Troy’s Treasures: By Troy Miller In the early days of trucking, there was an etiquette, a camaraderie amongst drivers that all looked after each other, offering help when needed. In today’s trucking industry it often feels as though that loyalty and courtesy to your fellow drivers has been lost, or at a minimum, placed a distant second to the nearly inescapable oversight of the companies, the DOT, and the electronic monitoring systems. Although such devices have their uses, improving compliance and safety, reducing distracted driving and the like, there is an inevitable question to be asked of the value-versus-loss if such measures have discouraged the harmony within the trucking community. There are, however, sectors of the trucking industry, as well as geographic locations, where that bond amongst drivers still serves as the principle by which trucking gets done. Amongst those places and portions of the trucking industry where etiquette and aid reign above all else is the Haul Road to the oilfields of Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. The Dalton Highway, spanning from the Minto Turnoff some 70 miles north of Fairbanks, is the beginning of a little over 400-miles of largely unpaved and, in the winter, frozen and snow-packed road supplying Deadhorse, Alaska, and the related oil exploration and drilling activity on the North Slope of Alaska. With a little over a million miles of trucking behind me, and having crossed well over one hundred different mountain grades and passes, from Loveland Pass to the Cumberland Gap, Wolf Creek to Cajon, at times weighing nearly 300,000 pounds, I’m no stranger to mountain trucking, but the Dalton is truly unique. Although I can name a mountain pass or grade in the Lower Forty-Eight that has a twin on the Dalton, what I cannot equate is any road with all the various grades that the Dalton has, almost endlessly, one-after-another. But what makes the Dalton unique is that it is relentless. Until you reach the “62 Flats” – the last 60 or so miles into Deadhorse – the Haul Road and it’s terrain do not let up, they do not give up. Even making the Flats is no guarantee of safety. “Blows” and winter storms can make the last few miles into Prudhoe as dangerous as the previous 350 miles. On a road like the Dalton Highway, with incessant, steep grades, blind corners, constantly changing weather and traction situations, etiquette (not just how you carry yourself but how you interact and drive around others) is absolutely critical. And with a road as severe as the Dalton, even in the best circumstances, bad things can happen. Wrecks happen, burning out, sliding off the road, even deaths. They are all a constant reality of trucking on the Dalton. This highway requires (and attracts) a certain type of driver. Independence and self-reliance are virtual prerequisites to go trucking on the Haul Road. During major storms and on many stretches, if a breakdown occurs, it may be just you who will have to make the choices about repairs, about chaining up, or about whether it’s best to proceed or just park for a while. For a driver like Brian Vellas of Truck-N-Up, these realities are his daily job description. But, that doesn’t mean he can’t do it in style, too. Truck-N-Up of Fairbanks, Alaska is a small, family owned and family oriented trucking outfit led by Bobby and Nora Flowers. Originally from the Carolinas, Bobby and Nora, and their operation, move freight up and down the Dalton in some of the cleanest and nicest rides you’ll see out on the Haul Road. Brian, one of their company drivers, pushes the 389X Peterbilt seen on these pages, transporting whatever freight is necessary or needed, to the North Slope. Trucking since 1998, Brian Vellas (56) is originally from Rancho Cucamonga, California, and his driving career has included pulling flatbed, refrigerated, RGN, and about everything in between, and he has trucked much of the Lower Forty-Eight, as well. Bobby and Nora originally intended on passing on buying the 2024 Peterbilt 389X seen here, but when Brian agreed to go trucking on the 58 10-4 Magazine / July 2025 RELENTLESS
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