Post by william on Oct 17, 2009 12:51:09 GMT -5
First--THE BLOW OUT
Next--THE ICE STORM
One trip was a little inconvient at best. And another was scary
My truck was loaded with about 120 bales of hay or about 7800 pounds, maybe more. Everything was going pretty good. The day was average, not overly hot and no rain to contend with. It was about 2:00 pm. somewhere between Harrisburg and Willmington. Roads were great with little traffic.
All of a sudden there was an explosion. My truck swerved slightly. Immediatly I pulled off the road to check it out. One of my tires had failed and had blown out. I had no spare tire or jack. Fortunately for me I had just passed a trucking garage. I was able to turn around and limp my way back to the garage area. There was only one man there. He had heard the blowout explosion just as I went by his garage.
He told me that he could loan me a tire. I really had not brought enough money to purchase a tire and buy a load of corn or something to haul back home with.I was operating on the peroverbial shoestring!
He opened the big garage doors and I pulled my truckload of hay inside.
He pointed out the tire tools and I went to work. The tire was the inside one of the dual wheels. Removing the wheels was easy compared to breaking the tire loose from the wheel rim. Actually I had never had to change a truck tire before. Tractor tires , yes, but not these very stiff ten ply 8:25 tires. Took a good two hours I think before I was ready to go again.
The deal I made was that I would make my trip and drop off his tire, it was a brand new one, on my way back. I think he was hoping that I would buy his tire and not have to remove it from my truck. I did have a tire back home but no inner tube. He said that he had noticed my truck traveling pretty much regularly and would trust my word that I would bring it back. Which I did of course. I did purchase the inner tube however from him.
The Ice storm
Coming home from one trip almost proved to be disasterous for my trucking experience.
My truck was not loaded on the return trip. Probably it was good thing that it was empty. I forget just where the incident took place but I will never forget incident itself.
The weather was somewhat gloomy and rainy but no fog. I had just topped the hill and started down into the valley. My speed was within the posted limits. The valley was maybe a mile wide. I first noticed a line of traffic moving very slowly toward me on this two lane road way out ahead of me. I thought that probably a wide or very heavily loaded truck was making its way up the hill toward me.. And then I noticed that my own lane also had a very long line of stopped vehicles. I would have to stop. Just as soon as I applied my brakes the wheels locked up and I knew I was sliding toward the last vehicle in the line of vehicles. There was no way that I could avoid slamming into that car, unless I pulled into the left lane. There were no vehicles for most of the distance to the bottom of that hill. I pulled to the left and made it past the first few cars. But then my front wheels would not grip the road so I could stay in this left lane. The wheels just plowed sideways until they went off the edge of the pavement. There was a drop off af at least ten feet into an open field. But I would have to smash thru a cable type guard rail. As luck would have it, the soft dirt on the edge of the road pavement gave my steering wheels traction enough to send my truck back across the road and into the lane of stopped vehicles.
I had over corrected. Fortunately there was enouigh space between two vehicles that I could enter my proper traveling lane and run off the pavement on the right side of the road. But I still could not stop. My guardian angels were with me once again. I had enough space to get back to the left lane again and not hit any vehicles. All this time I was losing my forward speed by pumping the brakes.
Again I went off the pavement on the dirt and was again directed to the right lane. Things begin to get fuzzy because I cannot recall if I made another in and out across those lanes or not.
But I do recall finally stopping in my proper lane several hundred feet forward of where I intended and should have halted my truck. No one was hurt! No one was even bumped.
Of course my?
had kicked in and now I needed to release the tension. I climbed out of my truck to walk back to another truck just to make a little calming conversation. Jus as I got to the back of my truck, something caught my eye. I stopped and looked intently at my wheels. Very slowly my truck was creeping sideways off of the pavement.
I was almost the victim of black ice! Deciding that it would be best if I remained in the driver's seat, I climbed back in my truck again. About five minutes later a knock attracted my attention. It was the trucker from a couple of vehicles behind me.
He said, "Man, I did not think you were going to make it!"
"I did not think I would make it either!," I replied
The temperature of the pavement was just cold enough to freeze rain striking it!
