CHAINING...are you ready?

usually have chain's on the rack year round

 

Learned to drive a big truck on those roads. Some of the best training ever!

 

Slickest dirt roads I've ever seen are north of Oklahoma City, maybe west of Guthrie, immediately following a hard rain. They turn into 4 inches of vaseline following a hard rain. Lots of less experienced storm chasers get in trouble on those roads.

Not exactly sure what type of soil it is, but a half inch downpour makes them almost impassable for a few hours, even with 4wd and m/s tires

 

Yep. The rig was just west of Dover. If you aren't perfectly centered on the crown of the "vaseline" you will slide right toward the edge. Of course, turning off a narrow paved road onto that vaseline road I had to swing it wide into the shallow ditch to avoid taking out a fence. That meant a quarter mile fight to get centered up. You learn to steer with the pedal in a situation like that, ease off to get a turn that "Git it!" to keep the momentum.

 

I remember a good thread started by a newbie, asking when you should decide to park it for inclement weather. There was an off road driver that said something to the effect, "If you saw what we do every day it would melt your mind!"

True words. That has been like a mantra for me. My mind has definitely been close to melting more than a few times.

Thing is, when you get back to black top that's covered in snow and ice, it's a relief.

 

To be fair, at least on lease roads, you don't have many other vehicles to worry about getting squirrely adjacent to you like they do on major cross-country routes. My biggest concern on snow/ice is all the other traffic with drivers of questionable skills ... traffic getting in the way, traffic passing, traffic coming at you, all day long, high winds, etc.

That said, I don't care for oil patch or other off-road related trucking work. I don't like dust and I don't like mud.

 

Much of western Oklahoma is a shale/clay mix. Ends up 3-6 inches of slime on top a hard base. Get enough rain on it it's hard to walk on! Only good thing about it is at least it doesn't ball up on the tires quite as bad as caliche.

 

I'm considering naming my truck "Pigpen". I paid by the minute to demud my truck and trailer, then do a full wash with acid on the tanks and side boxes. Including a generous tip for the crew at Blue Beacon it cost me $300. I told them they would have made more by charging me $1/lb.

 

US 550 takes the award for first chain up of the season, Coal Bank, Molass and Red Mountain. Winter driving conditions expected intermittently for much of Colorado mtn's through this coming Friday.

 

Well it's still in the 90s in South Carolina right now. Should I put on a sweater just in case? You never know..