I got a real reality check!!
 

I just wanted to share this real life experience with you guys as it really opened my eyes and showed me that no one of us is safe from crashing at anytime or for any reason. It was just about a week and a half ago I had the cruise control set at 70mph going along I-80 in Nebraska, looked down at my gauges and it read 2:29a.m. and a chilly 16 degrees no clouds and believe it or not....no wind go figure in Nebraska?? Couple minutes later this bus/motorhome with a bunch of chicken lights passes me up and he goes on his way. About 10 minutes later he's about a good 1/2 a mile ahead of me when his brake lights light up and his flashers come on. I notice in front of him is a couple of rigs stopped in their tracks, so we pull up with flashers goin and so do a couple other truckers that pulled up behind me. This woke my girlfriend up because I had set the parking brake and she asked whats going on? So I turned on the cb and hear a bunch of chattering goin on and people wondering whats goin on up ahead. Couple minutes go by and this worried/scared voice gets on the cb and says, "he's my best friend and he took some flu medicine and he rolled it, I cant seem to get him out but he's standing up in the cab". I couldnt believe this, I told myself some of these truckers have too much time on their hands just talkin a bunch of crap over the cb. Then this female gets on the cb and asks if 911 had been called. The voice gets back on the cb and stated that he hadnt had time because he was trying to get his friend out and he asked if any drivers could run up to the crash scene and and help him rescue the driver. So this being said I think I gained about 30lbs. of muscle as the testosterone shot thru me! I grabbed my coat and so did my girlfriend and we ran up to the scene. As we got up to it we saw he had been transporting produce mostly apples, oranges, etc. but it was all over the road. The driver was probably an O/O and he had one of those trailers I like with the shiny back doors, well not shiny anymore. We get up to the cab and fortunately about 5 or 6 other drivers had made it up there already and had got the crash victim out of the truck and thats when all reality set in. I saw how bloodied the man was and he was in a daze but the good news was he was talking and conversing with everyone. I felt so bad for him but I felt even better as the local volunteer fire fighters showed up. As we walked back to our truck I noticed just how lucky this fellow really was believe it or not. Just another foot or two and this guy would of took a 70ft. plunge down onto some railroad tracks and if that wouldnt have killed him, the train that passed by as I got in the truck would have! We sat in the truck for the next few minutes not saying anything to each other as we were both in shock as to what we had seen. About 45 minutes after we had pulled up to the scene the volunteer fire fighters had cleared the slow lane of most of the debris and traffic began to creep by the scene so we could be on our way. Another thing that made this guy lucky is that he wasnt seriously hurt because the Highway Patrol and the ambulance werent even on scene til after we were gone, matter of fact I passed the Highway Patrol 10 minutes after we had left the scene! The female voice that was talking on the cb stated that she had to call 911 three times just to get an operator, so I think this guy really had angels with him. After that for about the next 2 hours I kept questioning to myself why would anyone take flu medicine if their about to drive and especially at night through a long boring drive, I'm sure most of you know how "dry" I-80 is through Nebraska. Unfortunately it takes things like this to happen for most people to open their eyes and realize nobody is immune to crashing their car or truck, it all seems ok when you see it on t.v. but when it's there live in front of you at 3 in the morning it makes you count your blessings and take your time and sleep, sleep, sleep absolutely nothing can replace your energy like a good nights sleep!

Well, he survived, but now he's got some other things to worry about.

I hate hearing about these things and it always strikes me hard, if you're tired, pull of to the side and sleep.
If a cop or someone else tells you to move, give them the finger, a parking ticket is better than any road-cleaning.

15 to 20 min for a full set of chains here as well. I can do it, have done it and would do it again of I had to. Now this morning I'm sitting here in Wells, NV headed to Santa Rosa, CA then on to Orange County and 80 is closed from the state line down the hill to the Placer county line. I don't have to worry about chaining anymore and don't even carry chains. I will head over to Reno and get a room and wait for all the restrictions to be lifted. It might take a week but so be it.

Hmmm...I'm thinkin Catalinaflyer missed his exit ramp.

Hmmmmm........ Wells, NV you say....

Guess I don't blame you for not being all that anxious to move... "COFFEE AND CONVERSATION WITH NO OBLIGATION". I remember hearing that on the CB...:lol2::smokin::clap:
Took a tour of the "COTTONTAIL RANCH" once. Just a tour and a cup of coffee, but nothing more. Neither of them would give me a "senior citizen's discount".

"Free Hot Showers, Free Coffee and Free Conversation with No Obligation - 6 Acres off all night, free turn around parking" Been hearing that for 18 hours about every 10 minutes. And no I didn't miss any exit and damn sure didn't go North on 93 across the railroad bridge and take the first left after the guard rail. I have however moved west to the J in Winnemucca, that makes 177 miles for the day so I'm thinking the Red Lion Casino and a room till tomorrow morning.

OK lets try this again! I wish there was a smiley for "went right over your head"! "missed your exit" was a metaphor for posting in the wrong thread. What does chaining have to do with the original post? We have a chaining post going on so I figured that was the one you wanted. :D

I have no friggen idea how I wound up here, I hit the reply over on the chain thread and somehow wound up here. Your absolutly correct, I missed my exit and am totally lost.

Whatever!!! Probably on the cell phone while typing! Your gonna end up hurting someone! :hellno:

:rofl::rofl::rofl: