The Great Blizzard of 2011

Here's a little 4 minute video I pieced together from video clips taken with my iPhone at the steering wheel. This is a youtube link. The worse couldn't be captured as I was busy trying to keep myself from driving into the ditch. It seems that most jackknife rigs lost control due to excessive speed, especially when trying to correct during poor visibility...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XiVNfLXIKM

Brought to you by the California reefer hauler--Tough Trucking

 

Aw hell, that's me 56 years old not wanting to let a snowdrift trap me in the empty midwest.

No, the cargo wasn't super time sensitive--just 30,000 lbs or so of cardboard boxes--but why waste a good day's driving time. Go slow, use your gears, not the brakes or jake, and stay well away from all other traffic (especially other trucks). Then, prepare to pay a few hundred to get towed out if one wheel goes into the ditch. This kind of driving is actually easier than chaining up in the west, and a lot easier than driving through an ice storm. Dry snow can provide good traction.

Yeah, I can hold my iPhone and steering wheel at the same time...what else is new? I don't have to focus the video or anything; just tilt it in the right direction. Then, when compiling the movie, I edited out at least half the total time. Like I said, none of the real dicey shots were possible because I would anticipate and put the iphone away during those choice moments.

 

You bet, I kept those flashers on for hours, just so the young dudes didn't come up on my tail too fast. I don't like stupid collisions. There's a way to deprogram the flasher sound, but I want the sound there as a reminder...

 

I really don't why Volvo signals tick should be so annoying. ALL of the other trucks I've ever driven were so poorly insulated against noise that it was all but impossible to keep a normal conversation with someone sitting in the passenger seat.