Ice Road Truckers (2007) s05e13 Episode Script

Tonight on Ice Road Truckers Uh-oh.
Dave is on thin ice.
Shut up! And Alex is on his last legs.
You have to embrace dying before you can live life, because you're gonna die.
Hugh faces disaster Oh.
And the worst wreck of the season Oh, my God.
Shuts down the Dalton.
That is horrible.
On Alaska's Dalton Highway, Lisa Kelly and Tony Molesky are on a special mission.
So this is a good spot.
What do you think? - Yes.
- I think so.
Says, "Wayne died in October of cancer.
He drove the haul road.
He asked me if some ice road trucker could take these ashes up the ice road and dust them in the wind.
His mother would have loved it.
Carol Lincoln, Talkeetna, Alaska.
" So.
Trucker Wayne Richardson drove this road for almost 30 years.
And now the frozen tundra of Alaska's north slope will be Wayne's last stop.
This is a first for me.
I didn't know the guy.
This is family, man.
If he was a haul road trucker, it's family.
I want to do some too.
One little bit.
- All right.
- You got the rest.
Yes, Wayne, rest in peace.
You're where you wanted to be.
In the wind on the Brooks range on the north side of the path.
Bury me up here too.
I want to be next to Wayne.
Yeah.
Out of an F-15? Well, I don't care.
Nice.
If that can't happen, then do it out of a truck.
- Are you ready? - Yeah, go for it.
All right, Wayne.
It's all done.
My condolences to Wayne's Family.
We're a family up here and so he's part of that family, even if I never knew him.
And it's an honor to be able to spread his ashes.
Pretty crazy, man.
Pretty crazy.
I-- You know, I've only done anything like that one other time and it was with my grandpa in the Kenai river.
And, uh, you know, it's a place that he loved.
It's a place that he taught me where to fish and how to fish and It kind of reminds me of that day.
You know, to be able to put Wayne in a place that he truly would love to be-- This is the best I could do for him and, uh, man, rest in peace.
I think Not any better place I could give you Than this right here.
In Winnipeg, Canada Figured I come and see the doctor.
Weeks of round-the-clock driving and brutal conditions have finally caught up with Alex.
Because of all this baloney with some heart problems and the blood clots and everything else I've had in my lungs I been getting a little bit of pain.
Three years ago I'm coughing a little bit of blood, yep.
A trip to the doctor revealed a life-threatening condition.
I am worried that there may be a blood clot in your lungs.
Now Alex isn't taking any chances.
Just breathe in and out.
Check your blood pressure.
I'm in better shape than you are, right? - Okay, wish you all the best.
- Thank you very much.
Okay.
Thank you too, sir.
The flu may slow him down, but with just a few weeks left in the season, there's no time for a sick day.
I don't know if I'm supposed to be hot.
I was always told-- I'd like to roll down the window right now and cool down, but Supposed to drink hot, stay in bed, and sweat.
So I'm drinking lots and I'm sweating.
So what's happening? You got a load? Yep.
St.
Theresa Point.
You got to get-- Get her in gear and get moving.
The only thing holding me up is you.
Thanks.
Well, baby, one more trip before falling apart.
I'm trying to get there before they close the road.
That's the plan.
Coming down in rain and that rain lands in the snow, guess what happens to the snow.
It turns the snow into one great, big slushee.
You can see the water on the road right here.
I'm driving through a puddle right in front of us.
Let's see what it's like in the bush.
God have mercy.
While Alex hits the ice Back in Winnipeg, Rick Yemm hits the repair shop.
Trucking, it's a-- It's a tough-- Tough business.
And then these things aren't cheap.
You got repairs, fuel costs, insurance.
All season Rick and Hugh have punished their rigs Running hard over the rugged terrain.
Felt that one in my fillings.
Big truck repairs are big money repairs.
Now Rick's headed in for a tune up before the big push to the end of the season.
Good enough, yeah.
It ain't making me no money sitting in here.
- It's just costing me a bunch.
- Yeah, yeah.
Well, I'll give you a call a little later and we'll see how it's coming along.
- Okay, all right.
- See you later.
While Rick is stuck waiting for repairs Across town Filler job again.
It's good.
Keep you busy.
Hugh also has his rig in for service.
But that's not gonna keep the polar bear off his game.
I'm doing some filler work here.
Driving for some cash.
Keep busy while my truck's getting fixed and tomorrow, we'll be back on the road, so there's no use just sitting there twiddling my thumbs if I can make a little money while I'm here.
They had, uh, a little gravel job here today, so that's what I'm doing.
Instead of his big rig, Hugh's behind the wheel of a dump truck.
