My Trip to the IHC Canadian Truck Show 2002
Alberta or Bust
Canadian IHC Truck show
July 2002
Every year I try to take my 36 IHC to a truck show. The last few years I have been to the ATHS show in Shelton, Washington, but this year I decided to go to the Canadian IHC truck show in Rimbey, Alberta. I had been wanting to go to this show for some years but the last few years it was held in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, so finding out that it was in Rimbey this year was a chance I could not let pass by. The only decision I had to make was how to get there.
As I did not have a vehicle big enough to tow the old truck to Alberta the only choice I had was to drive all the way to Rimbey. Checking the map of BC and Alberta, I came up with a route
that would take me along highway #1 up the Fraser Canyon to Kamloops, from Kamloops to Jasper, then from Jasper through to Rimbey. It would take 3 days to get there traveling about 440 km each day. A few weeks before the show I spent sometime going over the truck checking everything from wheel bearings to the gearbox and beyond. Filling the truck with spare parts just in case and the tool box as well, I was ready to leave on the morning of Wednesday 17th July. I have taken the old truck on trips to the Okanagan before, and if history was anything to go by, I knew it would be raining on my day of departure, sure enough it was. As I made my way through Maple Ridge, I was thinking maybe this wasn't a good idea and I should just head back home. It was raining hard and my truck was getting wet but I passed a few people riding bicycles and thought, well, if they can ride in the rain, I can drive in it. By the time I made it to Mission the rain had stopped, I filled up my fuel tank and east I headed.I have always liked driving my 36 and the interest it seems to generate as you're driving down the road, but what happened as I drove though Deroche was a first. A driver that had been following me for a few mile started beeping his horn and flashing his headlights. I pulled over thinking my trip was already over because something had fallen off the truck, turns out he just wanted to look at the truck and talk about how to get collector plates for old vehicles. Gave me a heart attack.
Passing Hope everything was going well. Checking traffic coming up behind me and making sure they could pass with little effort, the time seemed to pass quickly along with the miles. The day was getting warmer as I passed Boston Bar, Hells Gate and onto Lytton. At Lytton the Trans Canada highway leaves the Fraser river and onto one of my favorite stretches of road, a narrow winding section that follows the Thompson river. I made it to Cache Creek around 1 pm stopping for fuel and lunch. The drive to Kamloops turned out to be a hot one and as I left Cache Creek I knew I had a long climb to the lookout of Kamloops Lake. I took the climb slow and easy, keeping a close eye on the temp gauge. There is a section half way up the hill where two lanes turn into one and I was lucky enough that no cars came up behind me from there to the top. The engine temp slowly increased all the way up the hill so I didn't stop at the lookout and it didn't take long for the temp gauge to drop as I went down the other side of the hill. I made it to Kamloops around 4.30 pm and decided to drive straight to Paul Lake Provincial Park and camp there the night.
It's an 18 km drive off the main highway and one hill had me down to second gear and the temp gauge hit the red, a short stop to cool down and I was away again. I thought the camp ground would be full but was surprised to find it 2/3 empty and had little trouble finding a nice spot with nobody around me. As the sun went down the mosquitos came out to play and I retreated to my tent hoping they wouldn't find any holes and join me inside.
I was up at 6.30 am ready for an early start. The camp ground gates opened at 7 am and I was ready to go, making my way back to the main road where I stopped for gas and then headed north along the Yellow Head South highway. I had decided to take the Yellow Head so as to stay away from the Trans Canada #1
I had only been on the Yellow Head once, years before, and remembered that it was relatively flat and thought it should be an easy drive and as the miles passed this proved to be the case, enabling me to stay at my top speed of 80 kph. The traffic was light and everybody was able to pass without any problems. At one point I had a small truck come up behind me faster than the 90 kph speed limit and I could tell the driver was eager to pass. He had only been following me for a 1 or 2 km but there was a double yellow line and on coming cars prevented him from passing. This turned out to be his lucky day because as he was following we passed a police radar setup on the highway. I'm sure he would have got a ticket, that guy owes me one.
