Snowbound

My situation as a linehaul driver ... I'm off work.

Not stranded on the highway. Not laying over at a truck stop.

I do a daily double run, total of 488 miles for the day. My second run was cancelled yesterday. Thankfully I'm not running, because that area in which I run (western PA) has seen a traffic jam that has lasted overnight (12+ hours) on the PA turnpike with motorists stranded.

I am comfortably at home doing a 34+ hour reset, having a 3 1/2 day weekend, and won't start my scheduled run again until this Tuesday.

The perks of a linehaul driver. No, I'm not rubbing it in for the OTR drivers, just preaching the good news for all those prospective drivers out there that don't know about local and / or LTL work.

Being in south central / eastern PA, we've seen A LOT of snow so far. Reminds me of the blizzards of the early 90's. 2+ feet and counting.

I drove around the outer edge of the storm today. I was in New Hampshire at 600 this morning and I made it to exit 173 on 80 at 5 this evening. It wasn't all that bad there were a few spots where I considered pulling over but I kept plugging along slow and steady and I made it through. Weather for tomorrow looks like some light snow in the am and I should make it to Gary by tomorrow night.

I'm at home with my feet up with some fast internet and a nice vodka..... dont go back until Monday but I run through the top of NY and PEN all the time snow is not a huge problem ya just have to slow down a bit, ice is another story all together but as I'm home I wont worry about it until Monday ...... we will see what happens then but I hope you are all safe... drove through Indiana on Friday but only had a little dusting of snow not even enough to really mention.... Duncannon PA is now finished with its advisory but its not pretty out there for sure

Keep it coming guys. Much more interesting to hear how you are doing out there. Here in St. Louis things are quiet and I have not heard the news about the storm. Do you expect more snow ! Or is the worst behind you ?

It's supposed to wind down early tomorrow morning. Currently, NYC is completely shut down with an order from the governor that anyone caught driving who isn't mission essential personnel risking being arrested.

I just completed a return trip from Connecticut. I picked up a back-haul in Cressona, Pennsylvania that delivered to Unicoi, Tennessee. The location in Tennessee has a steep driveway that drops down into their small parking lot where you then have to get your truck turned around so that you can back into the building. I had been there several times before, so I was familiar with it. I was wondering what it would be like because they had already had a good snow there. Fifteen minutes from my destination my dispatcher calls to tell me the customer doesn't want me to deliver because the last truck they received got stuck in the snow and couldn't get up the driveway to get out, so they had to call a wrecker to get him out.

I couldn't see myself having to sit there for five or six days (this was Thursday) to wait out the blizzard - they don't work on the weekends, so I wanted to get in there and deliver so I could move on back to Louisiana for my next load. I asked if they would take me if I could get in there, and they agreed. So... well I never pass up an opportunity to get unloaded! I dropped down the steep driveway with ease, started trying to turn my truck around in their yard and soon found that there was about an inch and a half of solid ice buried down beneath the six inches of snow in the yard. Yep, I'm stuck - my drives cannot get any traction - I'm just spinning my wheels on the ice. Well, here's where preparation and planning can keep you moving. I got out my breaker bar that I use to tighten my winches on my flat-bed and started breaking up the ice in a path ahead of my tires that would help me get some traction. Then I took the five or six gallons of that purple De-icer windshield washer fluid that I had stored on my truck just for a surprise such as this and began pouring them out over the broken up ice in the projected path of my truck. I sat down in the truck for about twenty minutes and let that stuff do it's job, then I tried it again. Voila! I'm moving slowly and I finally get some traction so that I am in position now to back in the building! I get unloaded, and commandeer that rig up the hill and to the nearest truck stop since my fourteen hour clock is almost used up. My dispatcher calls me and congratulates me, telling me the woman who coordinates our shipping appointments at that location actually called him to tell him that I had made it up the hill. She apparently had been watching me from her window and was sure that I couldn't get it done!

There were two of our drivers scheduled behind me that the customer refused to allow in the yard. I was the last one to get his load delivered. Whew! Now I'm back in Louisiana where my next load leaves out today. Destination? Two stop load with first stop in Riverdale, New Jersey - second stop Charlestown, New Hampshire! Now I'm wondering how smart that was - I'm just heading right back up into the storm!

Dont you carry tire chains?