The job is hauling 15 tons of boulders across Lake Winnipeg to a construction site at Victoria Beach.
Like I said, I'll do anything it takes to keep making money.
Ah, but this is all right.
We'll get along.
Can't make money sitting.
I'm gonna just jump on for a second and, uh-- Yeah.
And I'm gonna give you a little bit of a safety briefing.
Right.
That's all right? Yep, sure.
So basically, what we want to make sure is that the drivers are alone on the ice.
Right.
We're driving about two miles of ice road here today Yeah.
And hauling rock on it.
We're traveling on about Okay.
The ice on Lake Winnipeg is less than half as thick as the ice on the winter roads.
The ice here.
Big cracks.
You got about 15 ton on here.
The ice is, uh, pretty brittle today.
Driving on ice.
You got to respect it.
It doesn't have any respect for you.
It'll drop you in a heartbeat.
Holy [Bleep.]
.
Outside of Winnipeg, Canada It'll drop you in a heartbeat.
Holy [Bleep.]
.
- Hugh is on thin ice.
- Getting pretty serious.
There.
You can tell when you're going too fast.
The ice starts popping and then you know you better slow down a little bit.
Finally Here I am.
Hugh reaches the drop-off Money in the bank.
And they're ready to rock and roll.
Yeah, I see that, yeah.
And one good run One more load after this one.
- Okay.
- All right? - Yeah, you betcha.
- Okay? Earns Hugh a second load.
Back on the road again.
One left.
While Hugh's business is booming Dave Redmon is busted.
Mark, what's up? Going on, dude? What you got for me today? Another happy day in paradise here.
Last week, Dave got called out for ditching his convoy partners.
I don't care if they think I'm a team player or not.
But now with hot loads piling up in the yard, the Carlile bosses are giving the Alabama slammer one more shot.
That's all I needed.
I'll give you a nice type spool load.
There's just one catch.
Um, spoke with Layne, um, last last night, and he'd like you to just kind of hang out with Phil.
Trainer Phil Cromm will keep an eye on him, and any mistake could make this Dave's last run.
This 20-ton load of pipe will make or break Dave's season.
Damn it! Damn it! How the [Bleep.]
did I miss it altogether? I just missed the fifth wheel altogether, went right over the top of it.
It's not the first time Dave has had problems hooking up to a load.
Oh, I hate my job.
Now I got to try and get out from underneath it now.
You line the trailer up with the side of the-- [Bleep.]
damn it-- The tractor.
Yeah, I'm at that point right now Where enough is just enough.
Bingo! Now I'm hooked up.
I back-- Yeah, I just touched that one side, broke that piece of plastic.
- That gonna be a big problem? - Yeah, um But we better have them look at it.
In the wilds of Manitoba Oh God when I in awesome wonder Alex is under the weather, but still on the job.
Got a little bit of a-- I got a flu.
I could have went back-- Go to work without seeing a doctor, but I've had a heart-- You know, I've had a mitral valve operation.
I've had a fatty embolism and I've had, uh, whatever, blood clots in the lungs.
Had to take it easy so nobody noticed I was stumbling around.
Uh-oh.
Whoa.
Can't believe this.
Name of the father, the son, the holy spirit, amen.
Thank you, dear God, for another day.
With 103-degree fever, he's struggling to keep it together.
Have mercy on all those who are less fortunate than I.
Look, look, look, look.
There's a skunk out there.
I can't believe it.
I've never seen a skunk out in a snowbank.
I have never really seen a skunk.
I'm gonna catch pneumonia out here chasing skunks.
Isn't this great? I'm gonna run out of air chasing this guy.
Come here.
I can smell him already.
I think-- I think I'm almost getting close enough.
Eh? Huh.
Enough exercise for me today.
Took the skunk for a walk.
Back in Fairbanks So I got a flatbed of cable trays.
I'm gonna go hook up to this load.
Gonna get going.
Maya's ready to roll.
But her truck isn't.
Are you serious? Sucks.
There's no ice.
There's no snow.
There might be something wrong with the valve.
There's no air getting to them for some reason.
There might be ice in the lines themselves.
That's what I think's going on.
- So they're all frozen? - Oh, yeah.
There's no ice or anything so.
Fellow driver Leah Thiele stops by to lend a hand.
Just trying to break apart the-- The brakes there.
- I'll give you some help, you can dump it in there.
- All right, cool.
Um, we're gonna try throwing some alcohol down the air lines.
It's to, uh, break up any ice that's in them.
Go ahead and hook 'em up.
The alcohol will unfreeze the lines for now, but if moisture seeps in as she's driving, Maya's brakes could lock up on the road.
- Well, thanks a bunch for helping me.
- No problem.
- So you heading out? - Yeah.
All right, yeah, cool.
So I guess we'll go together.
Yeah, I'm gonna go hook up to my load and then I'll meet you up at hilltop.
- All right, sounds good.
Thanks.
- Cool.
All righty.
Here we go.
We're leaving at the same time, so we're gonna roll together, which is really cool.
It's gonna be girl time trucking, you know? It'll be cool.
Not a problem.
Sexy load, Leah.
Ten-four.
Hauling cable trays.
It's a really light load.
It's like aluminum casings and, uh, you know, it's for construction.
It looks real bad-ass, but it's really, really light.
My brakes just locked up.
Oh, my God! Just 20 miles outside of Fairbanks My brakes just locked up.
Oh, my God! I gotta pull over right away.
Maya's brake lines have frozen up for the second time today.
Hey, Leah, um, I gotta pull over in this next rest stop up here.
My trailer brakes are locked up again.
All right.
Well, I got to get this pipe to Prudhoe.
It's a hot shipment, so.
It was fun riding with you.
I don't know what's going on with my trailer.
I had problems with it this morning.
It was the-- Both the air lines were iced up and I don't want to have my brakes lock up and jackknife sideways, so.
Maya plays it safe, leaving her load for the mechanic and heading back to Fairbanks empty.
Think it's best I just leave it here and I just don't feel safe bringing it up-- Up north.
I just don't feel comfortable.
While Maya rolls South Dave is going nowhere.
See the little scratch right there? We got a high hitcher.
Basically what happened is the fifth wheel-- The kingpin got on top of the fifth wheel.
Instead of going into the jaws, got up on top.
The pipe hit the back of the truck.
We got a couple dings there in the bevel end of 'em.
Could be a big deal.
Depends on how much damage there is, something like that.
A high hitch is kind of a rookie mistake.
We don't expect a rookie mistake from a guy like Dave.
And when I say "rookie mistake" here, it's not rookie to the ice roads or the haul road.
This is a rookie mistake driving.
This is something we don't-- We don't look for with a guy who's got 25 years driving experience.
This time, Dave was lucky.
Doesn't look like there's anything wrong.
Oh, that one hit on top-- Each precision-calibrated pipe costs was to the plastic caps.
All right, well, let's, um-- Hey.
I want you to work.
I want you to get with-- Okay.
If you're gonna run with Phil, make it work.
Let's not, uh, have any problems.
Enough drama.
I wasn't nervous about it.
I-- We just had to go get it looked at real quick.
You know, no harm, no foul.
They threw a couple caps on it and down the road we went.
Yep, yep.
Well, I'm back to following Phil again.
It's like I'm back to square one again.
I got in trouble.
I got my hand spanked.
Dave's make-or-break run is off to a rocky start.
Making my life miserable is what it is.
But either way you look at it, I'm in trouble and I'm back to following again, so technically, I should be in front of him, but-- A poor attitude-- The wrong attitude out here just creates a dangerous situation for everybody and we don't need it as a company and we don't need it as an industry out here.
So I'm trying to do an evaluation with Dave on this trip and I'll go back to town and discuss it with Layne and we'll figure out where we go after this trip.
is headed South with a load of recycling.
What's up? She ran up with you? On the trailer or her truck? Ahh, ten-four.
Leah said that Maya is dropping her trailer at No Name creek and and I'm almost to No Name.
I'm gonna see if she's all right.
Maya, I heard you were dropping your trailer.
What's up? Yeah, I had problems with my trailer all day.
Um, my air lines are froze.
Any things go wrong besides your air lines and tires locking up? The biggest problem for me is getting in this truck after driving 18-speed and trying to get used to it.
Like, a ten-speed on mountain driving just totally sucks.
It's actually good, because it teaches you a lot.
There's a lot of tricks you can learn from doing the super ten and the ten.
Then you get in here and then you know a couple tricks, you know? I've learned a lot.
It's completely different.
I mean, there'd be accidents up here all the time if people weren't trained.
Yeah, you'll be able to go back and you'll just be like, "I ain't scared of snow.
What are you guys stopped for?" Yeah, it's good to experience it all around.
Have you heard anything from Dave at all lately? The last time I saw Dave was my last trip down right about in this area.
But that was, uh, I don't know how many days ago.
Yeah, I haven't seen him for quite a few days either.
Wonder if he's just incognito or if he's hiding somewhere.
Oh, God knows.
I don't know.
We were convoying.
It was, uh, him, me, and Tony, and-- And as soon as we got on the road, he just wanted to take off.
