Runaway Ramp...

Im like you old. once i get down it one time I never think twice. After I got a feel for it I am not uncomfortable with a grade. Its the not knowing that first time that makes me apprehensive. Always expecting the worst. Thats what I tell younger hands that the scariest part of not being seasoned is you dont know how much trouble your in or how dagerous the situation before it is too late and your already in a tight spot.

 

That's pretty much how I feel about monteagle, now I can enjoy the scenery. (As I watch my speed & rpm's that is.)

Pretty sure as I get to travel down more steep grades I'll feel the same about them as well, but I really do love the drive up that way. Tn 8 gave a beautiful fall spectrum when I went through. Probably nothing but bare trees now.

 

Absolutely, and I did not mean to imply otherwise.

 

I remember before I-77 was built coming down Fancy Gap...used to run down 52 to the bottom.
Really 77 is not bad at all if you watch what you are doing. No problem running 65 mph with a load of beer on and just using the jake and light on the brake pedal a few times...
Old 52 was another story.....

I bet the driver had a mechanical failure or just messed up.
Dropped off of it the other week,got to about the 5 MM and traffic was about stopped when i rounded the curve.
That was the first time in years I ever got the brakes smoking.

 

I have and i drove out of it. it was not a rush and it was quite scary. happened going into stevenson,al.,to a wood yard there,on al hwy 117 i think. i posted a picture of it on here on some thread a while back.doesn't look like much of a downhill but it will pucker you up if you have the need for the ramp.

 

yes because monteagle really isn't much to get excited about. i have never understood why drivers carry on about monteagle.your bud britney might get scared just like you going down it.

imagine driving down some grades out west without an engine brake,spring ride suspension,a sit in bunk,and a load of wine and never having attended a driving school.wonder how the older drivers did it back then and can post about it now?

 

Give it a rest... Yeesh.

Monteagle isn't anything to get excited over. If it was I wouldn't be comfortable after the first go. I enjoy it because the view is nice from the road. There's nicer places sure.

Might work in both out favors if we left the insults and so on out. You could've left the first part out.

I would like to drive some of these other roads you all have talked about. I enjoy new experiences but it never hurts to pucker now and again.

 

What was it the driver said to the one in the sleeper when he was going down a very steep grade and had lost his brakes, wasn’t it something like this, “Wake up, get out here, you’ve never seen nothing like this!”


I never did enjoy driving trucks down steep grades nor on those roads that was so crooked that in many of the curves you could read your on license plate on your very own trailer. I did it many time but it was not a joy.


I remember once going off of Tehachapi Pass north of Bakersfield having only one good brake on my trailer at about 1:00 AM in the morning. And no, I had no jake.


I got unloaded quite fast that morning and went to a shop to get my brakes fixed. After they fixed them I called in telling my boss I need several dollars for my brake repair in order to get it out of this shop. He was not happy about that saying why did you not wait till you got back to Arkansas. I told him about my trip down Tehachapi Pass with only one trailer brake and I was not going to do anything like that again. He sent me the money and I was back on the road.

 

E Z MONEY, remember when 77 was closed south bound 'cause of a landslide??

they rerouted traffic down old 52, that skinny ,straight down road. I got there about 11 at night and it scared the crap out of me!!

long line of trucks following each other going about 35 MPH, worrying about the brakes fading out. lo

was quite the learning experience.lol

 

Years ago, driving for Hennis Freight Lines out of Winston-Salem, no jakes, no power steering, came off old Fancy Gap many, many times. In the winter Hennis, McLean and Roadway would keep a "pusher" on Fancy Gap(old) and if you couldn't make it up the mountain, they would come up behind you and away you would go up to the top.

Over on U.S. 60 in West Va., Smith Transfer out of Staunton, Va would keep a "pusher" sitting around Rainelle in case a truck couldn't get up that mountain in the winter.