#smalltruckthings

"Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer" (smallbear94) 09/06/2016 at 12:46 • Filed to: #placesihavenobusinessbeing, alternate route, no turning back, shortcut

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Granted, you don’t need small truck for this, just small. However in most of these situations the thought wouldn’t even enter my head if I had a small car instead. Which is probably why you end up with the “dickhead truck driver” stereotype, because more things seem possible. And thus worth trying at least once.

Who else does stuff similar like this? Two parter: When in an unfamiliar area, who else here picks their way through the long/short/alternate/downright unconventional route instead of just turning around? And who here like to just explore random places because they can?

jimz > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer 09/06/2016 at 13:12

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yep. just north of the immediate metro Detroit area, it gets pretty rural once you’re north of- say- Shelby Township. I crawl around the dirt/gravel roads up there with my Ranger.

Mercedes Streeter > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer 09/06/2016 at 13:46

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*Raises hand!* In the neighbouring town, there’s a decommissioned nuclear power station. At some point in the past, the station’s service road (which was a long road that ran along the beach and connected to the many neighbourhoods the employees lived in) was closed down and was allowed to have nature to mostly reclaim the road. The road was also turned into a makeshift bike path...the only things stopping any car from travelling down the road were giant wooden bollards on every entrance.

Little did these people know, at the main entrance, the space between two bollards between placed between the old shoulder and the old curbs were roughly four inches wider than all the other bollards. This extra four inches was just enough space to clear my smart’s track width with an inch to spare. I had to fold my mirrors to make the gap.

Once inside, the road felt eerie. You can tell it’s been many years since the road has seen motorized traffic and the overall road condition would be reminiscent of Fallout 4's roads. But by golly, it was awesome being able to drive my car on some closed ass road that looked like it was out of a post apocalyptic movie. And since it was at night, no cops or bikes to run into.

Interestingly enough, my car was probably the last car to travel that road, as by a year later, the state had completely destroyed the road and replaced it with a proper bike path.

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > Mercedes Streeter 09/06/2016 at 14:10

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Similar situation. This road has been closed ever since the highway next to it was extended, except for foot/bike traffic and service vehicles going to the dam. So there are gates, but 90% of the time they are locked and the other 10% you wouldn’t want to go in just in case whoever opened them left and locked you in... so I found another way in. There’s one business that backs onto the road which doesn’t have a fence. So, through the ditch we go!!

Went back a few times that winter, got right down to a solidly frozen reservoir and went walking across it to a hill on the other side that was perfect for tobogganing, towing people on GT’s up and down the snowy roads, and generally exploring old trails.

I’m glad I found the way in when I did, because I don’t feel comfortable going in there anymore. It has started to be used CN Rail as a maintenance road which means it’s far more heavily travelled than it used to be, and the summer after this it was connected to a nearby bike trail officially by paving the dirt path that bikers had beaten to it, and now that it’s visible more people use it.

DynamicWeight > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer 09/06/2016 at 14:17

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All about it! We went camping this weekend and the road to the lake had a bunch of off-road trails branching off it randomly. I know this is probably common elsewhere but here in California any unpaved road is very exciting to see. I went down a few of the trails, it was really fun! I learned my Tacoma TRD Off-road is, surprisingly, really good off road!