Xmas at Mt Rushmore, but before that.....

Great day, night from hell...Found out I couldn't deliver my load until Monday and figured I'm so close to Mount Rushmore, I'm spending Xmas day checking it out, very excited about that...So I drive and get as close as I can before I run out of hours...

After 670 miles of driving from Wisconsin to South Dakota it was time to pull over so I'm cruising up I-90 looking for a truck stop, in SD, they are few and far between, and lo and behold I see a WS truck in a lot off the side of the road so figured I'd join them!...Sounds good right, welllll, I turned into the lot which was pretty big but not quite big enough to turn around in so I could park next to other truck but enough room to do it with some maneuvering so I pull way into the lot and start my turn, then the fun starts...The lot is a sheet of ice under some powder and I'm now heading towards a ditch that lines one side of it...It's the same type of ditch you see between a highway...Now I'm stuck and every time I try to back up I go further towards the ditch and now my front wheels are over the edge, I stop trying....My head is spinning from such a long day and I couldn't think of what to do, all I could think of was I need a tow truck so I call an asst. shop manager(which I'm sure he loved hearing from me on Xmas eve) asking if I can get a tow...He tells me they're going to charge a fortune and to chain the wheels first and see if that works, DOH, why didn't I think of that...Probably because I'm so exhausted...

So now I'm exhausted, it's 15 degrees out, the lot is a solid sheet of ice and I have to chain up with the tractor at a 45 degree angle to the trailer...I'm not a happy camper at this point...First the chains are a mess from driving in snow all day and the last guy who had the truck had them all tangled together so I spent over a half hour just getting them off of the truck and untangling them...Then I spent another 30 minutes or so getting them on getting soaked and absolutely freezing in the process...Oh, and no tool to tighten them, hopefully some of you will chime in with methods using other tools, I couldn't think straight enough to get it done right...

So I'm chained up, loosely, and try to back up, nothing, spinning wheels, asphalt flying and now my front wheels are 2' over the edge of the ditch...Then out of the blue a cowboy swings in the lot and slides towards the same ditch I'm heading to, jumps out of his Ram 2500 and asks if I need some help...He offers to pull me with his truck as I only have 7500lbs of freight...My first thought was, how is he going to get out of the lot but his truck has no problems, he tosses me a tow rope, I connect it to the DOT bar and in less than a minute, I'm out and on level ground!!!!!!!!...I couldn't believe my luck, Santa showed up in a Ram and gave me the gift of freedom!!!...

I was thinking this has now become the worst possible scenario, I won't see Mt Rushmore and I'm going to sit here waiting for a tow until god knows when...I reach in pocket, all I had was $40 bucks and offer it to him with all the thank yous I can muster and he heads back out into the night as fast as he came in...I was wondering whether that all just happened or was I just delirious from exhaustion but then I see the grooves I dug into the asphalt and the extra chains I had stretched out in the lot and knew, it happened...I call the Asst. Manager back and told him what just went down and if I could get reimbursed, he said yes, woohoo!!!!!...Now I'm sitting next to the other WS truck, who's driver slept thru the whole thing LOL exhausted and getting ready to go to bed looking forward to tomorrow when I'll get to spend the day at Mt Rushmore, I'll post pics as soon as possible...

This is all part of a 2275 mile run I got from Indianapolis ending in Lakeview, WA with stops at 4 WS terminals(Billings, Helena, Spokane and Lakeview)...I'm stoked to hit the west coast and other than the crazy snow I had to drive in most of the day and tonight's fiasco, it's been a lot of fun!...Oh, and note to self, NEVER take I-90 thru Chicago at rush hour again, OMFG, it took over an hour an a half last night to get thru there...I should have taken 80/94 like I planned, live, hate life and learn I always say!

Happy Holidays ya'll!!!!!!!

 

I just want to see it, even if from road...I'm about a mile from Wall Drug so I'll probably check that out as well even if I have to walk...