I saw a few minutes of ‘Highway thru Hell’ yesterday and the owner of the wrecker company was selling his biggest wrecker. It seems it was 800 hp with an 18 speed transmission and most significantly a heavy duty bank note on it. Selling that piece of equipment got him totally out of making monthly payments which he thought was the best choice to put him on top up there in real snow country. I wish I had payed better attention and caught what that 50 ton piece of iron sold for. Just a few minutes of that program on an occasional basis leaves me certain that I want nothing to do with life/driving above even 45* N latitude where for half the year just getting to the store and home can be a minute by minute life or death situation.
AS they say, you get used to it. For the last 68 years (except for 5 years in Asia) I have lived above 49* latitude and watched with amusement how this week and the last drivers at the lower latitudes are struggling with the snow storms.
The Highway through Hell is the Coqahalla highway that forms part of the Trans Canada Highway system through the Rocky Mountains. I’ve driven it many times in all kinds of weather. It’s really no worse than the Donner Pass in California except for the longer snow season.
You need to check ahead of time to determine if there are any avalanches or traffic tie-ups.
My son and his wife are heading into the mountains to do some skiing this weekend. He has a Toyota Tacoma AWD with the lift kit and the Finnish winter tires designed especially for deep snow.
Is that a TV show? I’ve got cable here at the condo, but don’t know what’s on the hundreds of channels or how to find anything (don’t watch much TV). I’d have a look at that show.
I have been living above the 45th all year, every year, commuting a 72 mile round-trip to work each day for several decades until last winter. Frost bitten toes the winter before that (running the snow blower and shoveling) finished me off. Once you suffer from that it’s much easier to freeze flesh again. I’m writing this from Florida right now and it’s 74*F in the early evening, just got out of the pool. It’s expected to be in 80s during days and low 70s nights for quite some time. I’ll go to northern home as soon as summer is approaching. They’re having a pretty tough winter up there this year.
That cold weather makes everything one does outside more difficult and even things inside. Furnace problems in the house or frozen pipes, etcetera become near emergencies. Working om cars is no picnic. I have a standby generator for fairly frequent power outages and many times have had to fill buckets from my flowing well to flush toilets and use as drinking water. When I flew home last March to get the Grand Prix I decided to replace all 4 rotors and pads sets in the driveway so I’d know the brakes were good for the drive. Working around ice and snow with gloves on takes some fun out of it.
I had an 86 Dodge Aries (great car) back when it was 3 years old and the MAP sensor went out. I bought one from the local dealer in our nearest town 20 miles away and it came with instructions on how to modify it because apparently they all suffered from what mine did. In the cold garage in the winter I had to relocate the MAP from the PCM in the passenger footwell kick panel to the right shock tower under the hood (moisture/gravity problem). I had to put a 1/2" hole through the firewall without hitting anything, like a brake line, wiring, etcetera. The cold weather turned it into a lousy job.
I’m not missing that weather too much and not feeling homesick. Wearing shorts, T-shirts, and sandals all the time and deciding on whether to play golf, bike ride, play pickleball or go to the beach works better for me than putting on a bunch of clothing and arctic boots and starting a snow blower at 20 below zero just to be able leave the house on icy or snow covered roads.
CSA
I think Highway Through Hell is on the Weather Channel.
If you have an HD cable interface to your TV, you can probably get an app for a tablet or smartphone if you have one. It’s a remote control that is easier to use when there are oodles of channels to choose from.
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Yeah its on the Weather channel here. Since they were bought out, they don’t talk current weather much, just re-runs of catastrophes and towing mishaps. I don’t know where those guys operate but they used to feature an outfit in Chicago with all the heavy gear. I have no idea what those rigs cost but like every other business some guys have all of the heavy equipment and then have to charge accordingly. Around here there was an outfit called Shorty’s Towing that would often run 100 or more miles because he was the guy that would give good service for reasonable costs and that’s who the truckers would call. I would see the trucks quite a bit and hear the guys talking about him. I think he died or sold out a few years ago.
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I’m sure he was also glad to get out from under the insurance payments. For commercial trucks the insurance payments alone will keep you behind the wheel, unable to take a vacation.
I would think that the greatest cost for insurance in a business like that would be liability. It was for me even in a small shop.
And I had never really paid any attention to what channel that program is on. If I sit down in front of the tv I just start at whatever channel it’s on and work my way up or down catching a glimpse of the bottom of the screen where the titles are shown. I do know where 2 news stations are and the old movie channel. It’s a shame that there’s so little worth watching with so many channels to choose from. And does anyone watch that street drag racing reality program? I rank it among the top ten wastes of time being aired. Somewhere between the Counting Kars and The Kardashians.
That’s ultimately why I cut the cable, bought a digital antenna, and subscribed to streaming services for most of my televised entertainment. Now I watch TV on my terms, not the broadcasters’ and cable company’s terms.
Channel surfing is a thing of the past in my home. Now it’s a debate of what to watch and how many episodes I want to binge at a time.
Speaking of which, I think I’ll go pick up where I left off in Walking Dead episodes. I like to let a bunch of episodes of my favorite shows collect in my queue so I don’t have to stop at a cliffhanger. Deferred gratification is a virtue. 
Highway Through Hell is a series of rescue programs shown on the Discovery Channel. This channel also has Myth Busters, Alaska the Last Frontier, The Last Alaskans, various car customizing programs, and outdoor adventure programs.
I have cable in FL because that and super high speed wireless internet comes with the condo (paid out of HOA money).
Back at home I’ve always only had over-the air TV with antenna. Years ago I got 4 channels. Now I get 8.
There’s more to watch on those 8 channels than the 100s on cable, but I do like the music ones on 24 hours.
Both places get ME-TV. That’s all I need.
CSA
I’ve got about 7 TVs throughout the house (guess I’ve only got 6. One is just for DVD). Two are on cable and the others I use an antenna for. I put the antenna in 24 years ago but never used it until the cable company started charging for a box for each TV a couple years ago. Actually I get a better picture with the antenna and the only thing I don’t get is 24 hour news and C Span and about 50 Spanish channels. I don’t speak Spanish anyway so no big deal. Out of the 100 or so cable stations, I pretty much only use about 5 depending on how desperate I am. So I cut some of the cables but not all.