Few weeks ago I watched IRT: Deadliest Roads in History Channel. I wasn’t keen on watching the first episode as I never follow the previous seasons (seriously, what’s fun watching ice road trucker along an icy road??). This season marked the debut or the History Channel's IRT: Deadliest Roads where some of the ice road truckers from Alaska and Canada travel all the way to Delhi, India to haul cement and construction supplies to a hydroelectric project in the Himalayas. To get there, they have to traverse the clogged, chaotic streets of Delhi before heading to a narrow mountain road hewn out of the mountainsides with little or no protection from a sheer 1,000 foot drop in many places.
The company assigned spotters to each of the drivers (Alex Debagorski, Rick Yemm and Lisa Kelly) not because they're foreigners (although being unfamiliar with the road rules could play a role) but apparently that's a requirement in India to help the driver negotiate congested areas or parts of the roadway with tight clearance. It was a solid first episode but what kept me on the show is none other than the female driver, Lisa Kelly(ahem!).
Lisa's got the tough job to prove that she, a woman, has what it takes to captain her truck in a country where women aren't normally seen behind the wheel of any vehicle. Don't let her pretty exterior fool you, though, she's a tough tomboy through and through, with the tenacity and guile to champion any road in the world. Lisa's spotter is Toshi, the most bilingual out of the group, and Lisa makes it her mission to learn as much as she can from him. Pretty soon she's interacting in Hindi, and making her voice heard on the road.
Allow me to introduce to you, Lisa Kelly…
Love you Lisa, hope to see more on TV.
ReplyDeleteBTW: how is your puppy, did the puppy make it back to the US or did you have to leave it?
Phil (Cleveland, Ohio)