The life of a country field tech.

[DWise]

Re: The life of a country field tech.

Ok, so we have to travel deep into the Boreal Forests of Mid-Northern Canada. In summer we have to take a 2 hour open fairy on a lake, in winter you get ice roads. You drive 2 hours to travel 150kms and then you drive another hour to travel 10kms on ice. Dodging the volcano like ice heaves where water is spewing out or the ponds that the Highway department make by drilling holes in order to add a new layer of ice on the 'road' to make it stronger. Then up on a cleared, but not gravel or paved road, which is only a road because it is frozen solid with snow on it. There are random left overs of the cleared brush and trees on it that you have to miss. This is all without mentioning the 2-3 foot high random ice heaves in the permafrost. Best to take those incredibly slow. Finally you made it to the remote reserve out in the middle of absolutely nothing and you fix their machine and head out.

At least it is an exciting trip, can't fall asleep, there is to much to pay attention too. And don't forget the random moose who figure your there to fight them for the females and decides to run at you, and realizes what you are just in time to dart back into the woods. EEEK.

Oh and then there is the crazy salesman drifting around the ice corner laughing maniacally , as your white knuckles start cracking from being chapped by the cold of winter and the interior pressure of your heart beating faster than when you run 100m sprint.

That is the life of a Wilderness Tech...

And what if you vehicle breaks down...There is no one coming or going...you'd better bring your extreme winter survival gear.

-40C or -40F is not oncommon and usually -10 to -25 windchill added on....BRRRRR...chills me just thinking about it


On every road going out of town

This is exactly waht the roads look like


And the What if keep coming....

PASTech... you do not get paid enough! That's intense!

[PASTech]

Re: The life of a country field tech.

It's life, pay or no pay...I do what I can to live

They got me a good size 4 -wheel drive 305 horse power Chevy express cargo van...I think they did that so I have an emergency 'house' in the back to live in...

[Akitu]

Re: The life of a country field tech.

PASTech... you do not get paid enough! That's intense!

Yeah, those roads are definitely not fun to drive on. I've never done it until I started here, and I can't say I disagree with this statement sometimes. I think we're paid well enough for where we are, but for some of these things that would make ordinary people cringe I can't say I wouldn't mind a hazard pay bonus sometimes...

[Jude]

Re: The life of a country field tech.

Ok, so we have to travel deep into the Boreal Forests of Mid-Northern Canada. In summer we have to take a 2 hour open fairy on a lake, in winter you get ice roads. You drive 2 hours to travel 150kms and then you drive another hour to travel 10kms on ice. Dodging the volcano like ice heaves where water is spewing out or the ponds that the Highway department make by drilling holes in order to add a new layer of ice on the 'road' to make it stronger. Then up on a cleared, but not gravel or paved road, which is only a road because it is frozen solid with snow on it. There are random left overs of the cleared brush and trees on it that you have to miss. This is all without mentioning the 2-3 foot high random ice heaves in the permafrost. Best to take those incredibly slow. Finally you made it to the remote reserve out in the middle of absolutely nothing and you fix their machine and head out.

At least it is an exciting trip, can't fall asleep, there is to much to pay attention too. And don't forget the random moose who figure your there to fight them for the females and decides to run at you, and realizes what you are just in time to dart back into the woods. EEEK.

Oh and then there is the crazy salesman drifting around the ice corner laughing maniacally , as your white knuckles start cracking from being chapped by the cold of winter and the interior pressure of your heart beating faster than when you run 100m sprint.

That is the life of a Wilderness Tech...

And what if you vehicle breaks down...There is no one coming or going...you'd better bring your extreme winter survival gear.

-40C or -40F is not oncommon and usually -10 to -25 windchill added on....BRRRRR...chills me just thinking about it


On every road going out of town

This is exactly waht the roads look like


And the What if keep coming....

Kinda reminds me of Grand Forks North Dakota, land of snow snakes and ice mice, tree removal project and mountain move complete. Spent ten years there with the USAF! Not near as cold though you betcha!

[PASTech]

Re: The life of a country field tech.

Well lets just take Grand Forks and go North for about 1000kms to a little City in Manitoba, Canada call Thompson and then look around onGoogle maps...that whole are of Northern Manitoba is our service area....Thankfully we don't go beyond the tree line, where it is too cold for them to grow. It gets even more freezing from there north.

