It's a Team's Life

Crazy Weather

Crazy Weather

In the past, I have written about navigating the various weather conditions that we as truck drivers face throughout the year. I feel like this topic should be addressed again. While snow, high winds and tornadoes are relatively common, some new weather incidents have popped up recently. While driving I have seen signs along the highway giving instructions as to what to do in the case of a dust storm. Fortunately, we have never come across such a weather system. Yet, this year there are more dust storms being reported on the news than ever before. Another weather situation that is fairly new is extreme fire occurrences. Now, some of you might say that dust and fire are not really weather situations. I am putting them in the same category because both of these seem to be caused by high winds which is a weather condition.

Truthfully, I am not sure which I dislike more. Ice or snow covered roads are nerve-wrecking for sure. In my early days of trucking, I did end up in a ditch while deadheading. Fortunately, Dave was able to dig us out. We turned around and parked in the nearest truck stop available. Driving in high winds can also test one’s nerves. Once I was driving along interstate 80 in Wyoming (need I say more!) and every LED sign that I passed increased the wind gust by 10 miles per hour until the final sign read 70+ MPH wind gust. By this point, I was driving all of 25 MPH and had called Dave out of the sleeper for moral support. There was nothing he could do to help me; however, it just felt better to have him awake and keeping me calm. Fortunately, we made it to our planned stop where we got fuel and had planned on switching drivers. Instead we got fuel and parked until 5pm the next day when the highway reopened to “high profile, light weight vehicles.”

Now that we have many more miles of experience under our belts we do all that we can to avoid all the crazy weather that we can. But what if we can’t get past fires or dust storms or tornadoes or blizzards? We park it! There is no load that we have hauled that is worth risking damage to those around us, ourselves or our equipment. If a customer cannot understand the dangers of crazy weather, we will not haul their freight in the future.

We are blessed to be able to make the decision as to whether or not we will continue on our journey. What about those who do not have the same luxury? What if a driver is employed by a company or fleet owner who insists that they continue to either a shipper or delivery point? I really feel for them. To all drivers on the road, I pray for your safety.

Here’s to millions of profitable and SAFE miles.

Kelly Plumb