Not long after I passed through Clearwater, roadwork stopped the show. A long line of cars were waiting for a pilot car escort through the 25 km of dust and gravel. I pulled into Blue River before noon and decided that the Husky Roadhouse was a good place for lunch and fuel. The truck was going well and it was still early in the day. A low pressure system brought along cooler weather and I didn't have to worry about the engine temp. Coming to the end of highway #5, I headed East on the Yellow Head #16 that would take me through the Rockies. It was early afternoon and I was within 100 km of my target for the day, Jasper. Not long after crossing into Alberta I went over the Yellowhead Pass summit at an elevation of 1146 meters (3760 feet). From the summit it was down hill to the Jasper National Park toll
booths where I paid my 6 bucks entry fee to the park and then a short drive to Jasper. I had made it and the second days driving was done, arriving in Jasper just after 3 pm. I had covered the 440 km in great time 6 hours 30 minutes and that was stopping 1 hour for road works and lunch.
I have been to Jasper twice before and really like the area and the mountains that surround it. The afternoon was spent relaxing and looking around town.
I was once again up early on Friday morning ready to leave Jasper at 8 am and enjoyed the cool morning temperature and great mountain views as I headed East. This was my first time on the Yellowhead highway east of Jasper and found the road very easy to drive with few hills to climb and once again able to make good time. Just before Hinton the highway became double lanes each way and I no longer had to worry about holding up traffic. I stayed on the double lanes of the Yellowhead for the next 200 km all the way to Entwistle where I stopped for lunch and fuel. From Entwistle I headed South on highway #22 and at 2.30 pm made it to Rimbey. Once again I had made great time, the truck was running well and the route that I had picked from Kamloops had turned out to be an easy drive. I checked into my hotel and then headed to the park where the truck show was going to be held the next day and registered the old truck for the show.
I had seen the weather forecast on TV before I left the motel and there was a weather warning for the Rimbey area with thunder storms developing and the chance of a tornado. "Great, made it all the way to Rimbey without a problem only to have the truck destroyed by a tornado when I get here" was the thought I had. By the time I reached the park a few minutes later the wind had picked up and huge black clouds started rolling in. I registered for the show and started back to the motel. The rain started coming down and then the hail started. It rained for about an hour and I knew the locals welcomed the wet weather as it was very dry.
There was a lot happening this weekend in Rimbey as it was also the 100th birthday of the town. There was a cruise night organized in the evening, attracting what seemed to be every rev head for miles around. I kept the truck parked at the motel and walked around. I could still hear engines revving and tires spinning at 11 pm when I decided to call it a day.
The truck show on Saturday was great. Before I went to the show I stopped at a car wash and cleaned all the bugs from the window and the dust off the fenders. About 84 Internationals turned up for the show. Trucks came from British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The oldest truck was a 1912 High Wheeler and the newest was a 1970 Travelall. There was also 3 trucks from 1915 - 16 and 17 that I had never seen before and were attracting a large crowd. Rimbey is also the site of the Smithson museum that houses a restored example of an International Harvester pickup of every model from 1936 till 1970. There was also demonstrations of old farming equipment and saw mills, tractors and horse drawn wagons throughout the day. The weather was perfect, the cool change that I had followed through BC was now here in Alberta and the sun was shining.
Most of the trucks that were at the show on Saturday were gone on Sunday. Some had left Saturday afternoon and the rest left Sunday morning. I stayed Sunday because I had to be in Red Deer Monday morning that was only 60 km down the road from Rimbey. I drove to Red Deer that afternoon and while I was there I decided to change the oil in my truck. I had noticed over the last few days that after a long run when I came to a stop and the engine was idling the oil pressure dropped to zero, so I hoped that using a heavier weight oil would help solve this problem. I had been running 10W30 and after changing to 15W50 the oil pressure was much better.
