Thought I might give everyone my inside story of what transpired here in Buffalo, NY.
The week started off with a bang. I was sitting at home waiting for a call on Monday morning and sure enough Russell calls to see if I would be interested in a load picking up in Charlevoix, MI going to Buffalo, NY. It was a decent paying load which wasn't too heavy and giving more than 24 hours to get it there. I of course jumped on it. 10 minutes later he called back and told me that we got the load.
Pick up wasn't until 1700, but knowing there were some lake effect snow in the northwest part of MI, I almost immediately headed out as I was over 2 hours away on good roads let alone on snow covered. I arrived at the pick up close to 3 hours early, but much to my pleasant surprise the load was ready and waiting.
Knowing I could not make the entire trip with-in my allotted 11 hour driving time I planned on spending the night either at the Flying J off of 280 in Toledo or somewhere on the toll road before I-90 split from I-80. Well during the 20 minutes it took me to get loaded and get back underway the lake effect machine had started to really take off. Getting out of northern Michigan took me longer than I had planned so spending the night at the J became a no brainer.
The rest of the trip that day went without a hitch other than the winds had picked up immensely. Upon arrival at the J I filled up with fuel and hunkered down for the night. Filling up with fuel will turn out to be a very wise move.
The next morning (Tuesday) I got underway around 8 am. With 280 miles left I figured I could get to the consignees by 1pm with plenty of time to possibly get another load in the afternoon with still having 6+ hours of drive time left. I traveled along I-90 through Cleveland on into PA.
My first sign that something was wrong ahead was a caution sign that read "I-90 closed from exit 46 to exit 64 seek alternate route". I was at that time approximately at mile marker 20 in PA. I was thinking they had maybe some road work ahead and they were going to detour us around in the northern part of PA before going into NY. As I am traveling past Erie, PA I see another sign saying the same thing. Knowing that PA wasn't that wide in that area I just figured that it was still talking about a construction zone just before the NY state line. However, as I am approaching Exit 45 in PA I now see a sign that reads "I-90 closed at NY state line." Well come to find out exit 45 is the last exit in PA and the previous signs were referencing exits in NY and not in PA and they just hadn't changed the previous signs to say closed at the state line.
So as I cross into NY they immediately divert all the traffic at the first exit, which put me onto US20. Not a big deal as my GPS reroutes me and come to find out the consignee is just off from US20 in southern Buffalo. This will work out perfect I thought. Up to this point I am still unaware of the impending situation I was getting myself into. Looking back I remember noticing all of the dark clouds to my left and how crystal clear it was to my right but still no snow. I was approximately 60 miles from delivery and it was about 11:30 in the morning. Right on track. Boy would I be wrong.
I started to hit snow about 5 miles later. It was just light flurries and nothing on the roads. As I proceed on, the snow becomes harder and harder. At one point I was about 25 miles from delivery and I started to think to myself should I pull off at this small time truck stop called Native Pride or keep going. Well I kept going. I am from Northern Michigan and have driven through lots of snow in my day and I could get through this. I was following another semi. We were traveling about 25 mph and I was keeping him far enough ahead to where I could just make out his tail lights. If he hit his brakes I could easily stop in time. We traveled along at this pace for another 10 miles until we hit white out conditions. The roads almost instantly turned from snow covered to holy crap this @#$% is deep.
Because of the depth of the snow and ruts the previous vehicles were making the truck was jumping all over the place at 10 mph. We traveled along for about 1-2 miles like this when all of a sudden I noticed in my passenger window my exhaust pipe, which runs vertically near the passenger door, was laying forward and almost hitting my mirror. At this point was when I thought for sure I was going to get hit or get stuck or both. I pulled over as far as I thought I could, which wasn't very far as I couldn't see where the road ended and the ditch began.
I of course already had my 4 ways on, just from the previous road conditions, and preceded to jump out to assess the situation. The pipe clamp that hooks to the bracket at the top of the cab had broken. I grabbed a small strap that I had spare and managed to make a temporary fix until I could at least get off the road and out of the way. I jumped back into the drivers seat and preceded to continue on. I actually caught back up to the truck I was following about a half mile later as he had come to a complete stop.
