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"A Dream and an Old Truck"

By Terry Kohl

Ever have a dream of doing something different? One where you accomplish something bigger than life, make your mark in this world, go beyond just putting in your time?

Chances are you have had a dream like that and, if you are like most of us, chances are you are still having it. Dreams are part wish, part yearning and part mystery. They can spark a revolution or lie dormant for years sleeping untroubled until something nudges them awake.

Dreams are not rare. Realizing them is. Every once in a while a person comes along destined to turn a dream into reality. Motivated by some intangible desire, some unnamed urge, they are unable to take "no" for an answer.

In 1982, Scott Sensing, then a recent high school graduate, and his dad, Wylie, pulled an old Chevy pickup from the woods. A 1952 1/2 ton with a cracked windshield, mice nesting in the headliner, springs in the seat shot, and a questionable transmission. It had seen its better day and appeared to be fated to rust away in the undergrowth.

Something else was pulled out of the woods that day, quite the opposite of that old, paint-cracked Chevy. It was a brand new dream all shiny and new, a desire as strong as unbroken faith. The dream the teenage Sensing had was fixing up that truck and hitting the road. Destination, Alaska, 5,000 miles away.

In this family dreaming was genetic. The elder Sensing had talked about homesteading in Alaska back in the 70's. He had also talked about inventing a better fishing lure, a better mousetrap and a solar water heater. He started a fix-it service, a delivery service and ended up a sewing machine mechanic. Dreams were as common to him as his morning coffee.

Reality often extinguishes dreams, or puts them to sleep for awhile. In this case that truck trip to Alaska would slumber sixteen years before rubbing its sleepy eyes. And when it woke, it would come driving down a bittersweet road.

Over the years, college, jobs and marriage took their places in Sensing's life. "Shelley," as the truck came to be called, was used primarily for hauling duties. With help from his father and a few how-to books, she had slowly been refurbished and by 1996 was winning trophies at car shows despite the lack of a frame-off restoration. But late in 1996 was also the year that Sensing's father was diagnosed with lung cancer. He died in 1998.

I don't know about you but most people would just get on with their lives. Eventually. Life goes on, after all. Jobs must be attended to, families taken care of, dreams put away. Ah, but here's where Sensing is not "most people."

The charity drive, "10,000 Miles For a Cancer Cure," was born after Sensing's father died. That sixteen year old dream of driving his truck to Alaska was brought out, polished, and given an extra coat of wax.

Looking for media exposure and sponsors, Sensing began calling friends as well as people he had never even met. Donations of product and cash began coming in. Bridgestone/Firestone Trust Fund donated money and six tires; BlueCross BlueShield of TN offered a $5,000 cancer donation and a laptop computer; Hemmings Motor News donated 4,000 truck calendars to be given away along the trip; Phillips Alaska, Inc. gave $1,000 for expenses. This would be just the beginning of a long list of benefactors.

Sensing designed and built the camper himself. Oddly, it's period correct. Most campers in the 50's were homemade. It would carry tools, personal supplies, spare tires and act as a billboard for sponsors.

The plan was to drive to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska from his hometown, Murfreesboro, TN, with a swing through Tucson, AZ to pay tribute to the Southwest his father loved so much. In a 1952 Chevy truck, running on genuine 50's technology tires (that means inner tubes), for most people this was not a dream. It was a very bad idea.

The only road north from Fairbanks to the arctic ocean is the Dalton Highway, or "haul road." It's roughly the distance from Nashville to Cleveland, Ohio....and it's all gravel. The "haul road" was built in the 1970's as a service road for the oil pipeline. It takes oil 6.2 days to travel 800 miles from Prudhoe Bay in the north, to Valdez in southern Alaska. As it turned out, driving Shelley wasn't much faster.

The first leg of the journey was a 423 mile trip down scenic Natchez Trace Parkway which runs between Natchez, MS and Nashville, TN. From there, he drove on to Austin, TX where his friend, Galen French, was waiting to accompany him as far as Phoenix.

Staying off the interstate and keeping to secondary roads was how Sensing meandered north, passing through a few large cities such as, Las Cruces, NM, Tucson, AZ, and Salt Lake City, UT. Once Sensing reached Calgary, Alberta, his brother David journeyed through Canada and Alaska with him. Even though throughout his journey he often drove alone, a constant companion rode shotgun. It was the slow but sure realization of his dream.

As you can imagine, stories abound, ranging from fantastic to not so terrific. On the Alaska Highway, Sensing and his brother saw their first grizzly bear. She had two cubs. Sensing's brother David was driving, and he jammed Shelley's "three-on-the-tree" shifter when he pulled to a stop. Stuck, unable to move with a huge grizzly bear and cubs 20 feet away and the only way to unjam the shifter is to raise the hood, and jiggle the linkage. That means, of course, that you have to get out of the vehicle. Mama bear and cubs watched and fortunately only the mosquitoes attacked when Scott scrambled out to raise the hood and quickly fix the problem.

Then there was the time it rained so hard in Texas, Sensing had to cup his hand over the filler hole while pumping gas so water would not pour into the tank. A cracked windshield, 5 flat tires and a dead battery are just a few of the additional trials he underwent along the way.

Good things happened too. People came out to wave as he passed through towns along the way. At car shows and events he attended the donations poured in. Little Anthony's Diner in Tucson, AZ, put on a special Saturday night cruise to welcome him to town.

There are spectacular photo's of his trip here on this website.

Average speed during those eight weeks was approximately 40 mph. Thankfully, Shelley's 16-gallon gas tank was adequate to handle the trips longest barren stretch of 244 miles located on the the Dalton highway.

Mileage was recorded at 17.63 miles per gallon for the entire trip and 669 gallons of gas were used. A leak made it necessary to use 10 quarts of engine oil as Shelley covered 18 US states and 3 Canadian provinces.

Sensing's journal records the longest driving day was July 4, 2000. It took 11 hours and 11 minutes to go 435 miles. That was from Dawson Creek, British Columbia to Muncho Lake, BC. The longest distance day, July 5, put 438 miles on Shelley. From Muncho Lake, BC to Whitehorse, Yukon, took 10 hours, 8 minutes. There's always one, and the worst driving day was July 10. An average speed of 23 mph along the Dalton Highway, an unpaved Arctic road, took 11 hours.

Despite it all, Sensing did what he set out to do. He realized his own dream, honored his father's unborn schemes and in the doing raised over $30,000 for the American Cancer Society.

On Sunday, August 6, 2000 at 2:06 pm, Shelley brought Sensing home to Murfreesboro, TN exactly eight weeks after departure. She completed 11,802 miles on the journey.

Sensing is writing a book entitled, "Travels With Shelley: An Old Truck Journey to Arctic Alaska." You'll find excerpts, as well as more information about the trip here at this website.

Another journey took place August and September of 2001 as Scott and Shelley traveled Route 66 for multiple sclerosis. This six week journey covered eight states and traveled the original Route 66 which was almost doomed by 1984 due to the interstate highway system. Written about in John Steinbeck's novel. "The Grapes of Wrath," Route 66 begins in Chicago and ends in Los Angeles. For more information on how you can participate e-mail Terry Kohl at tqueen@dotnet.com or call 920-398-3154.