Fuel for Thought

Winter Won't Quit

I wasn’t paying too much attention to the weather. It was supposed to be light precipitation whether it was rain or snow.  Within thirty minutes of picking up in East St. Louis, traffic was traveling at a maximum of 45-50 mph. I gave up north of Searcy, Arkansas around 0330 in the morning when I could only manage 15-25 mph through nine inch deep snow. The decision to quit was easy when I passed two snow plows trying to pull a third plow out of a ditch. Normally when I take an early morning break, I try to deconflict with rush hour traffic. This time I decided to aim for rush hour thinking that most people wouldn’t be on the road and the snow removal crews would have concentrated on clearing the roads for morning traffic. I hit the road again at 0630 local time and there had been a feeble attempt to clear the roads. Three hours into my morning, and I was still averaging less than 30 mph. The last thirty miles to Texarkana, Texas were completely clear. Once at a predictable pace, dispatch coordinated with the consignee and changed my delivery location to one of the customer’s facilities that could accept after hours freight. I arrived in Pasadena, Texas eight and a half hours after my scheduled delivery time.

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