[Akitu]

Re: The life of a country field tech.

The one I described was actually one of our better highways. I didn't want to paint as grim a picture as PASTech did, but he did a good job of making it not seem as terrifying as it really is.

[PASTech]

Re: The life of a country field tech.

Oh sorry for our southern friends, we should say 619 miles north of Grand Forks.

[Jude]

Re: The life of a country field tech.

Oh sorry for our southern friends, we should say 619 miles north of Grand Forks.

THANK you! Saves me having to get the calculator out. I remember driving those canook hiways and trying to figure out the speed limit of 90 KM per hour. Are you anywhere near The Pas? Have some friends living up there. Brutal. Oh well, see ya next spring. You guys are snowed in til June.

[Shadow1]

Re: The life of a country field tech.

Well what a week. Thought I'd have a little rant.

1800 KMS & 17 jobs in 3 days
2 motel rooms
3 tanks of diesel
2 broken small gauge allen keys (MP5000 cleaning web grub screw)
3 counter meals
1 pie spilled down the work pants while driving (burns)
2 hangovers
4 dodged kangaroos, countless lizards and snakes
?? coffees and smokes

And its Friday, I hope the customers are happy. I know their machines are.

Insert the allen key in the set screw and give it a good whack with a hammer, etc. It breaks the screw loose and flattens either the screw or shaft just slightly to take all the tension off of it. A little dab of that silvery anti-seizure compound like you would use on spark plugs (AutoZone gives the stuff away when you buy tuneup parts) is great if you actually rebuild the web units - I never put them back together - there's a mod to put in a snakeskin oil roller that literally takes 30 seconds to change out next time.

...and we don't have 'roos here in the US, but if you ever hit an Armadillo it's like running over a cannon ball.

[Akitu]

Re: The life of a country field tech.

THANK you! Saves me having to get the calculator out. I remember driving those canook hiways and trying to figure out the speed limit of 90 KM per hour. Are you anywhere near The Pas? Have some friends living up there. Brutal. Oh well, see ya next spring. You guys are snowed in til June.

We're about 4 hours north of The Pas actually.

[PASTech]

Re: The life of a country field tech.

We're about 4 hours north of The Pas actually.

Yup the Cold and Frozen North

[HenryT2]

Re: The life of a country field tech.

Don't hate snakes, they kill morons. Most of them won't even bother a human... Shame that people dislike something because they never bothered to learn about them. Not saying that's you, just a general statement.

I don't hate snakes as much as I do some animals. I've seen a Chicken Snake ( that's the name.......not meaning that it's scared ) around my workshop at home. He leaves me alone...I leave him alone .
Seriously; there are only three kinds of snake that I DO NOT LIKE :
Live Ones
Dead Ones
Sticks that look like them

[Gamut]

Re: The life of a country field tech.

I don't hate snakes as much as I do some animals. I've seen a Chicken Snake ( that's the name.......not meaning that it's scared ) around my workshop at home. He leaves me alone...I leave him alone .
Seriously; there are only three kinds of snake that I DO NOT LIKE :
Live Ones
Dead Ones
Sticks that look like them

The only Snakes I see in my working day are called SALESMEN, and I feel the same way about them as you do for the other slithery B*st*rds

[Tricky]

Re: The life of a country field tech.

Don't hate snakes, they kill morons. Most of them won't even bother a human... Shame that people dislike something because they never bothered to learn about them. Not saying that's you, just a general statement.

I personally think its part of our natural defence to be scared of snakes. A long time ago mankind was running around Africa with few clothes throwing spears at animals. Treading on one could be fatal.

With all due respect I find 'you lot' that are not frightened of them a bit weird.

[Shadow]

Re: The life of a country field tech.

As a testament to the other Canadian Technicians that cover a large territory I know your pains.
I worked in southern Alberta for 10 years and covered what I thought was a large area.
As you can see by the insert, the area encompassed in the red line is the area I covered.
I had a small Mazda car as my service vehicle and would have to drive through Blizzards to service some clients.
I sure don't miss those -40C winters any more.
My new territory encompasses all of Vancouver Island, however here we can experience all weather conditions in 1 day of travel
from south to north.
I have traveled from bright warm sunny weather right into wind driven white outs with 2 feet of snow.

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