After taking care of some business on Monday morning, I made my way out of Red Deer just after 1 pm. I took highway #11 out of Red Deer and headed West. I was going to drive to Saskatchewan River Crossing on the Icefields Parkway and head North back to Jasper but after talking to someone at the truck show I decided to head South to Lake Louise then west along the Trans Canada. I had no idea how far I would get that day or if this was a good thing to do but I took a chance. Little did I know it would be the most exciting drive I have done in the old truck.
I reached Rocky Mountain House at around 2.30 pm where I did a quick stop for gas then back on the road. It was late Monday afternoon by the time I reached Saskatchewan River Crossing and had been surprised at the easy drive along highway #11, the David Thompson Highway. I thought that after Nordegg, the Rockies would rise up and slow my speed but that was minimal. After the Crossing though this changed and constant gear changes were required to keep the old truck going and I was getting close to the highest point of my trip.
Bow Pass on the Icefield Parkway is one of the highest passes in Canada at 2068 meters (6785 feet). The final climb to the summit took about 20 minutes in 3rd gear at 20 -25 mph. Reaching the top I stopped for a quick picture then it was down hill to Lake Louise the turning West onto the Trans Canada Highway. It didn't take long to cross over Kicking Horse Pass at 1647 meters (5403 feet) crossing the Continental Divide, passing the Canadian Pacific Railways spiral tunnels, then down into Field. Traffic was lighter than I thought it would be, I guess being after 6 pm most of the tourists had stopped for the night. I caught a convoy of trucks on the narrow winding stretch of road a few kilometers before Golden. This was a part of the road that the rigid suspension on the old truck liked and had no trouble keeping up with the convoy all the way into Golden. The temperature had been increasing all afternoon and although the engine temp was under control the temp in the cab was rising. It was warm in Golden and I stopped long enough for fuel and to check under the hood. I was starting to notice that there was a problem with the clutch. For some reason it was failing to dis-engage completely when I pushed in the pedal. But there wasn't a problem with it engaging so I continued on. 50 km past Golden I was starting to feel the cool evening air in the cab and as I climbed to the summit of Rogers Pass, the cool air turned to cold air. I was amazed at the temperature change and had to start closing the windows. The climb through the snow sheds to the summit was the first time I could see how effective my 6 volt headlights were going to be as it started to get dark. I had decided to try and make Vernon that night where my wife and daughter were staying, but started to wonder if that was a good idea. At the summit I stopped to take a picture of the old truck and by the time I made it to Revelstoke it was dark. I stopped in Revelstoke for fuel and something to eat, deciding that it was only a few hours drive to Vernon so I would continue and try not to blind anybody with my 6 volt headlights.
Everything had gone well and I arrived in Sicamous at 11.30 pm. From Sicamous I traveled south on 97A and the tight narrow winding road passed Mara Lake was great fun. At this stage I was really pushing the old truck and had it wound up to 90 kph hanging on to the steering wheel for dear life and feeling like I was in the 1925 French Grand Prix as I twisted my way past the lake and onto Enderby. Passing through Armstrong the clutch was getting worse and the engine was idling rough but there was nothing wrong with top speed. I made it to Vernon at 12.30 am. It had been a great drive covering a distance of 710 km over the Rocky Mountains taking me about 12 hours from Red Deer.
The next morning I checked the engine thinking that an electrical problem was the reason for the rough running engine at idle but I soon found it was the carburetor. The clutch, well no time to check that, it was still engaging ok so that was all that mattered. I left Vernon at 9 am and I knew it was going to be the hottest day of the trip. The temp was rising as I made my way though Kamloops and then onto Cache Creek. A quick stop for fuel then on the road again and not stopping until I reached the spring water fountain along highway 7 near Agassiz. It was a welcome relief to drink some cool water.
I made it to New Westminster at 5.30 pm. I had been away for 7 days covering 2600 km without any problems and had a great time. The truck required a little TLC but I'm glad to say she is now back in top form. The carb needed a clean and the clutch problem turned out to be cracked release levers that I welded back together.
If you have any comments, questions, send me an e-mail at tmilob@gmail.com
