It is wide open country, free of fast food franchises, quick marts and shopping malls. The rugged gravel thoroughfare eats up tires and windshields, even though it is regularly maintained by graders and plows. Relentless wind builds snowdrifts over the road at times and overflow often glazes low-lying sections. A cluster of gauges and dials tells Smith how his engine is performing on the 40-hour journey and informs him of the temperature of the diesel fuel. To combat gelling, truckers run thinner grades of diesel fuel or put special additives in the fuel.
Truckers also drive in lower gears at higher revolutions per minute to keep engine temperatures up.
Truckers along the Dalton Highway will often form a convoy in order to watch out for each other. A minor breakdown during extreme cold or weather can turn into a deadly hazard. The constant diet of tobacco and coffee takes its toll on drivers as well. Smith rarely has fewer than four cups of coffee in a sitting and a carton of cigarettes lasts five days. Coca-Cola flows in a steady stream of bottles from the cooler behind his seat while his teeth often ride in a small box on the dash.