The ice capades
 

Well on Thursday night Utah got a good snow/ice storm. I was in Cedar City to up to a dozen trucks all stuck in one way or the other at the Loves there in Cedar City. No one could move because the exit was clogged by idiots.

So I missed the opportunity to make my load. The next morning after a small tow truck attempted to remove the stuck trucks another tow truck offered to help me move. A comedy of errors led to me being stuck all weekend.

I am empty. So I have no traction whatsoever on the drives. I am sitting on a 5% grade facing uphill. I have a downhill grade behind me for about 200 feet where it ends in a field. I start safe in a parking spot when The tow truck driver convinces me that if I get moving I will be able to make it to I15 where it is clear. Ok I think ... So he hooks up and starts pulling -- I am in a medium gear trying to move forward but the wheels just spin. The tow truck just jacks to the right.

So he unhooks me and says "I really can't help you dude .."

Now I am sort of in an angle and after he unhooks I am sliding slowly backwards, settling down, then moving again inch by inch. A snow plow sees my predicament and plows all the snow behind me clean. "Now just back it up and you should be OK.." Well no sooner do the trailer tandems hit what is now a clean sheet of ice with no snow to resist ... I start moving backwards at a much better clip. Brakes do not help at all.

I now slide to a parking space behind me that thank God was empty.

Another 1/2 ton tow truck comes and offers to help. I chain up. 2 three rails and a set of single rails. The wheels just spun and now I am angled so I take up two parking spaces. I try to rock, but each time I move backwards 2 feet for every one foot forward. Eventually the trailer tandems jumped the curb behind me and I am stuck good.

"I really can't help you ..." :evil:

So the entire weekend was spent stuck.

One lesson learned was to assess the situation before listening to people who know nothing about trucks. If I would have stayed undisturbed toward the top of the hill .. I would have been able to move on Saturday after the noon sun melted the ice. Now I am on the bottom of the hill where all the water and ice collected. Getting more stuck.

Today it is supposed to be 42 degrees .. I hope that is enough to melt the ice and I can get moving again. Otherwise I need to call a real 5 ton wrecker and get towed.

You'll be safe this winter

yeah, i live in cedar city, almost went to the subway there last night seeing as it's a 24/7 one. glad i didn't if it's a big circus over there.


i'm actually headed up to Salt Lake next week to start trucking school.

Good luck getting out of there and be careful, i've seen a few wrecks on the street right above loves involving trucks.

edit: in fact i'm gonna go over there right now and check it out, kinda curious to see the situation

now that would make for a really bad weekend

how thick is the ice? you could throw some salt on it. maybe that'll work

Hmmmm you are the second person to suggest this .. heck I will clean out the Loves and try this.

BTW) Know how to chain without backing up your unit because you might have to do that someday. I had no place to go and lugging 80 pound chains on ice is no fun. I ended up on my butt more than once.

carry a bag of Kitty litter with you

BINGO worked like a champ .. better than a 1/2 ton tow truck :wink:

glad you got out, salt always melts the ice




8)

Sorry you got so stuck...hope it taught you something{s}. Thanks for posting, it will keep me alert for "traps".