Channel 19
roadside attractions
CHANNEL 19
SOGGY
HAUL
The National Weather
Service wants you
In April 2006, Sean Kiaer was a long-haul driver and witnessed the
EF3 tornado that went on to devastate Newbern, Tenn. Kiaer then
made it his mission to better equip himself to be able to report
severe weather from the road, and launched Trucker Weather
Find more about the
Watch. Today, the growing group comprises drivers who’ve gone
Trucker Weather Watch
group at truckerweatherthrough National Weather Service SkyWarn training as severe
watch.com or find their
weather spotters. Kiaer has spearheaded development of online
page on Facebook.
training to make it more accessible to truckers. To apply for the
courses, contact Kiaer at truckerweatherwatch@gmail.com. And for more on TWW, see the
May 18 entry on the blog.
Can you drive 69?
Would a sign like this get your attention – and your
foot off the accelerator? The Kansas Olathe News
wrote in June about a public art project/series
undertaken in Roeland Park, Kan., by architect Joel
Marquardt, including a 34-mph sign posted on Roe
Boulevard between W. 48th Street and I-35. Definitely
novel on a public roadway, we imagine it’s turned
a few heads, if not slowed drivers down. Shopping
malls have been doing this sort of thing for years, with
signage for limits as low as 3 miles per hour to get
drivers’ attention. For pictures of the actual sign and a
link to the Olathe News story, see the June 24 entry on
the blog.
For more of the interesting and odd parts of trucking, visit Senior Editor Todd Dills’ CHANNEL 19 BLOG at OverdriveOnline.com/channel19.
Courtesy of Gerardetta England
Flooding across the nation’s
midsection created all manner of hassles for drivers this year. One hauler in April documented his traverse
of shallow waters on I-29 in North Dakota. The resulting video,
posted to YouTube, has a soundtrack that includes the Red
Hot Chili Peppers’ “Can’t Stop” as the driver and others slosh
through high water. Shoot the QR code on your phone for the
vid or visit the June 27 entry on the Channel 19 blog.
From Heart Butte, Mont., native Minnie
Spotted Wolf, the first Native American
woman to serve the U.S. Marines, sits
proudly atop a 1940s-era supply truck
she drove.
TRIBUTE TO A
PIONEER DRIVER
Minnie Spotted Wolf never
encountered combat in World War
II, yet she blazed trails as the first
Native American woman to serve
in the Marines — as a truck driver,
nonetheless. She joined the Marine
Corps Women’s Reserve in 1943
and served four years. The trucks
she drove, based in Hawaii and
California, most likely included
International M-5H-6s and Chevrolet
WAs, says Kater Miller, of the Marine
Corps National Museum. After
military service, Minnie Spotted Wolf
got a college degree in education,
married, had four children and
taught school in Montana for 29
years before her death in 1988 at
age 65.
“She wasn’t in the military
just for herself but for the Indian
people,” her daughter told the
Great Falls Tribune in a tribute
published in 2009. She was a proud
patriot, often wearing her Browning
American Legion Post 127 uniform
and carrying a flag for annual Indian
Days celebrations, according to the
Tribune.
— Lucinda Coulter
Reprinted with permisson from the August 2011 issue of Overdrive.
20
SECOND OCT ISSUE 2011
866-783-5137