My name is Lisa and I am an Ice Truck Driver. I know it sounds like a job that fat hairy men do but I assure you that I am not a man. You may have seen me on the History Channel just doing my job but it seems that many of you enjoy it due to the fact that I'm still being recorded. There's some places the cameras don't go however. During every season break, I go driving in some of the deadly roads I wouldn't normally drive on the show. Simply because they are hard to shoot in and also too dangerous to do so. Some of the shots you see on the show consist of lowering a platform of sorts over some cliffs and having a camera take a shot of my truck half-way across the other end of the canyon. In Rauma, Norway, I got the opportunity to be alone and away from the filming crew who never seem to stop following me around.
I grew up in Alaska and have always loved the cold, so Norway was an obvious choice besides the fact that Norwegian men are also quite on the hot-side. I was travelling to Valldal from Åndalsnes along one the deadliest roads in the world, the Trollstigen, and without an entire crew of cameras and microphones, I felt slightly lonely and scared. Despite how much I loathed them, it was comforting knowing they would know immediately if I drove off a cliff instead of people finding out 3 days later when my truck never arrived. My spotter was a Norwegian by the name of Felix and he was relatively good at his job but mostly kept to himself. He was an average looking guy but after living every day in constant fear of driving off a cliff, when adrenaline would stop flowing, I would have this slight attraction to him as if we had survived, stranded on a desert island together. I will never forget it.
I am telling you this story because it is one that cameras will never show and a drive I will never forget. I have kept a journal about my entire trip, logging after everyday, with a few exceptions. By the end of it, I would have done things I had never done or had even thought about doing.
Day 1
Today is a day I hope I never have to relive and yet at the same time feel a rush I have never felt.
I picked up my new spotter Felix today at a cafe in Åndalsnes and I must tell you that the cold here is none I have ever felt before. The bitterness of the Norwegian winter is nothing like what I experienced in Alaska. I must get used to it but for now, I have a big truck and plenty of fuel for the heater, which is good as I don't need to drive wearing bulky coats all day. Felix. Yes. He is a nice guy and only slightly taller than me which is short for a Norwegian and has quite a charming voice even though it is rare when you hear it. However, he is a good spotter and that's all that really matters. We decided to start driving at 9:00AM after we ate breakfast. A Norwegian breakfast is not at all like an American one. It has much more meat and would be a suitable lunch in America. I was quite stuffed when we got in my truck and Felix had already begun lightening up to me which is great when you depend on him to keep you alive.
We were driving for at least 10 hours before it happened. You see, the Trollstigen is a very dangerous road. However it is also very quiet. We were heading around this tight bend and ended up having to wait on one end of a bridge for the cars coming from the other way to pass. The last car to pass was actually a big truck and it stopped on the bridge altogether. We waiting for awhile before getting out of our truck to see what the problem was. While I was heading to the truck, I heard the sound of a stick snapping in a very concise fashion. I turned around and saw Felix on his knees with a gun pointed at his head. It turned out the man came from a car which we had let pass on the bridge.
"Give us your money!" the man yelled with a scruffy voice. I was already shivering with fear and I looked at Felix for consolation. All he did was nod and turn his eyes to look behind him for a split second. I turned around upon hearing the sound of a truck door slamming and noticed a man had left the truck on the bridge and had leaped into mine.
"H-Hey!" I whispered to the man in my truck, somehow loud enough for the man with the gun to hear.
"Shut up American and give your money, or else!" The gunman struggled to say.
"D-Do what he says Lisa" Felix suddenly said in a very clear tone of voice. I slowly took out my wallet and tossed it to him. It only had a couple hundred NOK in the wallet as most of the money was stashed in the truck. The gunman looked through the wallet and then slid it roughly into his jacket.
"Now." the gunman said in a slightly more calm fashion.
"Take off shirt"
I froze in fear. Being a truck driver, I rarely got to meet guys as I was always on the road. This was turning into a living nightmare. I stood there frozen when the gunman cocked the gun.
"I say take off shirt!" he said as he gestured to me with the gun. I looked back at Felix hoping for some redemption but was met with a look of sadness which made him hang his head in shame.
"He dies!" yelled the gunman.
"W-Wait! No!" I responded. Standing there in the freezing cold, I gripped the bottom of my sweater only realizing now that my coat was hanging over the front seat. I slowly began lifting it and began to hesitate as my bra became more exposed to the men. I got the sweater above my head and was a state of panic when I saw a set of headlights coming around the bend.
"Bil! Lar komme ut herfra!" screamed the man in my truck but, until Felix told me later on, it all sounded like gibberish to me. The gunman at that point had turned around and had seen the approaching vehicle. He began shouting to the men in the truck who promptly winded up their windows and began to reverse their way back over the bridge. The gunman then turned to me and shouted something inaudible before quickly running back to his car and driving off.
I stood there frozen with my sweater still held above my head. Felix stood up calmly and tried to hitchhike the car that scared away the muggers. The car didn't stop but instead continued driving on and across the bridge.
"faen hode!" Felix exclaimed to himself.
"You okay?" he continued while he walked towards me.
"M-M-.. My truck." I managed to mumble.
"We'll get help" he replied as he pulled my sweater back down over me. It was at that moment when everything struck me. I had just realized that my truck and all my money had just been stolen and I was about to be man-handled in the middle of no-where if it wasn't for that random car. Felix put one arm around me and we began to walk, or better yet shuffle slowly, across the bridge and towards the next town.
We were walking for at least an hour before another car came. Felix quickly stuck his thumb out but it hardly made a difference because at that point he was pretty much in the center of the road, making sure this car wasn't going to continue driving. Thankfully the car slowed down and halted right beside us.
"Are you guys 'nsane?" the driver exclaimed.
"I's like 10PM and -5 degrees out 'ere!"
"We were hijacked" Felix yelled as the wind began to pick up and engulf everything in a white haze of snow.
"P-Please, we are really c-cold, can you t-take us to the next outpost?" I shouted over Felix's shoulder. The driver sat there for awhile examining us with his eyes.
"Ok shure" he said, stumbling over the 'sure'.
"Thank god" I whispered to myself even though I'm not really religious. We climbed into the car and embraced the warmth of the heater.
"Do you think you could spare us some money? We lost all of ours in the attack." Felix asked the driver.
