Funnier as it gets Older!
 

Ok, here's one that happened to me way back when I first started driving... It most certainly was NOT funny at the time, but as I get older & with each telling of this story it certainly IS funny now! Enjoy!

OK, here goes...my very first trip to the Rocky Mountains.....

I was 22 years old, bright eyed & bushy tailed Had the world by the horns, if you know what I mean... LadyNorth will know the road I'm talking about, but it was BEFORE it was rebuilt some years ago....

I was hauling superB's (those are 8 axle units that gross out at 64,000KG or roughly 135,000 LBS if I remember my conversions) hauling deisel fuel to a big plant going in at Fort St John BC.

The day was bright & sunny, not a cloud in the sky. I pulled into the Brake Check on Taylor Hill (Hill up there is 8% grade for 10 miles or so). Anyway, I get motoring down this hill (more like MOUNTAIN), jakes on full doing about 70 kph (45mph), kinda looking out the window watching the scenery NOT a good thing to be doing. All of the sudden I'm in the major fog bank & decending a bit faster than I'd like, BUT now I'm going too fast to downshift, jakes are now SCREAMING! Am sure I could be heard for MILES! I can hear some chatter on the CB, but am too busy trying to slow down to pay much attention... another BIG mistake. Am valiantly tring to slow this rig down when out of the fog looms this itty bitty curve sign...like horseshoe curve (BC is FAMOUS for those). The curve is posted at 30 kph (20 mph), I make a quick glance at speedo...YIMINY I'm doing like 80. HOLY CRAP I remember thinking...I'm gonna die today. Well, somehow I got around that curve, to this day I still think I can see the tire marke on the mountain side of the road...

Anyway, old heart is just starting to slow some when I come out of the fog & I'm looking at literally WIDE open space...300 ft DOWN. OH NO I think...so I grab the wheel hard and give her another vicious twist & I'm back down the road again. Now, I am major SCARED, I am going way too fast, too scared to try to downshift, RPM way major high, right against the governor I think. Then I did something REALLY dumb...I glanced in my rearview mirror... I see little puffs of smoke...hot brakes...C R A P !!!

Recall I said there was chatter on CB? I shoulda listened...really I shoulda... Here I am scared as ... well I was really scared... going way too fast & guess what I saw? You got it CONSTRUCTION on the damned bridge! The flag girl she's a wavin her sign for all she's worth! By now my brakes are doin major smoke show...I'm NOT even slowing at all...so she finally bounds out of my way...thank god...& I hit that old suspension bridge with a mighty SMACK! There's construction dudes scambling everywhere..the bridge is down to one lane, btw it has a metal deck...remember that...Everybody gittin EXCEPT the dude on the Bobcat coming TOWARDS me! The way he was boppin along think the was playin tunes or something but he didn't realize what was going on till I was nearly on top of him. All of the sudden his eyes got REAL BIG, I saw them, believe me! So...he throws his bobcat into reverse & looks REAL scared...recall I said metal deck plates? Well guess what was off in front of him & me? Yep you guessed it...the deck plates!

So anyway, poor dude on bobcat is now more scared than me, but fortunately we are starting to climb up again so by shear force of gravity I am slowing down, BUT will it be quick enough? Needless to say I did get stopped, about 6" in front of the bobcat & he was roughly 2 ft from the gaping whole in the bridge. When I thought I could trust my legs to stand we stood side by side by the whole looking dow the 200 or so ft to the river below. I ran that road everyday that summer & that construction crew finally let me live it down the last week.

I look back & wonder how I survived it, I can laugh now, cause I'm sure I don't know how I got down that mountain in one piece, more luck than good management that's for sure.

In 27 years of trucking I NEVER call ANY road a playground. Trucking is NOT playing it's serious. I love what I do, & love what I am & when it comes to trucking I tend to be pretty serious about some things & can be flipant & silly about others, but I have way too much diesel in my blood to stop now.

Wow, that's scary. Glad you're OK. Guess it just goes to show that you can't take life for granted. :sad:

Re: Funnier as it gets Older!
 

I know exactly what area you're talking about. I once made a few fuel deliveries for Ventures West ( winter of 05-06 ) in a super b, at the Petro at John, and Taylor hill and that l'il bridge always made me sweat bullets. Haven't been that side in a while though....heading west, isn't Taylor before Pouce Coupe ?

