Quote: (07-16-2013 04:35 PM)wiscanada Wrote:
Quote: (07-16-2013 03:41 PM)scotian Wrote:
Quote: (07-16-2013 03:16 PM)wiscanada Wrote:
Quote: (07-16-2013 01:15 PM)renotime Wrote:
I take it you are a land surveyor, wiscanada?
I did building survey for 2 years, not nearly as fun.
something like a land surveyor, the company did pretty much anything natural resources related. I don't know if it was fun but it was character building. I've never complained about working in an air conditioned office after that.
Wiscanada, your bush stories are pretty crazy, I've done some work in remote areas but we're not usually too far from a camp, looks like you've been way farther out from civilization. I personally don't like being too far out in the bush because my survival skills aren't so great and I'm not too keen on getting chased by wild animals, although I've seen tons of black bears and the odd wild cat.
One almost crazy story I have was when I was called to do a quick job "just down the road" from the camp I was working at, I didn't get the best directions and ended up driving past the turn I was supposed to take. It was dark and late October so the weather in northern Alberta was cold, it also started raining heavily and the dirt road became very muddy, after about 15 kms from the last light (sign of civilization) I saw, I decided to turn around. I ended up getting bogged down in the mud in the work truck, so I got out and the mud was up to my ankles, I put it in 4WD but kept spinning, fuck! I then grabbed a bunch of branches off some trees and put them under the tires for traction but still couldn't move. It was past 10PM and my cell phone didn't have service, I started panicking a bit because I knew it would take a few hours to get somewhere with service and I wasn't dressed properly for a long walk. Anyway, I kept fucking with the truck and putting down lots of branches and after about 20 minutes finally got the truck unstuck, then eventually found the site I was supposed to go to.
Working in the bush definitely isn't for everyone and it can be really dangerous, I can't imagine how the guys did it way back in the day before cell phones, radios, etc.
its terrifying when you're way out and something goes wrong like getting stuck, a part on a truck breaks, someone gets injured etc. However, there is also no bigger feeling of relief when you finally solve it and are back on your way again. All it takes is one of those and you turn into the guy who obsessively checks over the truck, radios, weather forecast and safety equipment before you leave for a job.
Also, Alberta is ridiculous with all of those clay roads up north that turn into mud pits like mention when it rains
I almost forgot about an even scarier time I had driving a truck, but what you wrote above in bold reminded me because now I always do a walk around. I was driving back from work on a dirt road and a truck pulled up beside me and the passenger waved at me to pull over, so I did, I was expecting my back door to be open or something but it was much more serious. The guy runs up to me and says "buddy your rear right wheel is damn near falling off!" Sure enough, I checked it out and and all but two or three lugs nuts had sheared themselves off and there was a bunch of metal filings all over the wheel, had I kept driving, especially on the highway, I could have been killed. I called my boss to come get me and he had the truck towed, it was a close call.