I-40 Today

Have fun out there in all that mess...I'm staying away from the storms this year...so far...so good. Ice is nobody's friend...especially a truck driver.

 

Icy conditions/losing traction is my cue to park .....At what point does SELF PRESERVATION kick in ?

 

when I got old !!!!!

 

I think it's clear once you get a little west of Little Rock.

 

They're expecting another winter storm from Western oklahoma to Santa rosa nm tonite...warnings are already out..

 

I recall one night, I had loaded up North of Knoxville and headed back to Southwest Arkansas. Just outside of Knoxville it started snowing, them changed into freezing rain and I-40 was a dangerous mess of icy roads. My speeds were about 30 to 40 MPH. I remember stopping at the old 76 Truck stop East of Nashville. It was nearly full, yet they were not that many inside. I relaxed for a bit drinking some coffee, them got back out there. About 50 miles or so west of Memphis it started clearing off and I got though Little Rock before day break which was good. For at day break many times the weight boys would be sitting and watching for us.


I just remember another trip just a few weeks after that. Just a few miles west of Nashville, TN there was a “Big Cross” stuck up in the medium burning. I’m not black but that put more fear in me than did the icy roads a few weeks earlier. This was all back in the 70’s. I wonder if any of you happened to be out there and saw that burning cross.

 

Ice is my best friend during College Football season. He keeps my beer cold.

 

That was one of the worst stretches that I drove in my 10 yrs OTR.

Was the winter of 2000-2001, heading east on I40, and between Amarillo and OK City, saw around 20 big rigs jackknifed along the road sides & median as the road was rutted ice, and if too much speed (ran it at 20-25 mph) and got out of the iced grooves would immediately end up off the road. Drove it white-knuckled and got off at a Walmart* west of OK City and parked with around a dozen other rigs along the side, and called it a day!


*EDIT: Remembered had to park at a Walmart as all the truck stops were jammed out......