Hope I saw my last snow flake this season last trip out.
Apr 10, 2016 5:18:56 GMT -5
Post by rah on Apr 10, 2016 5:18:56 GMT -5
Wednesday afternoon I was called at 16:15 for a load of 42,000 lb. of Nestles product in a 53′ refer trailer bound for the WalMart Distribution Center (DC) in Johnstown, NY that had supposed to have departed at 15:00. After driving all night I stopped at the Oneida service area off I-90 near Westmoreland, NY just 58 miles from the place I was to deliver. Temps were cool but not cold and road conditions excellent. Delivery was scheduled for 18:30 Thursday.
I arrived at the DC at 17:45 and went through their routine. Backing in the assigned door #119, chalking the trailer tires on one side, unhooking and pulling the tractor from under the trailer. It was 22:30 when they called me to come in a pay their $50.00 lumper fee and get the signed bills and hook up and leave. Temp was in the 40s and it wasn’t bad at all.
The pick up of my back haul was at a freezer warehouse in Scranton, PA so I drove NY 33A down to it’s junction to I-88 and took that down to the junction with I-81. Stopped at the PA welcome center and took my 10 hour break. Cold and when I departed the Welcome center the first flakes of snow were coming down but it didn’t last.
I arrived at the warehouse at 12:15 but was not loaded with the 38,000 lb + of Italian ice and frozen pretzels bound for three different locations in Indiana until 22:40.
Started getting into snow that stuck about half way across PA on I-80 and by he time I reached the junction with I-76 in Ohio it was really coming down with a 30 mph wind out of the NW gusting to 40 or so at times. By the time I was west of Akron on I-76 conditions were blizzard like. Visibility very poor at times. Once I hit I-71 going south the temp was 24 deg F and it was still coming down hard and blowing. At times I was at 35 mph with my flashers on with snow 4-5" deep. Now heavily loaded big trucks do pretty well in the snow in every way except of course stopping. The driver really has to be on his or hers toes and just ease the rig down the steeper hills because you get to much momentum your just not going to be in control. I-71 is three lanes along that stretch of road but most of the time only the tire tracks were usable and one had to pick their spot to pass other vehicles.
I made the decision to get off on US 30 at Mansfield, OH to head west instead of taking I-71 down to Columbus, OH to catch I-70. It was a good decision. Once I got out of Mansfield heading west conditions gradually improved and after stopping and fueling both the truck and the refer unit at Upper Sandusky it was full daylight and the road conditions were good enough I could hammer down and go 68 mph. So I did the 638 miles from the warehouse on the north side of Scranton, PA to the yard on the south side of Anderson, IN in 11 hours and 4 minutes driving time. Not bad considering about 100 miles of that was hard winter driving. A couple of white knuckle seconds when the wind started pushing me on slick spots but all in all not a bad trip considering the first three numbers of the refer trailer I was pulling were 666.
BTW I hate driving a big truck in the Scranton, Wilkes Barrie area. Roads are tight, new restricted routes and construction make navigating a 68' long vehicle through those old built up areas a real pain.
I arrived at the DC at 17:45 and went through their routine. Backing in the assigned door #119, chalking the trailer tires on one side, unhooking and pulling the tractor from under the trailer. It was 22:30 when they called me to come in a pay their $50.00 lumper fee and get the signed bills and hook up and leave. Temp was in the 40s and it wasn’t bad at all.
The pick up of my back haul was at a freezer warehouse in Scranton, PA so I drove NY 33A down to it’s junction to I-88 and took that down to the junction with I-81. Stopped at the PA welcome center and took my 10 hour break. Cold and when I departed the Welcome center the first flakes of snow were coming down but it didn’t last.
I arrived at the warehouse at 12:15 but was not loaded with the 38,000 lb + of Italian ice and frozen pretzels bound for three different locations in Indiana until 22:40.
Started getting into snow that stuck about half way across PA on I-80 and by he time I reached the junction with I-76 in Ohio it was really coming down with a 30 mph wind out of the NW gusting to 40 or so at times. By the time I was west of Akron on I-76 conditions were blizzard like. Visibility very poor at times. Once I hit I-71 going south the temp was 24 deg F and it was still coming down hard and blowing. At times I was at 35 mph with my flashers on with snow 4-5" deep. Now heavily loaded big trucks do pretty well in the snow in every way except of course stopping. The driver really has to be on his or hers toes and just ease the rig down the steeper hills because you get to much momentum your just not going to be in control. I-71 is three lanes along that stretch of road but most of the time only the tire tracks were usable and one had to pick their spot to pass other vehicles.
I made the decision to get off on US 30 at Mansfield, OH to head west instead of taking I-71 down to Columbus, OH to catch I-70. It was a good decision. Once I got out of Mansfield heading west conditions gradually improved and after stopping and fueling both the truck and the refer unit at Upper Sandusky it was full daylight and the road conditions were good enough I could hammer down and go 68 mph. So I did the 638 miles from the warehouse on the north side of Scranton, PA to the yard on the south side of Anderson, IN in 11 hours and 4 minutes driving time. Not bad considering about 100 miles of that was hard winter driving. A couple of white knuckle seconds when the wind started pushing me on slick spots but all in all not a bad trip considering the first three numbers of the refer trailer I was pulling were 666.
BTW I hate driving a big truck in the Scranton, Wilkes Barrie area. Roads are tight, new restricted routes and construction make navigating a 68' long vehicle through those old built up areas a real pain.