So, there I was, sitting at home having just finished getting next winters firewood in. I was wondering what to do next, and it’s not like there’s a shortage of things to do, when I got a call. “Hey bro, how’d you like to go to the Arctic and drive a dump truck?” I said I’ll have to pray about it… OK, when do we go?
Two days later I’m on a plane to Inuvik NWT. I met a sweet young lady on the first leg of the flight and shared the Gospel with her. We spent the night in a hotel in Edmonton then off to the frozen wonderland of the North West Territories.
I am smiling…
I’m at the very, very end of the Trans Canada Hwy, in a place called Tuktoyaktuk, population around 700, plus the camp crew of about 200. It’s a toasty -15 today, up from -30 the other day, so spring is in the air.
My ride, an old beat to death Kenworth. This is where they send trucks to die.
When the truck isn’t in the shop, I do two 325km round trips to Inuvik and back. We’re hauling rock for a breakwater project at the entrance to Sachs Harbour. As far as excitement goes, it’s at level zero, although driving on the ice road is sort of interesting. Hauling 100,000lbs on 5ft of ice over 90ft deep ocean isn’t stressful, if you don’t fall through it!
The same road a few hours apart. The wind really whips up the drifting snow!
I’ve been here for 10 days now and working 12 hours a day, 7 days a week gets a bit tiring, but the money is good and that’s the only reason anyone is up here. Maybe another 3 weeks, if it stays cold and they don’t close the road to heavy trucks, then back to the mountain where I know there’s going to be lots of thing to catch up on!
I’m praying that I can share the good news with just one person while I’m here. I want to be more bold at sharing the gospel but in my experience, all it takes is one jerk to screw it up, so discretion is needed…
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