Shoveling Snow & Ice

Going into Chicago on Sunday evening, it was okay up to the mid-town area ... where I transitioned onto I-290 going West/NW ... it started snowing ... the further west I went, the more snow was coming down ... I took the Elgin-O'Hare expressway west to US 20 ... more snow, but two tire ruts let me know where to drive ... by the time I reached the little section of US-20 that becomes a freeway ... I was relying on the concrete barricade on my left so that I knew for sure that I was still on the road (5-10 ft visibility) ... the road was so white that there were no tire tracks ... the snow covered them as fast as someone went past ... but no one was passing me ... they were relying on me to find the roadway and they would follow. Then there comes a point where the concrete barrier disappears ... I know that there is a grassy median that dips down in the middle ... what was once two lanes is now me driving down and guessing where the middle of those would be ... forward and lateral visibility is down to 5 feet or so ...

I managed to get off on Randall Rd and with a top speed of 15-25 mph ... didn't have to put on the brakes and slide thru any red lights. Safe at my destination on Fox Ln ... I parked next to Angel ... and rested for the night. Delivered in the morning. The bathroom wasn't usable, because the floor drains were frozen. Joy. But they did plow the snow out of the parking lot and delivery areas.

Then I had to do 3 pick-ups in Chicago. It only took 2 hrs 15 min. to go 30 miles to Vienna Beef (sausages). I checked in and they told me I'm #4 to get into door 7, 8, or 9 ... go park in the gravel parking lot. What gravel parking lot??? There was nothing but snow ... there were some trucks up in the snow area ... so I headed there. When I attempted to maneuver next to them ... I ended up with my tires spinning ... forward or back ... straight or turn ... just spinning. Where the snow had been packed down, there was no traction. We had as high as 6 trucks stuck in that area with spinning wheels. Eventually someone inside showed one of the drivers a square-nose shovel and two 80 lb. bags of rock salt. I dug out snow & ice clear down to gravel in front of and behind 4 sets of drive tires ... and here I thought I wouldn't get much exercise driving truck ... then we packed rock salt against the front of the wheels and let it spin it under until we finally got traction and enough momentum to roll out of the lot. It only took 2 hours from the time I got stuck, until I could roll out and back into a door ... and only minutes to put one small pallet (loaded with 40 small boxes) in the trailer. bought one pallet ($6.50).

Half an hour or more ... to go only 10 miles to the next place ... located down a two-lane road. With trucks parked on both sides ... there was a single narrow lane down the middle to traverse ... and from this narrow road, you had to back into the small lot with only 6 dock doors (no maneuver room in the lot) ... and don't bend any of the cars parked out on the street in the "no-parking" zones. I bought 5 pallets here ($37.50).

By the time I got out of there about 3:30 p.m. fog had descended on Chicago. 30 foot visibility. Took an hour to go 10 miles to the 3rd site. This facility had the door slanted at an angle ... you still had to drive out into the the street and block traffic to back into them. Due to the angle, a section of concrete wall juts out on the passenger side (the side where you can't see very well ... particularly in the fog and twilight). One driver split his passenger-side reefer door from top to bottom when he hit that wall. I bought one more pallet ($7).

3 hours later I made it to University Park and retrieved the 22 pallets that they took off my truck a week-ago Monday. I didn't intend to buy any more pallets in Indianapolis ...

After a couple hundred miles in the fog ... sometimes with visibility only as far as the length of the nose of my truck ... I stopped. I was exhausted!! I'd missed a rest stop because I couldn't see it nor see the signs for it ... until the last sign which was only 3 feet from my passenger window ... too late ... even then couldn't make out the rest stop (had hoped there might be a little brightening of the fog in that direction). I was momentarily up to 20 feet of visibility when I saw an exit with a wide paved shoulder ... I pulled off onto the shoulder ... and had about 15 feet of lateral separation from my truck and passing traffic. At one point during the night, I looked out and visibility was clear ... I could see other trucks parked on the far side of the interstate ... but it was back to fog and about 50 - 100 ft visibility when I got up and started driving again.

I arrived at the Indy pick-up while the night shift was still on duty ... they got me in and out without a 2-hr delay waiting for paperwork. South to Greenwood, IN to fuel and scale the load ... and then just drive south on I-65 all day long ...

Below is a foto of my truck stuck on ice in the "gravel lot". A lovely day ...

- Freth. :-P