Monteagle claims another one today.....

i been on the phone all day today. at the truckstop.

 

Monteagle was the first ever hill I tackled in a big truck. Honestly, I don't understand why so many people have so much trouble with it. Slow and steady and its a nice ride. Actually, I think I just answered my question..haha

 

Only one brake on fire? Probably the others were badly out of adjustment. Amazing how many of the "automatic" slack adjusters don't adjust. And with many companies eliminating the trolley valve, hard to check adjustment, not that any of these guys are doing it anyway.

 

Groovy man.

 

Yeah...I kept waiting for John and Ponch to come roaring into the shot!

 

Gotta love all those International cabovers in that video.

 

I'd love to find one, and then have the money and time to restore it. It was the first truck that I really remember my dad owning.

Sent from your iPhone via my Galaxy Nexus!

 

Thank-you for posting that. I have some still pictures from that era, but will keep them to myself since they don't compare to film.

Folks that weren't there can't realize the magnitude of changes that were made around 1990 or so. They moved a lot of mountain on the left to facilitate adding the third lane and straightening out the curves, not switchbacks, but tight enough to keep you on your toes.

I've heard much criticism over the years about the ramps being on the left, but better than no ramps at all, because there really isn't anywhere else to put them. The old ramps on the right were practically useless. It was a given that if a truck hit one of those mini ramps with any speed at all there was a 90% chance he was going over the side into the abyss. Supposedly there is a truck graveyard down there for there is no practical way to ever retrieve them, for whatever value they would be anyway.

During construction the eastbound traffic was routed over to the other side and it was treated as a two lane highway. The grade is actually not as steep over there and it was a nicer ride going down, despite the opposing traffic.

But all things are relative to our experience. My late father-in-law began his driving career in the 1940s and would entertain me of tales from before there was an I-24 and US41 was a gravel road going over the mountain. I can't even imagine that, but it was routine to those guys (whom I refer to as real men) because they had nothing to compare it to.

 

It's been a long time since I've been on Monteagle but I don't really remember it distinctly like I do Cabbage Patch or any of the other major grades out west. I just remember doing the brake check at the top and rolling on down, nothing too extreme, is it that bad?