By now this was about 14:30. My GPS read 9.2 miles from destination but I was just looking for anywhere to get off the road to reassess the exhaust situation and ride out the storm. Well as I sat there the snow just kept coming. I have witnessed white out conditions before but usually they will only last an hour maybe 2. This time it just seemed like it would never end. As day turned into night it became quite obvious I was going to be there a long time.
There was no movement at all. There were a few 4 wheel drives making their way around but no plows insight. There were fire dept. in 4x4's and were proceeding to go from vehicle to vehicle telling everyone that up ahead there was literally 4 feet of snow had fallen and were expecting another 4 feet to happen over the night and if anyone wanted they were providing shelter at the fire station. Of course everyone in the cars took them up on their offer but all of the truck drivers, stayed in their vehicles.
The next morning comes and it had stopped snowing sometime in the night. I jumped out and assessed the exhaust situation and reinforced it with another strap incase we got rolling. I did a once over on the truck and everything else seemed to be in good shape so it was now time to bring on the plows. Well none came down US20, however, I noticed a side street directly to my left was being plowed. This was also the street where the fire dept. was taking the people for shelter so I figured they were cleared first so the FD could get the big rigs out if need be.
Soon after this a police officer arrived and immediately walked to my door and began to tell me they were going to reroute us down the side street back to the "Native Pride" so we can get fuel and food and someplace to stay. Well I tried to tell him that I was only 9 miles from my destination but he didn't want to hear anything about it. He told me that noone was being allowed north as all roads where impassable. So I listened to his instructions and after some maneuvering I was able to get onto the side street and headed back south away from my destination.
I arrived at the Native Pride and found about 200 trucks in a truck stop that is set up to handle 30-40. I did manage to find a place to park relatively easy as there was a place where snow had been pushed previously but was not big enough to handle a 53 footer but my little straight truck fit perfect. Keep in mind this is now Wednesday afternoon. I turned on my tv and found a local station to find out what the situation was and how soon I could get back north.
By now it had clouded over and was starting to snow again. The forecast was for a second wave of snow to hit late Wednesday and to continue through Thursday with an additional 24-48 inches of snow expected. I have to tell you the weather men have come along way as they were spot on with this prediction. I awoke Thursday morning to 19 inches, yes I literally measured it, of fresh snow on my hood. It continued to snow throughout the day and into the night.
Come Friday morning I stepped out of my truck unable to see the bottom step. It was well past my knees and keep in mind this was an area that had the first round of snow cleared already. Sometime Wednesday night a Landstar straight truck arrived and parked next to me. Friday morning I proceed to watch this driver slowly move back and forth, making his tracks longer and longer until he finally reached an area that had been plowed in the night so he could now leave if the travel bans were to be lifted that were on all roads at that time. I thought to myself "if he can do it so can I." WRONG! Unaware that on my passenger side I had gotten drifted in.
I jumped out and started to dig. And dig. AND DIG. Until about 3 hours later I see first rolling onto the lot a back ho, then big frontend loader, and then a bull dozer. The guy in the second vehicle sees me and holds up a strap. I give him a thumbs up and nod my head yes. We strap it up and within seconds I was out of my parking spot.
By this time rumors were circulating that the travel bans were being lifted on I-90 at 15:00 so everyone was out and about trying to free up their trucks. I had also heard a vicious rumor that my consignee was not going to reopen until Monday so I called dispatch and talked to Lindy. She called me back and confirmed that yes they were going to remain closed through the weekend and were going to start taking deliveries Monday at 8:00.
So now I sit here typing this out and it is raining cats and dogs. There is maybe a dozen trucks left.
I would like to make mention of how Load 1 handled everything throughout this situation. They were the epitome compassion and understanding. They would call to check on the situation on a regular basis but it wasn't about the load it was to make sure I was ok and if I needed anything and if there was anything they could do. Also a very special thank you to John. He texted me everyday to check on me personally and I would send him pics of the situation at hand and just chit chat back and forth for awhile. It was a real comfort knowing that they were sincerely concerned about my well being.
So what started off as a promising week didn't pan out like I had hoped but it sure did turn out to be one for the memory book.
