Caly's Cold Heart

The driving condition that I fear the most, regardless of the vehicle that I'm in, is winter driving conditions. My lifetime of driving and being a passenger in vehicles during winter storms has taught me one lesson: Driving in winter storm conditions can be unpredictable and very dangerous.

I recall as a child, sitting in a car as it spun in circles, out of control on black ice down a narrow highway. I've seen massive accidents in winter storms unfold right before me, I've heard the crunching of cars behind me, and seen cars off the highway all around me. The question I always ask myself while driving in such conditions is, if I had to stop suddenly, could I do it? On a road made slick by snow, packed snow, and ice, the answer is frequently no.

One night years ago, I was driving from work towards home. A sudden snowstorm hit, and the road was soon completely covered in snow. A car passed me going quite a bit faster than me, and about 10 minutes later, I caught up to the car. It was upside down at the side of the road. The driver was standing outside the car, so I stopped and asked how I could help. He said he'd already phoned for help, that he wasn't hurt, and everything was fine. As I prepared to leave, he added, “I know how to drive in these conditions.” It seemed like an odd statement to make at this particular time.

Imagine dragging all these past experiences and deep sense of respect for the heightened odds of being involved in an accident during winter driving, with me into this job, and you can perhaps see why I dread winter driving in a large semi truck with my job, my future career, my safety, and the safety of those around me as real consequences if something were to happen.

Some people are storm chasers, I try to be a storm follower. I'm hoping to be on the highway after the storm has passed, and the roads are reasonably dry and safer to travel. My current employer loves to chain up. It creates added and necessary traction in winter driving conditions. I guess I wouldn't mind chaining up, if I could do it off the highway in a safe place. Parked alongside a highway, in the dark, in a blinding snowstorm or blizzard, with my back to the highway and traffic as I wrestle getting chains over and secured to a tire seems like a great way to have one's life ended very quickly. My hope and prayer, is to avoid as many winter storms as possible.

So no one was more dismayed when I went home for home time and had to make a quick trip over Vail Pass near Vail, Colorado to discover that winter storms had stalked me all the way there and I had to deal with winter storms over Vail Pass and also Soldier Summit in Utah. At least I was in my own vehicle, and not some huge commercial vehicle.

After home time, I headed out from our Utah terminal eastbound with a load, and was just ahead of a storm, which I learned later was winter storm Caly. I headed out across Wyoming and Nebraska towards Chicago with Caly hot on my heels. I arrived and parked in Illinois just as the first snow flakes began fall, and within an hour, Caly boldy proclaimed her arrival, and for the next 24 hours winter driving was the only kind available. Fortunately, my delivery was only 2-3 hours away and so my winter driving was limited.

In the wake of the snow and blizzard conditions, Caly drug bitter cold air down from the arctic. Temperatures this past week have been below zero at night, and only hovering around 0-10 degrees for the high. The only good news is that we must idle our engines all night long when temperatures become that low.

As these winter storms make their way across the nation, it seems like I am always there, just ahead of them by mere hours....hoping to have the timing of shippers appointments, rest breaks as required by law, and overnight stays, all work to my favor so I can avoid these major storms. As I write this, I'm here in Wisconsin, and guess what? Tomorrow, winter storm Decima hits. Wish me luck!

Illinois, parked as 1st flakes fall

30 minutes Later

An hour later