I quite like that. I have neither the land or the building- no real good place to get under the truck and try my hand at anything.

You know I'm just having fun, Wildkat. To answer your question though, 10 years ago I was living in China. The only person I knew with a "mobile phone" before I left the states in February of 1999 was a physician's assistant who was on-call over the weekends. You're right, we were behind you there.

The place where I really began to see what commonly began to be called "cell phones" was in China. They actually seemed ahead of us with them, too. It was the strangest thing, I'd see little shopkeepers pedalling these kind of truck-tricycles they use over there with cell phones strapped to their belts. Fascinating, the mix of modern technology and Communist backwardness. How do you post a picture? I'd like to post a picture of one. Any other message board, it would simply be [img] link [/img]- I can't get that to work over here.

 

I checked the FAQ, here's a try. Now, this guy would have a cell phone on his belt, and this was before they were common in America.

 

That's really cool lowrange! It IS funny how "some" technologies are adopted so fast and others just seem to not catch on as quick...depending on where you are in the world!

We had those old XJ mobile phones back in the 70's & early 80's when I first started out...I ran the Arctic way back then too...that was our only means of communication. CB radios never really did catch on up there...their range is just too short...I use a good VHF radio...we have to have a license for them, but the cost is well worth the chance of being stranded...with mine the range can be as long as 75 miles...don't think any CB can touch that!

Heck, up north they only got DIGITAL phone service 2 years ago...the Yukon is way better than the NWT for phone service...but I think that's cause of Alaska....they are only an hour away...and so many Alaskans go the Whitehorse to shop...you'd think that it was part of Alaska...some days I see more Alaska license plates there than Yukon ones!

I can't remember when I got my first cellular phone...back in about 83 maybe...I was working just around Alberta then...my kids were small & I wanted the sitter to be able to reach me if needed...man they were huge & expensive, I remember the batteries lasted about an hour...but I had pretty good service, even then cause they used to bounce the signal from the XJ towers...they were analogue back then & were compatible with the towers...THANK YOU OIL PATCH!

Sorry guys I had no intention of hijacking the thread...I'll go back to my own little corner of the North now!

 

I'm just pulling these off the internet. I've seen this a million times:

 

Coldest place I've ever been- Harbin, China (beautiful, I'll add)

 

Harbin Ice Lantern Festival

 

Switzerland? Nope, Harbin

 

Some "love", I'd say! They are practically, will let you kill yourself, if you are not smart enough!

 

I don't really see too many of us here "killing" ourselves. So, I guess we are really smart enough...smart enough to work our asses off for a fairly decent wage, smart enough to not have to be away from home for endless weeks at a time, smart enough to have a very decent standard of living and not work for pennies on the mile and to get paid for every moment that we breathe near our trucks, smart enough to not fritter away our time at truck stops ( maybe that's why we don't have too many of those ), smart enough to acquire some driving skills that would make some of your jaws drop, and smart enough to love and enjoy every moment of it and wait impatiently to get back into the truck the next day.

That's the magic of black gold !!

 

Well, i guess you are all special...but i happened to know a lot of folks, who are not....Just an opinion.