Chaining..... uggh!

I won't run US97 from now until things warm up in a couple months. Like you said it's only 100 miles longer. The problem I have with US97 is from Klammath Falls North there are sections along the way to Biggs that are there own little micro-climates. So it can look good around Klammath Falls or Bend and 15 miles South of Chemult to La Pine it can be snowing, whiteout, dense fog, or ice. From Madras to Biggs same thing. But probably worse than the weather are the maniac Yuba City reefer madness drivers that still do 65 mph through all those conditions. I quit running that route in the winter about 3 years ago when in dense fog somewhere around Shanako I was going 35 mph and still could barely see the fog line. A south bound truck yelled on the cb that a trooper was up the road about a mile with a wreck. One of the Yuba City guys had been on my bumper for miles and finally pasted me on a double yellow. Just luck-of-the-draw nobody was coming towards us at that moment. About a mile up the road there was the state patrol with that wreck.

 

Cool. That’s what I was looking for. I love the drive, but from my limited experience I can totally see the micro climate hell there.

 

Don't be shy of a little snow. Running the oilfields up here it's a daily thing. Even in the summer sometimes. If you don't at least try to chain up they're not coming down and dragging you up if you didn't try chains 1st.

Get a system down pat and it becomes a lot faster

 

Got screwed by the weather forecast this week. I took a load from California to Colorado because all of the web sites said little or no snow the entire way. The shipper took 6 hours to load me screwing up my plans for the night, then I headed over Donner Pass in the dark intending to overnight at Fernley. On the west side of Reno the traffic on I-80 came to a dead stop, and I sat there for 5.5 hours with everybody else. Meanwhile, my reefer stopped running and wouldn't restart. So I have a load that supposed to be at 38 degrees. So far it's holding because it's a new well insulated trailer. Ran out of hours and used my PC to move to a closed weight station for the night. Woke up this morning to 3 inches of fresh snow. No chain restrictions, but a wet sloppy mess. I hate winter.

 

There's a nice truck stop in Madras a few miles off 97 up Hwy 26. I think it was fairly new when I was there several months ago.

Should be an automatic lifetime CDL suspension.

 

That's funny! I wish I had a dollar for every chain I've thrown.Can't believe I made it.