The Trip

So I was coming back from LA and I was taking my time because I picked up on Wednesday and the load didn't have to be in Hopkinsville, KY until Monday. Then they started talking about the ice storm so I started to run for it. It caught me at Friday night at Hinton OK about exit 91 on I40 and I stopped for the night after I had the back end step out on me the second time. Saturday morning I got up and the trucks looked like they were moving down the interstate pretty well.... and they were up until mm200 on the other side of OK City. From mm200 to the 287 was some of thee worst carnage I have ever seen. There were probably 12 or 15 wrecked trucks and so many cars and trucks that I stopped even trying to keep track. On 53' van was torn completely in half with the front part still attached to the tractor. I heard that he had gotten sideways ond another truck drove through it. OKC to the Arkansas line took 5 hours.

I got to the west side of Little Rock about dark and started hearing guys coming the other direction talking about taking 12 hours to get from W Memphis to Little Rock and how there were trucks all over the road at the 161 where the Petro and Pilot are. So I stopped for the night in Conway to give them time to clean things up. I got up the next morning and hadn't gone 10 miles when I got to the Swift truck jackknifed and blocking the entire eastbound side of the interstate. Sunday was another day of seriuos wreckage. Little Rock to Memphis took 6.5 hours.

Sorry, there are no pictures. I thought maybe controlling my truck was a better idea than taking pictures.

Donner picture that I promised

Here is the pricture from the top of Donner during maximum chains.

Donner Pass

Wow. Has it been that long? Sorry. All driving and now blogging makes 'jak a dull boy. Had my first experience with chaining and Donner pass the other day. I was trying to make it over to Sparks NV before they went to chains but only made it to Kingvale. Got the chains off the rack and spent something like an hour trying to get them on. Turns out they are too little for the tires we run. So I bought a set from one of the chain installers on the mountain for $150. By the time those were on, a couple of trucks and cars had wrecked on the curve right past the exit and the CalTrans guy came by and said they were going to maximum chains. So I said I'd turn around and go back down but he said I couldn't b/c it was max both directions. So I bought another set of chains ($150) and went the 20 miles over the top to the bug station. I almost garuantee that it will never happen again. Picture coming shortly if I can remember how.