[Malaki86]

What a day to be a trucker...

Dispatch sent me my pickup info last night at 4pm. It was scheduled to pickup today, but because of the winter storm coming, I called to see if I could get loaded last night. Well, if I could've been there before 4pm, they would've loaded me. So...

Left Derby, CT after loading this morning at 11:15am (arrived at 7am when they opened) heading for Morgantown, WV (~540 miles). Wellll, because of the wonderful roads, the beautiful weather and the endless stream of idiots, in 7.5hrs I managed to make it 213 miles.

I-95, I-287 and I-78 were absolutely horrible. The worst part was the plow trucks. For some unknown reason, they're throwing sand instead of salt. It's around 28f and the salt would've melted that crap. But, nooooo, they'd rather have the snow & sleet pack into a nice long stretch of ice.

What I really enjoyed was listening to the super truckers on the cb, telling people to move over because they had to go. Hmmm, wonder what they'll do about the 5billion cars (or so it seemed) that were in the road in front of them doing the same speed as the trucks, or the wall of snowplows going down the interstate at 15mph...

So, now I have to sit in this truckstop until daylight (headlight lenses are horrible on this truck) and run the rest of the way. I'm still on I-78 and Harrisburg, PA is expecting a total of 6-10" of snow through the night.

Can't wait to see what I-68 is gonna look like...

Once I get to the shop, I've got a nice list of problems on the truck that need fixed. Our shop is only there until 5pm on Saturday, and not at all on Sunday. This load delivers at 7am in Ohio, so that means, by the time I get there the shop will have roughly 5-6hrs to fix everything.

Oh ya, I love my job :major sarcasm:

[ben45750]

I came across 68 last week when PA and MD got all that snow. Absolute nightmare!!! They didn't even touch the roads till daylight. I had to keep moving because if I would have stopped I would have be stuck. 25-35 mph the whole way.

[buckshot150]

Sounds like Typical Winter Day of Trucking in the Northeast.

uhmm, first the salt does melt snow and ice but at 28 degrees it just freezes again. and two if you are going to deliver in ohio, or morgantown..not sure which, run the pa pike ove to new stanton and 70 across to the buckeye or i79, which ever

[ben45750]

Originally Posted by jedfxg

uhmm, first the salt does melt snow and ice but at 28 degrees it just freezes again. and two if you are going to deliver in ohio, or morgantown..not sure which, run the pa pike ove to new stanton and 70 across to the buckeye or i79, which ever

That night I was running back to Columbus, OH. I could have called into get authorization to run the turnpike but PA was getting the snow too. I would rather run the less traveled road and be in more snow than run in heavy traffic in the snow pulling doubles with no weight. If the traffic comes to a stop, it's harder to get rolling again with doubles. If I were in a twin screw with a long box with some weight, without a doubt I'll run the turnpike.

ok, makes sense???

[ben45750]

Originally Posted by jedfxg

ok, makes sense???

What don't make sense?

pa pike is the best kept road in pa..handsdown. why is it harder to start out from a stop with doubles? why would you rather be on a lonely road in snow? so when you crash there is no one to help you? i guess i do not understand the difference to starting out from a stop with pups compared to 53?

[ben45750]

I agree 76 is the best road in Pa, but the doubles react different on the snow. If you have to make a hard break for a sudden slow down the rear trailer tends to move around on you more than a 53 (more brake lag with the doubles), or you can get an accordion effect and the trailers push the tractor causing a jack knife.

It's also pretty common to have a single axle tractor when pulling doubles so it''s harder to get moving in snow, when you have a twin screw you can lock the diffs to get more traction to get moving. If you have to come to a complete stop in the snow you get hung up very easy. Once you are moving at a constant speed it's not to bad but the slowing down and taking off can be a problem.

My biggest reason for why I would run 68 instead of 76 when it's snowing is because everyone else is up on 76. If you are running by yourself you don't have to worry about what the other people are doing, you only have to worry about yourself leaving you a much bigger out (like how they teach you with the Smith System) rather than running in packs on 76. I am also more comfortable on 68 because I know the road better and have traveled 68 more than 76.

open your blue line about a quarter turn on the back trailer, this keeps the rear brakes from locking up in the snow and ice. however less braking power but easy to stop when not worried about the rear comming around on ya.