Winter Storm

It was chilly when I attempted fueling at the Love's in Wamsutter, WY. I talked with another driver on the CB that had been further north into Montana, seeing a low temperature of -35! Coldest I had from the storm was -21 between Rawlins and Wamsutter. Thankfully the breeze across WY on Thursday was less than 10 MPH.

Jeeeeeez. I really lucked out. We got down to -9 degrees here in Colorado Springs where I live but there was nothing for us to do at my job since we haul cement powder so we’ve been off since Thursday and probably won’t be going back to work until Tuesday. I decided to drop my trailer in the yard and bobtailed home so I could keep my truck plugged in over the last couple days.

It’s crazy…I’m usually out in the thick of it this time of year but this is the first year since I’ve started trucking where I’m missing all of it. The crazy part of me kinda misses it but I’m mostly just happy not to have to worry about it this year

My rookie winter season is throwing it at me!

At least I didn’t slide into anyone last night trying to get parked. Another driver very nearly did.

I read in a winter driving thread where someone said “they will never put on chains”. PackRat replied that “you may have to inorder to get to safe parking or in a parking lot. “

That is what happened to me last night. The kitty litter wasn’t getting it done, so I put on my tire socks to get traction. Even that was uncertain. Had to use idle creep to get moving. I pulled straight into a back in space. It was a zoo out here with drivers trying to move and park.

That was me who said that I won't put on chains, and I won't. Tire socks are not chains. They do not serve the same purpose. Tire socks are intended to be used to gain traction for a short period of time, versus driving on a roadway for any significant length. I don't think putting on tire socks even qualifies as chaining, for the purpose of meeting chaining requirements. I could certainly be wrong, but I personally wouldn't try it to find out. In that same thread, I acknowledged using tire socks. In fact, I have used them for the very same purpose as you did. I have also used them to get under a trailer when ice has caused problems.

It seems my comment about not chaining hasn't been understood. To be clear, I am only rehashing this because you brought it up. By not chaining, I am talking about when highways have "chains required" signs and signals go up, I find a safe place to park and wait it out. It shouldn't need to be stated, but I will state it: I trip plan to find ways around the weather to avoid chaining, when possible. Also to be clear, I have not yet encountered a situation where I have not been able to route around weather where chaining may be necessary. Also to be transparent, I don't run west very often and I have not yet had a load going west of the Mississippi during winter. I do acknowledge that having a park whenever chains are required mentality in western states that have mountain passes may not be realistic and routing around those passes is not always realistic. Not having loads going west of the Mississippi in the winter is a matter of loads dispatched and not a matter of loads refused/requested. I will run anywhere in the 48 with any load I am qualified to haul. Dispatch just happens to keep me in the northeast quite frequently.

Yeah, some of us would never roll if we weren't fully prepared to chain.

I won't use chains to continue my drive, but bet your behind I follow the mantra: Use chains to get out of the 💩, not get into a messier deeper 💩 situation.

My rookie winter season is throwing it at me!

At least I didn’t slide into anyone last night trying to get parked. Another driver very nearly did.

I read in a winter driving thread where someone said “they will never put on chains”. PackRat replied that “you may have to inorder to get to safe parking or in a parking lot. “

That is what happened to me last night. The kitty litter wasn’t getting it done, so I put on my tire socks to get traction. Even that was uncertain. Had to use idle creep to get moving. I pulled straight into a back in space. It was a zoo out here with drivers trying to move and park.

That was me who said that I won't put on chains, and I won't. Tire socks are not chains. They do not serve the same purpose. Tire socks are intended to be used to gain traction for a short period of time, versus driving on a roadway for any significant length. I don't think putting on tire socks even qualifies as chaining, for the purpose of meeting chaining requirements. I could certainly be wrong, but I personally wouldn't try it to find out. In that same thread, I acknowledged using tire socks. In fact, I have used them for the very same purpose as you did. I have also used them to get under a trailer when ice has caused problems.

It seems my comment about not chaining hasn't been understood. To be clear, I am only rehashing this because you brought it up. By not chaining, I am talking about when highways have "chains required" signs and signals go up, I find a safe place to park and wait it out. It shouldn't need to be stated, but I will state it: I trip plan to find ways around the weather to avoid chaining, when possible. Also to be clear, I have not yet encountered a situation where I have not been able to route around weather where chaining may be necessary. Also to be transparent, I don't run west very often and I have not yet had a load going west of the Mississippi during winter. I do acknowledge that having a park whenever chains are required mentality in western states that have mountain passes may not be realistic and routing around those passes is not always realistic. Not having loads going west of the Mississippi in the winter is a matter of loads dispatched and not a matter of loads refused/requested. I will run anywhere in the 48 with any load I am qualified to haul. Dispatch just happens to keep me in the northeast quite frequently.

PackRat posted this picture on Friday. I am heading west to the Port of Oakland CA and came across the same trailer while crossing Wyoming tonight. My night time pictures didn't turn out.

The truck is still in the emergency lane with its flashers going and still has the yellow LE tape on the mirror. The bend in the middle is now touching the ground! I am surprised that it's still sitting there, but then again with the holiday, they may not have found people to unload that trailer.

Laura

If that's still there on my next trip out there, I'm stopping to check out the cargo and the damage close up.

My guess is that many towing/recovery companies are overwhelmed. I saw many rigs off the road and completely unattended over the weekend.

I also wonder about all the drivers who jack knifed or went belly up. Are these events automatic termination in every case? Regardless, a lot of drivers are unemployed today after the storm.

Just some feedback on using The Weather Channel app, I signed up for the Premium Pro service last week after seeing it discounted from $30/year to $20/year for a "holiday discount". The benefits to me are the absence of advertisements and 192 hours (8 days) of hourly forecasts instead of 48 hours. This might be handy for some, though we all know that forecasts can change even in a day or two. So far, I have found it to be helpful in planning my work plan (on my farm) but I also shared some storm timing information with Michael. He's headed back to California from Utah now but will take southern route because of more snow coming to the Sierra Nevada tonight.

Also, a FYI, it appears that 10 of the next 12 days will be wet or snowing at Truckee. As recent as September and even earlier this month forecasts were for another dry winter for California but La Nina is now forecast to weaken.

I’m still feeling the effects of the weather in Washington State. I’ve been parked since Friday evening.

Monday morning I reported to Dispatch that there was still an “ice storm warning” along I-90/I-82 corridor until 04:00 PST 12/27 in my route to pickup a load in Wenatchee, WA (was supposed to pickup last Friday night when i shutdown due to chains on Snoqualmie Pass).

So, Monday morning Sales pulls the load assignment from me to find a closer truck to run it.

Tuesday morning the routes are open as I told Dispatch yesterday. Now I’m sitting waiting for a new load assignment.

3.5 days so far. I’ve inquired with my FM about some layover pay to make up some of my loss. He is back from his holiday this morning.

There was freezing rain reported Monday afternoon when I would have been driving if I had gone for it yesterday. If it was rain or snow I would have gone, but I don’t want to risk ice at this point.