Watching Atlanta folks trying to drive on the ice this morning reminded me of a storm in 82 in Atlanta I watched on cable. They had one inch of snow and the city was paralyzed. No matter where the cameras went there wasnt one vehicle under control except the ones that were stopped, or wrapped around something. In 96 I was trying (desperately) to get a Texas peddle load offloaded in San Antonio before a predicted ice storm hit. Didnt make it and ended up skating my way up through Texas, across Louisiana and into Mississippi. Picked up I-55 northbound in Jackson, Miss. I was aiming for Memphis, but running an empty trailer on six inches of rutted ice was fast draining both my steam and my cojones. I ran out of both at Winona, Miss. Pulled into a truck stop, ended up on glare ice on about a 1% grade. The rig would not move. Asked for oil dry, cat litter, anything to get traction under my drive wheels. Nothing left. Manager said, and I quote; Honey chile, you just get you in the bunk and sleep good. Aint nobody goin nowhere till mornin . Okay. I did get 5 hours of good sleep. Northbound in the morning....25-30 mph.....no sign of plows or salt trucks. Had the music radio on and the governor of Miss was doing an interview. He was just so proud that Mississippi wasnt poisoning the roadside vegetation with salt and other destructive chemicals. It was hard to swallow that one. State police were calling out dump trucks with loads of pea gravel to spread on the up-grades to help hold traction. Broke traction once and had to let rig slide back on an angle to reach some gravel. I was looking at my trailer out of the right side window, but it worked and I got enough bite to move forward. Going up one grade on a curve, of all places, I blew an air line which set my brakes in the middle of the only usable lane. State cop close by got a repair truck to me and he got in my pocket for $300 for a $75 job. Hey...what choice did I have. A little south of Memphis the roads began to clear...........thankfully.
Posted on: Thu, 30 Jan 2014 04:12:13 +0000
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