Next--THE ICE STORM
One trip was a little inconvient at best. And another was scary
My truck was loaded with about 120 bales of hay or about 7800 pounds, maybe more. Everything was going pretty good. The day was average, not overly hot and no rain to contend with. It was about 2:00 pm. somewhere between Harrisburg and Willmington. Roads were great with little traffic.
All of a sudden there was an explosion. My truck swerved slightly. Immediatly I pulled off the road to check it out. One of my tires had failed and had blown out. I had no spare tire or jack. Fortunately for me I had just passed a trucking garage. I was able to turn around and limp my way back to the garage area. There was only one man there. He had heard the blowout explosion just as I went by his garage.
He told me that he could loan me a tire. I really had not brought enough money to purchase a tire and buy a load of corn or something to haul back home with.I was operating on the peroverbial shoestring!
He opened the big garage doors and I pulled my truckload of hay inside.
He pointed out the tire tools and I went to work. The tire was the inside one of the dual wheels. Removing the wheels was easy compared to breaking the tire loose from the wheel rim. Actually I had never had to change a truck tire before. Tractor tires , yes, but not these very stiff ten ply 8:25 tires. Took a good two hours I think before I was ready to go again.
The deal I made was that I would make my trip and drop off his tire, it was a brand new one, on my way back. I think he was hoping that I would buy his tire and not have to remove it from my truck. I did have a tire back home but no inner tube. He said that he had noticed my truck traveling pretty much regularly and would trust my word that I would bring it back. Which I did of course. I did purchase the inner tube however from him.
The Ice storm
Coming home from one trip almost proved to be disasterous for my trucking experience.
My truck was not loaded on the return trip. Probably it was good thing that it was empty. I forget just where the incident took place but I will never forget incident itself.
The weather was somewhat gloomy and rainy but no fog. I had just topped the hill and started down into the valley. My speed was within the posted limits. The valley was maybe a mile wide. I first noticed a line of traffic moving very slowly toward me on this two lane road way out ahead of me. I thought that probably a wide or very heavily loaded truck was making its way up the hill toward me.. And then I noticed that my own lane also had a very long line of stopped vehicles. I would have to stop. Just as soon as I applied my brakes the wheels locked up and I knew I was sliding toward the last vehicle in the line of vehicles. There was no way that I could avoid slamming into that car, unless I pulled into the left lane. There were no vehicles for most of the distance to the bottom of that hill. I pulled to the left and made it past the first few cars. But then my front wheels would not grip the road so I could stay in this left lane. The wheels just plowed sideways until they went off the edge of the pavement. There was a drop off af at least ten feet into an open field. But I would have to smash thru a cable type guard rail. As luck would have it, the soft dirt on the edge of the road pavement gave my steering wheels traction enough to send my truck back across the road and into the lane of stopped vehicles.
I had over corrected. Fortunately there was enouigh space between two vehicles that I could enter my proper traveling lane and run off the pavement on the right side of the road. But I still could not stop. My guardian angels were with me once again. I had enough space to get back to the left lane again and not hit any vehicles. All this time I was losing my forward speed by pumping the brakes.
Again I went off the pavement on the dirt and was again directed to the right lane. Things begin to get fuzzy because I cannot recall if I made another in and out across those lanes or not.
But I do recall finally stopping in my proper lane several hundred feet forward of where I intended and should have halted my truck. No one was hurt! No one was even bumped.
Of course my?
had kicked in and now I needed to release the tension. I climbed out of my truck to walk back to another truck just to make a little calming conversation. Jus as I got to the back of my truck, something caught my eye. I stopped and looked intently at my wheels. Very slowly my truck was creeping sideways off of the pavement.I was almost the victim of black ice! Deciding that it would be best if I remained in the driver's seat, I climbed back in my truck again. About five minutes later a knock attracted my attention. It was the trucker from a couple of vehicles behind me.
He said, "Man, I did not think you were going to make it!"
"I did not think I would make it either!," I replied
The temperature of the pavement was just cold enough to freeze rain striking it!