And, um, he, like, passed me on 25-mile while there was a 4-Wheeler coming.
Pretty impressive.
He was on my ass the whole time, so I don't know.
He went out in front and then just kind of separated.
And then he's been on his own, I guess.
I don't know.
It's definitely not for everyone, and that's what makes this road hard.
Trying to fit in and have the right attitude.
Just outside Winnipeg The polar bear has hustled up a job while his rig is in the shop.
I could stand to be fishing for a day.
That would be cool.
But this-- I'm here to work, not here to fish.
With another load of boulders on board I've got a big load this time.
This is 14.
6 tonne.
Must have put an extra bucket on.
Hugh heads back out to the thin ice of Lake Winnipeg.
Look at this opening up.
This was stable, but now look at them cracks Look at it.
Drives your tire right in there.
Throw you right out of the seat.
[Bleep.]
ice here right now.
A job like this takes careful planning to keep trucks from meeting on the thin ice.
What we want to make sure is that the drivers are alone on the ice.
Thank you.
So.
A DOT study showed that when the ice is overloaded, an entire truck can be pulled under in less than five seconds.
But halfway through the crossing He's got to get out of the lake.
What the hell are you doing? In the middle of Lake Winnipeg On less than 3 feet of ice, Hugh rowland is facing oncoming traffic.
What the hell are you doing? Get the [Bleep.]
over, you [Bleep.]
.
You [Bleep.]
.
You're gonna get-- You're gonna kill yourself.
Uh, that's the difference between the [Bleep.]
ice roads and the Dalton.
You [Bleep.]
pop a hole in the ice and you're dead.
With the close call behind him, Hugh heads in for his second delivery.
It's done.
So anyway, thanks again for coming out and helping us.
No problem.
Just dropped my last load of boulders there and made a few bucks.
That's what it's all about.
Polar bear does it again.
While Hugh rolls off the thin ice Back on the Dalton, Dave's right in the middle of it.
I'm the alleged rookie.
Technically, in the trucking industry, you're a rookie until they're throwing dirt on your body or on the coffin that you're laying in.
It's up to trainer Phil Cromm to decide if Dave's up to the job.
Dave's a little bit on the hot seat right now, and I'm out here with him this trip to get a feel for his general attitude out here.
But convincing Phil he deserves another shot is the last thing on Dave's mind.
I mean, we just can't get going.
I mean, I just want somebody to say, "here's a load.
[Bleep.]
go to work.
" But we can't get there.
It's always something every day.
People and a broke down truck all the time and the [Bleep.]
that you got to go through up here, I've just about had it.
It doesn't matter if you've got 2 years or 25 years experience.
When you're new on this road, you're a rookie all over again.
If you're the new driver, if you're the new guy, you got to earn the respect from the other people on this road, and it's not just given to you.
You have to earn it.
It's not the hardest job I've ever had to do.
It's probably the biggest pain in the ass I've ever dealt with.
A high fever and rough road are pushing Alex to the edge.
I'm basically in for an all-night drive.
Um I'm hoping to-- Hoping to get into St.
Theresa Point at daylight.
Ay-yi-yi-yi-yi.
Lake here.
I understand there might be water on it.
The lake ice is softer when the weather is warmer, which tends to make it more pliable.
Generally, if the ice is rotted and we drive out on it, we'll sink.
So we're gonna do a little splish-splash across the lake.
And if we sink, I'm gonna bailout and leave the cameraman in here and if you're lucky, you'll catch the screams.
I'll haul this load to St.
Theresa Point.
It doesn't matter if we sink or we don't sink.
Just come on around the lake northbound.
There's quite a bit of-- Quite a bit of water on the lake.
I guess overflow.
Not sure if it's coming from the thawing or the lake sinking from all the snow.
Hopefully, uh, there isn't anymore water on this end.
You gotta embrace dieing you can live life Because you're gonna die.
I'd like to sell people on the idea of building their own coffin and putting it by their front door.
Every day, giving it a little pat like that to bring your day into perspective.
You'll have a better day that way.
Oh, that's awful close.
Sorry, guys.
Didn't drown me on that one, did you? I've spent enough time in my life worrying about surviving.
There's a time to worry, and the rest of the time, we just tell dumb jokes.
Back on the haul road An interesting trip.
Lisa and Maya are rolling South to Fairbanks.
Maya's still fairly new to trucking and she's definitely new to this road, but she has a willing and learning attitude and spirit and that's what you need up here.
Well, trucking is like-- It's my dream career.
It's-- I love it.
I wouldn't want to do anything else.