Another scary ride was Goat & Dome Creek, on the way to Prince George, in white-out conditions late in the evening, that same winter. I was with a trainer, and we were hauling fuel to UFA at Vanderhoof. He took over after McBride, and, I swear to God, that was the absolutely scariest ride of my life !!!

thank you for the story old timer!

I tell ya, there are not many feelings in the world to match that tinge in your stomach going down a grade with smoke blowing out of your trailer brakes and nothing but a squishy pedal, happened to me when I was with Falcon coming down fancy gap. Had to pick up a crappy brokered load WAY back in the mountains....Just shy of 47,000 lbs of casting sand. Not quite as heavy as the B train but plenty heavy. I was in one of the 8 crappy trucks I was issued at Falcon, no Jake, and the trailer was about as old as they had in the fleet and apparently needed an adjustment on the brakes....anyways, long story short, I started down that grade as carefully as i could knowing i had a big load and no jake but she just kept picking up speed and it didnt take long to get those brakes blowing out so much smoke i thought they were on fire......its a scary feeling to hit those brakes down a grade with a heavy load and feel no stopping power whatsoever. I made it down to the end going way faster than is close to being comfortable but i tell ya....be carefull going down those grades even if you are familiar with them, it dont take much to burn those brakes out if you make a mistake.

I've been in the trucking business now for about 18 years. Wow, that's a long time now that I see that number in print.

One thing I remember when I was just a kid of about 11 years old, was something that my grandfather told me. He said, "driving is a full time job." It didn't have much meaning to me then since I was still just a passenger in whatever vehicle I was riding in.

It wasn't until I got my license at 16 that I realized just what he meant. But being a kid still, I didn't really head my grandfathers advise. Street racing, track racing, the 1/4 mile...bring it on and I did it.

Then I had my first child. SCREEECH!!!! HALT!!!! Put the brakes on life. It's not just about me anymore. Now I've got a little one to think about. That's when my grandfathers words really came to life.

Then into trucking, it had 80,000 pounds worth of more meaning to me.

Thanks for the great story. I've had a couple of close calls myself, but I think yours tops mine...Jenni (aka--Iron Goddess) I'll have to post that story soon as to how I got my name...unless someone knows who I am. I'll leave it at that.

WildKat, you used up 8 of your lives, you only got 1 left :wink:

To be old and wise, you must first be young and stupid :lol:

Good job hangin in there. Majority of rookies would have had a worse landing with injuries.

Great story. I been lucky - I was born cautious and stayed that way - give me a hill, and I take it as a challenge to see how SLOW I can go down, without resorting to heating the brakes. I truly don't care about the folk behind getting annoyed with the old phart in the truck, crawling down the mountain.

WildKat, all I wanna know is this: how many lives are you down to now? In one day this is the *second* brush with death I've read about you having! I'm just reading it and I'm scared! Also, if it were me, I'd be banned from driving a truck - that's just my luck though. I'm glad you're still with us and I sincerely hope you're taking it a lot easier now!

I thank Heavens that I've never experienced anything too scary in the truck. WildKat, I'll learn from your adventures! I had a serious, life-altering accident in a personal vehicle ten years ago, and I'm too scared to take many chances. I am always criticizing my driving and playing it overly safe. For instance, my last thrill was on US 40 in PA; the sign said "Trucks: 10 MPH" & I think it was a 9% grade maybe... well, I was doing just under the 10 and rolled with the flashers and the jakes on so I wouldn't burn my brakes. I don't even want the brakes to smell! I'm too scared. Maybe I should "live" a little :lol:

Well, after 30 years I guess I'm likely down to about 4 of my 9 lives, I certainly HAD some scary times, but mostly I try not to worry too much about it, if I did I'd NEVER do what I do. I have only ever been in ONE wreck, so after over 4 million miles in a truck I figure I've done well. The roads I drive on daily don't make it easy to stay accident free, but I do my best to keep a clear head and a steady hand on the wheel. I suppose it's why when I read about somebody doing something utterly stupid or some rookie being flippant I tend to get a bit irate.