Help!! Snow expected in WY UT area.

Driving in the snow is Iike walking in the snow - FOR THE MOST PART! Make sure you leave yourself plenty of space and from there you need to be extra careful stopping and turning.

Obviously there’s more to it than that, but if you’re already out there there’s not much time for a tutorial. Leave space and be extra careful stopping and turning.

 

Speaking of turning. GREASE THAT &^%$ 5th wheel. And FUEL UP FULL. And keep it full.

That grease in the 5th wheel will keep you turning where you want it. Mostly. If you let it rust and get dry she aint gonna turn for love or money. Take you clean off the mountainside too. ZIIIP!

 

Kinda figured that, but it was still funny...

 

Now I actually prefer to be bobtail or have an empty wagon, myself. Loaded is OK...sure, traction is slightly better, but you've got so much more momentum pushing you that any little screw-up is going to get bad in a hurry. I don't mind a little slipping and sliding as long as I can control it...and the heavier you are, the more difficult that becomes. Of course if I pulled a van I'd probably want a little weight to better offset any winds I might encounter, but pulling a flatbed that really doesn't factor in much. IF I'm going to be loaded, I want a low center of gravity...and strapped on there REAL good. Weight biased toward the drives, too. Especially with the spread, I want my drives 33-34K, even if that only leaves 25K on the trailer. Worst thing you can do is have 38-40K on the spread and only 20-25K on the drives.

 

Safety is the key word. You can monitor the websites in WY, it has a lot of useful info on the site including each highway and the conditions on it. Right now in the Evanston area, there is a level one Chain restriction posted, which is just to have the chains available.

Road & Travel Information

For Utah there is an up $1000.00 fine and/ or up to 6 mo in jail for not using them as required.

Utah Department of Transportation

Hubby has had to put on chains before just to get into or out of a truckstop before. Then the put them on/pull them off 30 miles later. Wind can be a problem also in these states, pay attention to that also.

Having a laptop with internet would be great to monitor all of this better, but most states do have phone apps available, but I don't know how friendly they are. They also have toll free numbers you can call to find out road conditions.

 

Interesting. Actually makes sense. Good post.

 

Sometimes nature throws something in the form of mountain snow then come down off it into the valley and it rains. Flip back to ice then snow again on the next one. And that valley it starts to rain again.

If you really want something mind bending, come out of death valley and cross the sierras into a few feet of snow in the same day.

 

Weather looks fine for that run

National Weather Service

 

Sometimes when I know Im going into battle and no scales around for love or money, I'll load it to about 40 on the drives. But I don't get to get away doing that too often. It's unnatural.

I hate being empty. The tinest little flake of snow and she slips like a fat lady on the hospital wet floor sign... going no where.

There is a limit to winds in my book. If NOAA threw up a high wind warning for a given area, I'll sit a while wait it out. Wyoming is special. There is I think US 30 that works around a 40 mile section of interstate where the winds concentrate and howl. I'll need to get out the map and review it. So don't take this post for face value.

 

Winter Driving w/o the platitudes.