We left Madison, Wisconsin at midnight last Sunday and were sitting in Fort Worth, Texas about 8pm on Monday. It was a nonstop trip as we were watching the huge blizzard heading straight for us. We were feeling all good about ourselves, thinking we were lucky to be heading to Texas with all the snow that was coming and were feeling sorry for the poor souls up north who would surely be snowbound for several days. