What's the worst experience you've had while on the road?

Last August I had a drunk illegal alien out out in front of me... we went for a wild 300' ride through the toolies with his mini-van wedged under my trailer.

He should have died but he got lucky...

 

I don't know what your life experiences are Longshot, but I can tell you that when you have witnessed something like this, it can be traumatic for you for a very long time. No, you won't ever forget it, but hopefully, someday, you will get used to the memory, and it will fade somewhat.

Should you start having nightmares about this, then you may need to seek some counselling. Post traumatic stress syndrome does not just hit those of us that have been in the military, or emergency services. It can happen to anyone.

Everybody is different, and they react differently to things. In a situation like this, there really is no "right" or "wrong" way to react. It is what it is with you.

 

the wife was riding with me and we both came down with the flu. we were sick for a week. the wife stayed in the bunk, and i somehow continued to drive, but with alot of breaks.

 

I took a shot drive to Colorado from Indiana, a co-worker was in another truck going with me. I think that I broke down in every state on the way out. My co-worker broke down in every state except IL on the way back. He didn't have problem on the way out and I didn't have problems on the way back. We were both bobtail and hit a snowstorm i Kansas that dumped 14" of snow on the interstate with no tire chains in the truck. That was just after I got my CDL, rookie mistakes. Now I know better than to panic.

 

Worst thing for me happened during my first few months of driving, was heading east on 66 going into DC. Went to hit the brakes and nothing happened, pulled the dolly handle and still nothing happened. Reached over and popped the buttons and still didn't stop. Only thing I could think to do was hit the exit, pull the air horn hoping the cross traffic would notice and pray the incline of the on ramp would stop me. Thankfully it worked out as I hoped and with no injuries.

 

My worst experience? Had to be last winter, on US 30, right at the Indiana-Ohio state line. A real bad storm had just hit the midwest, and my trainer and I were in the middle of it hauling racks to Toyota in Michigan. They weren't very heavy at all; in fact, I think there was barely 9,000 lbs in the trailer. The roads looked like hell: you couldn't even see the left lane as it was completely covered in snow, and the temperature was easily below 10 degrees that night. I was following another semi, and neither of us dared to push past 40 mph.

That particular stretch of US 30 is nothing but flat farmland, with nary a tree to break up the crosswinds. That's a pretty important fact: just as I hit the state line a 30 mph gust hit the broadside of my trailer - at exactly the same time I ran across a patch of black ice!!!

The result was not pretty.

The gust sent the Peterbilt sideways, aiming it diagonally across the four-lane highway. I ran across both westbound lanes, the median, both eastbound lanes - and wound up in a ditch on the opposite side of the road.

Thankfully the engine and apu still worked: at least we had heat while waiting on the wrecker. When the tow truck finally showed up he was accompanied by a sheriff's deputy who just happened to be in the area. When I grabbed my logbook and license and approached his cruiser I practically slid the 70 yards to his car; that's when I realized that this whole stretch of US 30 was pretty much an ice-skating rink at this point. It took two wreckers to get us out of that ditch without rolling the truck - I guess I didn't realize just how badly we were stuck.

When they finally got the rig on flat ground again, all of us were completely shocked: there was absolutely NO damage to the tractor, trailer and load!!! The steering wasn't even out of alignment. On top of that, the deputy didn't even issue me a ticket. The only damage was to the company's wallet (about $1,000) and possibly my DAC.

After I took a couple of hours to change my underwear and pull the lucky rabbit's foot from out of my read end we were able to get back on the road and complete the assignment (on time, even). I learned a very important lesson that night about just saying "no" when the weather gets too bad to drive, but that was a heck of a way to learn!

 

Worst experience of mine.... Back in '03, just graduated from a company school (won't name the company because everytime I do, my skin crawls), and was dispatched a load of waste paper out of Upstate NY to Virginia. Decided to go around NYC (rookie mistake #1). Got lost and asked directions (rookie mistake #2). Next thing I knew, I was staring straight at Times Square, driving a Freightliner conventional and tuggin' a 53. Took me four hours to get outta that God-forsaken place. I decided right then and there that I needed to keep my country *** outta the big city....

 

ALLWAYS, ALLWAYS have toilet paper in your daycab, or wear lots of t-shirts and sweatshirts they make great emergency tp. Five hours from home in a daycab and get severe diarrhea, I used my tshirt and my two sweatshirts torn into strips for easy tp. Its hard to try and hurry up to find somewhere to park a 53' in stripmalls and then try and find somewhere to go, its easier to go in the woods like a bear. By the time I got back to my barnyard I was down to my company issued parka, and my boss wants to know why the heck I'm not wearing any shirt, I told him I will tell him in a couple of days , clocked out , raced home in my car and was sick for two days. Horrible experience and hope I never get to expierence that ever again.

 

I think the time and for me even after all these years , still gets me shook up, and shaken still, but i was just starting out for crst, with trainer, we took a load up too northen ca up hyway 5, then got a load of power boats back, it was his turn too drive, i did not know the roads or anything , but he was suppse too after all this my 3 rd week in, a very greenhorn, i went into sleeper shut the curtain and did my time too get ready too drive for that night, when i kept hearing the air brakes go on -off like way too many times ,i opean up too curtain too see what was going on , he was going down hyway 1 along the coast, now even a newbee knows that not a truckroute, i kep hearing truck brakes , then scraping of trl up against the cliffs i got on floor and i was very scared too death and said my prayers, i prayed real hard too get me off this road, i got too the then 76 truckstop , took a long hot shower , went out clean out my stuff outa his truck and called dispacthed and said i quit, he was a very nice guy and put me up in motel for the night then stayed three days at there yard there in ca ,till a new trainer came for me, cause i told him what happen and that trainer no longer there, so i kinda feel bad for that, Everett.

 

21 years old ,I was running my frist load alone as an owner operator, from Miami,FL to NYC with a stop in DC. First time out of state alone.Drove straight thru till I got lost on hwy 50 west of 495 looking for the address in DC. saw nothing but houses and very low hanging cables that kept toching the top of the stacks on my pete. It was almost 4AM, I could'nt think straight, Horrible head ache from the 18 hour run non stop, Making u turns on hills with a 53 ref/van( I thought I was going to flip), running almost on empty with out a dollar in pocket ,counting on this COD stop to fuel up. I finally I gave up,And in a state of panic with no space to park I got back on hwy 50 east bound and pulled over under the first over pass and slept till 8am..To my surprise the truck had not ran out of fuel yet so I got directions. It was a small wharehouse in a residential area. I finaly get there unloaded expecting cash and recived a check. I was luckey enough to find a liqure store near by that knew the wharehouse owner and cashed it for me.At witch point the nearest fuel pump was that indian truck stop on hwy 50/301 just east of the delaware state line.I thought there is no way I was going to make it with two fingers of fuel left in each tank..god was with me that day . I was finaly able to fuel up Eat for the first time in 2 days and continue on my way..what a trip. Rookie mistakes...lol .