Some winter driving advice

Now that this thread is on the third page I suppose it's ok to inform people of another important rule... Don't eat yellow snow!

It may look tasy, don't do it!

 

Armarillo and I-40 is looking forward to 4 to 6 inches soon.

Amarillo, TX

Little Rock will be between Rain and Snow 5PM monday below freezing after sunset, whatever is wet will freeze.

OKC down to TX may have places of Mix.

 

You won't get too many people to "learn" from you like that.

At least, that is what I think you meant to say.

 

I have the ambient temperature displayed at the top of my driver's side rear view mirror. I start paying real attention below 40°F. It adds a snowflake icon below 37°F.

 

For me, winter time means good money. Just ride the roads, charge $25 to yank people out of ditches and you make plenty in a day. But at the same time, when it snows down here, you don't catch a breather. Last year during snow we were running nonstop for right at 18/19hrs because of the snow.

The biggest thing slow down, respect mother nature. Don't lock your breaks up.

 

I did lose the road once, driving a crane for a frack move. It was in the middle of the night. Clear skies but the wind created a ground blizzard six inches above the road, that freaky thing where all your headlights reveal is the entire white world moving sideways. It was on a narrow two lane road.

I have to say going off road gave a smoother ride that that gawdaful Oklahoma pothole special. I crept back over until the familiar spine damaging hits kept coming.

 

I completely agree with you. There's another way I look at driving in difficult conditions: take what the road gives you.

Last winter I drove at night from Plentywood, MT to Casper, WY. The original plan was to get to at least Wheatland or maybe Cheyenne, but after driving MT-16 from Culbertson to Glendive I opted to stay on the big road, taking I-94 west to get southbound on I-25. MT-16 was fine, until oncoming trucks created such a blizzard I was in seconds of whiteout.

When I got to the interchange with I-25 and accelerated to merge there were the lights of a truck coming up. I accelerated aggressively to merge safely well ahead of him. We we're the only two vehicles southbound on I-25 all the way to Casper.

During that run at times I ran almost 70 mph and at times slowed to 35-40 mph, all depending on road conditions. If it got bone dry I went faster, if ground blizzards created 6" or more of snow or created icing I slowed

Meanwhile the driver in that truck behind me seemed to speed up or slow down without any apparent logic. In icy sections he would come charging up and tailgate. When it got dry he slowed down and quickly dropped back a mile or more. This wasn't just him running a steady speed, it was him either getting on the throttle or backing off.

As you run south on I-25 approaching Casper there's that steep grade with a sharp curve to the left. It's ALWAYS a sheet of ice in conditions like that. As I slowed to 35 mph to initiate the descent that trucker blew my doors off, flying down the icy grade at least 60 mph, pulling a set of Rocky Mountain doubles!

Ever seen a set of RM doubles go all accordianed? He nearly lost it all at the turn at the bottom. Then he crept along at 25 mph and exited at the Pilot, I assume to change his shorts and throw away the soiled pair.

Read the road. Take what it gives you. Keep your head in the game.

 

My version of Ice School is pretty simple.

Get out and take a walk. If you are able to hold your footing then it's a given your rig will do well within reason. But if you fell down after slipping on that fine ice, your rig will not do well at all.

Leaving the western ice alone for the moment, I'll point to the mid south bridges when MS using sand on some bridges but not all. US79 Memphis to Binghampton comes to mind. Approach a bridge at walking speed so that no one is able to get between your trailer downslope to the railing because your trailer will begin to jack knife down slope against the railing. You do not want idiots bunched around you, which they will for some odd reason... They are going to do it around your trailer.

I have pretty good storm endurance. But after my last 100 miles dealing with bunching 4 wheelers and yelling SHOO! SCRAM! GTFO of there... etc. Ive pretty much have been more than happy to get back into Arkansas.

Mother Nature does have surprises once in a while. One night near Scranton PA in a rest area, I was settled in for a nice good sleep like a day early for once. 65 degrees, windows open, screens in and so on. What a night's sleep that was. Restful.

Woke up to 4 inches of ice around my drive tires and some on trailer with snow and ice coming through one of the windows in the cabover. (Not exactly conductive to staying warm, engine off and everything to boot.) a proper ice storm.

I cranked and got it lit. Waited like a hour to get to temp tossing snow and ice out of the truck. Then worked on breaking the drives loose from that ice. Pulling straight didnt do it. But turning left and right and applying a pull did it eventually. Sort of a hee haw gently so you don't tear the tires.

Breakfast? HA. Forget it. Wait until you get downtown, maybe you will find something then. Otherwise it's across the Newburgh bridge first.

A relatively small regional ice storm. Made for a day that I wont forget in this lifetime. Much of the things I do now is to prevent myself from being caught the way I was by Nature that one day.