I mean, I could go back to New York tomorrow and I could get married and never work another day in my life, but I refuse.
I'm not gonna give up this job.
Oh, wait.
All of the sudden I'm going really slow.
Hey there, southbounders.
You got a copy? There's an accident about 23 miles.
Pretty nasty, so slow down when you get there.
Okay, thank you.
I just heard on the radio that there is a very nasty accident just ahead with, uh, a rig.
Okay, here's, uh, some lights here.
We're stopped.
He's stopping us.
- Ten-four.
- He's getting out.
Hey, listen.
One of the trucks is wrecked down here.
Mm-hmm.
And they're trying to pull it out now, so it's gonna be about an hour.
- An hour? - Yeah.
It's a tractor-trailer and it's gonna be a while.
We're stopped right now.
I'm feeling for the people that got in an accident.
Hopefully they're okay.
I hope.
Coming up, Lisa and Maya face disaster Sucks.
And Dave Copy back there, Dave? Shut up! - Goes over the line.
- [Bleep.]
ass.
of Fairbanks, Alaska So we're stopped right now for at least an hour while they clean up the wreck.
A massive accident has shut down the haul road.
After more of an hour of waiting Yeah, go ahead and just ease on through here.
Well, now we're moving.
We just heard from the troopers that it's okay to go on by.
It's one lane right now, so.
Oh, man.
Dang, look at that trailer.
You guys will have to stay in the northbound lane here for a moment.
Oh, my God.
That is horrible.
Wow.
This is what happens when you-- Uh, when you go against an 18-Wheeler.
He was a little bigger than I was, so.
The northbound pickup truck's trailer swung into the southbound lane and collided with the big rig.
His pickup's pretty trashed.
Trailer's totaled.
Lot of tore up rigs.
Nobody's hurt.
That was a bad wreck, but it looks like everybody's okay.
I for sure have never-- And I don't think I will ever-- Take for granted what this road can do.
There is no way that anybody can just come up here and drive this road and think they're gonna survive.
Well, I see my day's over is when I'm walking through my front door at my house.
That's when my day's over.
Until then, you don't know what's gonna happen.
At this very moment, into the Carlile yard.
They'll be happy to have their trailer back.
Finally here.
Oh, our trip was pretty fun today.
Got to ride with Maya for the first time.
She's doing a good job.
She's very professional and she's very willing to learn and that's what makes a professional and I appreciate that very much.
Come in, Dave.
Copy back there, Dave? Must have got his radio turned off, which that doesn't help.
Weeks of rookie mistakes and bad attitude have Dave Redmon on his last legs.
If he wants to keep his job, he'll have to show trainer Phil Cromm that he can keep his cool.
- Copy back there, Dave? - Shut up! But the Alabama slammer has no interest in playing nice.
Dave knows I'm running with him to see how he's doing, and what I'm gathering is Dave's not fitting in real well and he's not really making an effort to fit in.
Yeah, I'm at the end of my last nerve.
Want this day to be over.
Want this trip to be over.
You know, these guys that have this routine down, you know, they don't have to go through all this [Bleep.]
.
They just-- They go and they get a trailer and they drive.
If they want to stop and take a nap, they take a nap.
They don't have to follow people or keep track of people like we do, as you can hear on the damn radio nonstop.
And it just gets to be a real pain in the ass.
Well, here's the yard.
We're going here to drop this damn trailer.
Dave's delivered his load.
To hell with it.
I'm deal-- I'm done dealing with everybody.
[Bleep.]
it.
I'm not even gonna mess with it.
But this run may not be the only thing that's finished.
Dave's abilities to drive up and down the road aren't entirely in question, but his attitude that he's taking with him up and down the road is-- Is what's in question.
And that's-- That's something I'm gonna have to take back to town and hand it to Layne and let him know what I'm seeing out here.
Alex Debogorski has fought through 30 hours of sickness and brutal roads to deliver critical food supplies to the remote village of St.
Theresa Point.
Kind of tired, so I wasn't sure I was gonna pull it off.
I don't have really much choice.
Either get stuck or pull it off, because otherwise you have to have somebody-- Have somebody else to do it for me.
Who's gonna do that? Two tough days of driving have earned Alex his 15th load of the season, while Dave hangs on to his place at the top of the board.
Next on Ice Road Truckers The winter roads are melting.
Sort of in the swamp here.
Hang on there, baby.
I mean, it is as slick as slick can get.
Tony hits a roadblock.
Doing a little bit of slipping.
And for one haul road rookie I'm not here to make a bunch of [Bleep.]
friends.
I don't know what to do.
It's judgment day.
Something's got to be done.
Oh, my God!