What was most difficult for you?

a tornado that crossed 1/4 mile in front of me on a back road in MS. Couldnt see crap, rain coming down so hard I had to be 3 feet from the truck ahead of me to see him. Couldnt pull over just crept along at 10 mph til all heck broke lose in front of us, then we stopped.

 

I don't mind snow, and I can deal with ice if I have to.

But I hate fog. Do NOT like not seeing what's up there.

 

Well so many to list but i would have to say this past year 2 days before christmas the ice storm that took me 6 hrs to go from Beaverdam,OH to Toledo with my daughter in the bunk sleeping cause she was off school for christmas break. everything was AOK till beaverdam and then hello the road turned to solid ice from there on north. Basically drove half way jacknifed all the way through the curve at Beaverdam. Could not even get in anywhere to park cause the ramps were solid ice and they were all blocked from the people who tried. Oh by the way weather was supposed to be CLEAR and cold!

 

So far only rain. However last week it was POURING and my wipers decided to stop working. So driving from memory and hoping there is a shoulder when you're headed for it anyway I suppose is about as dangerous as anything.

 

I was gonna write about the time I was driving a Chevy Express van cross-country as an Outreach Educator for a musem. It was on a highway near Tuxedo Park, NY where a fog thicker than any I had ever seen before just came up out of nowhere. I slowed down, then slowed down some more, then I realized I was about 3 feet off the back of a semi. I wanted to pull over onto the shoulder, but I couldn't see the shoulder. I trudged on at about 12 mph until I drove out of it.

Then there was the time I drove through 4th of July Pass during a sleet storm. The road was a sheet of ice and locals and experienced truckers blew their horns at me as I crawled down the mountain. Let's just say I renewed my faith in God on that trip.

But the most difficult was when I got caught in a mud slide in northern California. I had already been stuck in Eureka, CA for 3 days. I called the state police to see if the road I needed would be open. It wasn't. I took the recommended detour only to find myself on a serpentine mountain road that had no shoulder and a 50' drop to a river on one side and a mountain of mud on the other. The National Guard had been called out and they would bulldoze the mud off the road into the rushing river below. Then a pickup truck with plow affixed to the front would lead one or 2 vehicles through about a 50 yard stretch of mud slick mountain road.

Ice and fog are dangerous and annoying; but common enough that I feel I can navigate them safely. But I never want to be caught in a mud slide, even a small one, again.

 

Fog coming down a mountain....

 

just the other week, coming across panhandle of oklahoma headed north on 385, (which has to be the roughest road out there!) in an international cabover running bobtail, raining cats and dogs and lightning blinding you every couple of seconds, which could have been worse, but with that road it was worse than the couple of times i have drove truck on snow. heard there was a tornado just west over in NM, but never shecked if it was true.

 

Last January at US 212 in SD-WY-MT. From a clear night, it turned to a MAJOR snowstorm in 5 minutes. There was 6 inches of snow in 10 minutes. We were all driving about 10-15 mph, riding the warning strip on the shoulder, with me leading the way. That stretch of road doesn't have any road markers at the side...

My absolute worst driving experience was about 5 years ago in Manitoba, on HWY 1...in the fog. You were able to see 10 miles down the road, you just couldn't see the road. Four wheelers were totally invisible on the road, and you could only see trucks from the hood up. That fog was just sitting down on the road, about 5 - 6 feet high...It was something I don't ever wanna do again. Very creepy feeling, seeing so far ahead, but not seeing anything right in front of you.

 

I don't mind snow, when you live where I do and it snows 6 months of the year you get used to it.

The worst for me is freezing fog, fog alone is bad enough, but when it freezes onto your windshield and you can't see anything.

I can, and have, dealt with any type of weather, but I have seen some bad wrecks caused by fog