least expected it, but had my camera right there. :salute:



Lux Lawn;859795 said:


> Sounds like you had a nice trip, how many days were you gone?
> Hope you have dependable employees to work for you while you were gone.
> Nice truck.


The whole trip took 2 weeks, and I could have cut close to half of that off if I had just raced back,... but who wants to do that? I actually wished I had more time to see/go more places & things than what I did,.. 



KL&M Snow Div.;860036 said:


> Hows it coming?


I just got done plowing about 16 hours straight,... and I sure wish that the new truck was ready to go right now, but it's not. I just can't stay with it now and get it done,... too many interruptions, and now with winter/snowplowing firmly set in, I have even less time. Plus, I want to do everything as "right" as possible,.. not only for appearances, but so it's as trouble-free as possible down the road a few years. I have all the wiring just about done,.. but the truck as a whole looks like a wreck,... this is what it looked like a couple days ago,....


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## fisher guy (Nov 11, 2008)

wow brings back memories when I put the plow on my truck it makes u wanna cry when u see ur nice pretty truck like that but u just suck it up and know its worth it payuppayup


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## OttolawnHD (Oct 8, 2009)

I live about 15 miles away from that maze in MN, but anyways that cabela's is in Rogers


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## KL&M Snow Div. (Jan 2, 2009)

I hate seeing trucks like that. Mine looked like that when I put in new headlights. That was quite the deal gettin them changed out. Not just bulbs, fixutre and all.


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## CAT 245ME (Sep 10, 2006)

Alaska how come you are putting a smaller V plow on your new truck than the one you have on the old one?

Are you worried about breaking the frame again.


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## Snowplow71 (Feb 12, 2008)

CAT 245ME;860548 said:


> Alaska how come you are putting a smaller V plow on your new truck than the one you have on the old one?
> 
> Are you worried about breaking the frame again.


If I remember correctly it's because he bought the plow from a friend and couldn't pass up the deal


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

fisher guy;860141 said:


> wow brings back memories when I put the plow on my truck it makes u wanna cry when u see ur nice pretty truck like that but u just suck it up and know its worth it payuppayup





KL&M Snow Div.;860481 said:


> I hate seeing trucks like that. Mine looked like that when I put in new headlights. That was quite the deal gettin them changed out. Not just bulbs, fixutre and all.


I know,... it's like getting an operation at the hospital,... looks bloody at the time, but when you're done, things are better. And it was worse,..... I had the whole dash apart,.. the headliner pulled down,... looked worse than many rigs in a junk yard! But, things are better now,... and when it's done, I'll post up the end results,..


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

CAT 245ME;860548 said:


> Alaska how come you are putting a smaller V plow on your new truck than the one you have on the old one?
> 
> Are you worried about breaking the frame again.





Snowplow71;860695 said:


> If I remember correctly it's because he bought the plow from a friend and couldn't pass up the deal


Yep, Snowplow71 has it,... one of my best friends had bought a brand new Boss 8.2 a few years ago for his real estate business, but ended up never using it,... he never even registered it! He had it stored under cover the whole time, and sold it to me for less than ½ price of a new 9.2. I am concerned about the frame on this new truck, as all Chevy 1-ton owners should be, but I've never had a problem after welding gussets in place in the problem area, and that issue would not keep me from buying a new 9.2 (VXT is what I would have liked), but I couldn't really justify over $3,000 for another foot of plow. Plus, I had an extra set of wing mounts/brackets laying around here, so my Boss wings will be used on this new plow too, making it a 10' plow, which will work just fine. So, yeah, all things being equal, I wouldn't have bought an 8.2, but it would have been nuts to turn this one down,...


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## DareDog (Oct 22, 2007)

got one of those to chevy with rusty frame..i keep coated with oil good, had ford frame rusted right threw on!


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## fordboy (Nov 24, 2005)

update on how the truck is coming?


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## Alaska Boss (Oct 8, 2005)

fordboy;865871 said:


> update on how the truck is coming?


Haven't been able to do anything on it for a week now,... just been plowing steady with the old one,... but I really need to get it done and get it out of the shop so I can work on other stuff too,... but I will post up pictures of it when it's ready to roll... :salute:


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## SnoBull (Oct 1, 2009)

Cant wait to see them. I always enjoy your pics AB!!!


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## GatorDL55 (Jan 18, 2008)

Great read! Good luck with the new truck!


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## fordboy (Nov 24, 2005)

yea please post ics would love to see them


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## nate456789 (Aug 11, 2009)

I love reading your posts and all the pictures. We don't get scenery like that around here.
Makes me want to go to Alaska. I've never been farther North than Toronto.

Awesome truck you bought. Looking forward to your plowing shots with it.


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## dieseld (Dec 30, 2005)

I am also waiting to see the new rig. This si my favorite body style ever.


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## thesnowman269 (Nov 7, 2009)

really cant wait to see the truck after your done with it


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