The Traverse City Record-Eagle recently published an uplifting feature about a truck driver who hauled a load from Michigan to Alaska for the first time ever.
Richard Robertson, a truck driver for Ennis Trucking in Traverse City, Mich., hadn’t ever been gone for longer than 10 days as part of his CDL trucking job. But on February 3, the 17-year truck driving veteran found himself heading out West on a monthlong drive to and from Valdez, Alaska.
It was a drive Robertson will never forget.
“To me, it just sounded like fantasy,” Robertson said. “Alaska?”
The drive from Michigan to Seattle — his first destination — was about what he was used to, but conditions grew more unfamiliar as he headed north through British Columbia and the Yukon Territory.
“Being out there and seeing it, it’s real pretty, but it’s deadly at the same time,” he said. “You’re a long ways from nowhere.”
Robertson said everything in Alaska looked like a winter wonderland.
In vivid writing, the newspaper also highlighted the dangers of the wintry roads.
Everything around him was winter white — the trees, the mountains, the clouds. The roads were covered in hard packed snow, and it was often difficult to tell whether the road would be slick or slushy.
Robertson drove from sunup to sundown — driving at night would be too risky — and often was the lone truck pulled off at rest stops.
“Other than being awed by the sights all around me, it was just the loneliness,” he said. “I have never felt so isolated.”
To show just how isolated Robertson was on his drive, writer Sarah Elms included this telling detail: “It was so desolate there wasn’t even road kill to keep him company.”
Now that’s desolate. But to Robertson, having the chance to drive in Alaska was awe-inspiring.
Robertson said he’s always relieved when he reaches a destination, but finally reading “Welcome to Valdez” on a snow-covered sign was a sense of accomplishment like none other…. “It was the highlight of my career,” he said. “
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