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Message: <blockquote data-quote="yukonjack" data-source="post: 3673412" data-attributes="member: 2939">December 20, 2012. I had spent the night in Smithers, British Columbia on my way to Anchorage. I had opted to take the Cassiar Highway over the Alcan as it’s shorter and I’d already driven it multiple times. It was cold when I pulled into Smithers at -15 below zero. Went ahead and gassed up before checking into the hotel as I wanted to leave early with hopes of making it to Whitehorse.It wasn’t a bad drive leaving leaving Smithers. The roads while they’d been plowed were still snow packed but not icy. Got to Kitwanga to take the turn on  to Highway 37, the start of the Cassiar Hwy. Stopped and got gas at the store in Kitwanga. Cause in the winter you want to top off your tanks every single chance you get.Continued on without any problems other then a few slick spots on the sweeping curves in the road. Made it to the Meziadin Junction and the highway 37A spur that goes back to Stewart and Hyder, Alaska. Normally I’d have taken the spur and gone to visit my friend Wes the owner of the Hyder General Store but they get dumped on with some major snow every single winter.As I continued northward I noticed the temperature had plunged to -25 below.i stopped and put my cardboard cutouts over the radiator. Stopped at the Bell 2 resort and topped off the gas tanks again. Sometimes you can get gas in Iskut but it’s not real reliable. Half of the times I’ve stopped there there’s been a sign on the door that says “Gone fishing/hunting/berry picking back later.”The closer I got to Iskut the more the temperature dropped. Slowed down even more as I drove through Iskut. Got to the end of town and was going about 20 mph as there is a sweeping curve in the road. It looked like the plow hadn’t been through in a few days.As I’m trying to take all this in I lost traction. In 4 wheel drive, foot off of the accelerator and my trusty 1992 Ford F-150 4x4 is sliding right towards the drop off and nothing I can do about it. I‘d been around this corner many times before in the summer and knew it was about a 100 foot drop over the edge.Off I went. It’s seemed like it was all in slow motion. My saving grace was the snow plows. They’d been pushing snow right over the edge all winter. Still a 20 foot drop but it coulda been worse. Pulled on my snow pants, zipped up my parka and got my gloves on. I noticed the thermometer that’s mounted on my outside rear view mirror now reads -37 below zero.Get outta the truck and get the snow shovel outta the back. What else you gonna do? Can’t call for help as there is no cell phone service. Shovel about 15 minutes and realize this isn’t gonna work. Crawl up the embankment and stand on the side of the road.I‘m gettin‘ cold by now. Stood by the road for 30 minutes before anyone came by. Fortunately for me the guy stopped. He saw me still holding the shovel. He rolled down the window and said to hope in. Told me the shovel wouldn’t be much help but he knew where the tow truck driver lived.He drove me back into Iskut and to the tow truck drivers home/shop. I knocked on the door and a very nice lady answered the door and invited me in. She went and got her husband. I started to explain where my truck was at and before i could finish he said “You slid offa the road up by the curve didn’t ya?” Then he told me I wasn’t the first one that week.Then he told me it’d take about 20 minutes to get the tow truck warmed up.As we were waiting his wife insisted on making me breakfast and getting some fresh coffee brewed.Got into the truck and then headed up to the curve. Just as we were getting to the curve the tow truck driver also lost traction. Fortunately he was only going about 5 mph. He mumbled something about the plows needing to get up there. So he positions the truck and gets the winch cable unspooled. Then he said he needed me to go down the hill and hook up the cable. No problem. Got it done.Get the truck out and back up on the road. Turn the key and it starts right up.Then he has me follow him back to the shop. I’m thinking this is gonna cost me a lotta money. He goes over and opens the shop door and tells me to pull my truck inside. We then spent the next hour digging the snow out of the engine compartment and from underneath the truck.As we were digging the snow out the conversation turned towards firearms and the onerous Canadian firearms regulations. He told me that the only handgun he owned was a Smith and Wesson model 629 with a 6” barrel. He told me he had to keep it locked up inside an RCMP approved safe in his home and could only take it out to go target shoot at the gun club. He said fortunately the RCMP officers in the area knew that all handgun owners were always on their way to the gun club if they happened to get stopped with a handgun in the vehicle.When I asked him how much I owed him he proceeded to spend another 20 minutes telling me about towing regulations In Canada. He said legally he should have hired two flaggers to block traffic, a spotter to watch over the towing operation and another helper to hook up the winch cable while he manned the winch. He said the normal fee woulda been $700 to tow me outta the ditch.I musta grimaced when he said that. Then he told me since we didn’t do any of that I only owed him $175. I said “Will American dollars be okay?” He replied “Even better!” As I was backing outta the shop his wife came and handed me a big sack lunch. Didn‘t expect that. She told me there wasn’t any other place open going north until I got to Watson Lake and she didn’t want me to starve. I’ll save the part of the story about my fuel lines freezing up at -55 below in Tok, Alaska for next time.[ATTACH=full]234647[/ATTACH]</blockquote>

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