Indian River

Jesus!! And I thought I was finally getting the hang of trucking a little bit lol, I haven't driven in snow and ice before so I guess I still have a long way to go. I hate the mountains... But I gotta go through them one day so wish me luck. Do you guys do these roads with IRT?

 

If you've ever seen the movie"the Great Outdoors " with John Candy and Dan Ackroid the opening scenes were filmed there

 

I prefer running out my clock and doing a 34 every week. I can usually plan them out so they are done at either Bensalem or Winter Haven terminals. I like the free time to do some housekeeping on the truck, do laundry, stock up on groceries etc.

 

I mostly stick to the East Coast so I don't have any major mountains to deal with. Monteagle in TN and Fancy Gap in VA are the only ones that come to mind. I do see a lot of snow and ice running in the NE though. Highways dept/DOT do a pretty good job keeping the major roads clear, it when you get off them that things get a little hairy.

The only times I have ever gotten stuck was on customer property. Dirt lot, covered in snow, which then freezes into ice. Forget about digging out. Even if you get through the ice you still spin out in the half frozen mud. I needed chains to get out from under a tank when that happened.

If I need chains to drive on public roads, I am parking.

 

The saying I've always liked was "use chains to get out of trouble, not to get into trouble"

 

I don't drive for IRT but I see their trucks on 97 from Weed to Yakima a lot. It seems to be a common route for them. If you get on 97 in the winter watch out for freezing fog and black ice.
If you suspect freezing fog....the lights ahead of you from farms and houses disappear coming off of Mt. Hebron...get as much heat on the windshield as you can as quick as you can. I've seen a windshield go opaque from freezing fog and the wipers wouldn't break loose.
Black ice? That's the one condition I'll park for.

 

I took the tail of the dragon before I knew what it was. Luckily I was in a 24' straight truck; and people were slowing down for me. Even taking the curves at 10mph would make my back end go into the other lane.

 

Very common for us to pick up juice in Tipton, CA or Visalia, CA and take it to Spokane, WA. I just did that run last week. Sucked when I had to do that run a couple times in the winter because of the several chain enforcement points on that route.