CHAINING...are you ready?

They don't salt the roads in Oregon so on the rare occasion they get a major snow event in the Willamette Valley it creates some real havoc for a couple days. Sometimes winters would pass there with hardly any measurable snowfall and then one year there was like a foot and a half one week.

 

During the winter of 2008, I had to chain up to leave the yard in Brooks and unchain after crossing into Washington then on the return trip from Bellingham, chain up to get through Portland back to Brooks for 5 days straight.

 

Went by brooks today, though about stopping at the pilot for moment, others had the same thought, didn't want to do that today.weigh station closed, thought about the TA or Flying J, Passed it up for the same reason. how's the 5 looking now? it was a cold white carpet earlier.

 

I'm in Santiam Canyon now. We had two avalanches today. The road is supposed to be open now.

 

Jubitz - tho it was busy too,

in and out in 15

 

avalanches?

 

I think they're made by Chev

 

http://katu.com/news/local/avalanches-close-highway-20-near-sandiam-pass-summit-cars-covered-in-snow

 

I WAS THERE TOO!!!
Left Corning Wed morning at 0830...rain up to Albany, on the north end (where the plant used to be) everything became ICE! Luckily I only had about 4000 in the box...and everyone just slowed down, kept decent spacing and just flowed right along. Ankenny Hill wasn't a skating rink yet but everyone gave a lot of respect for that downgrade curve (pictured above)...got up to the T/A exit (278) and it took 45 minutes to get off the ramp and into the T/A. That intersection was bad enough before the Fly J opened...now...what a mess, and that little climb from under the overpass, got a whole bunch of sphincters puckered! Of course the Gardner day cab driver who decided to cut the corner off the south off ramp and put his tandems in the ditch trying to be sneaky....heh heh heh, had to laugh...quietly to myself that is! Some grain hauler (long primary trailer with a secondary shorty) was just too heavy to pull the ramp northbound lost traction about 20 feet from the top...bet he was uttering some guttural earthy 4 letter words! Pulled into the T/A at 1615....Left out of there Thursday mnorning at 0900...no chains. A bit dicey up to Tigard, then that is where they finally started using deicer and got some plows on the Interstate. Cross into WA...all those trucks getting their chains off....as I scoot on by!
Last night, clear sailing southbound till Siskyou summit (mp 8)...freezing fog, light snow...and a whole bunch of white knuckled 4 wheelers...not to mention a few pasty faced Yuba City types wiping the tears....hehehehehehe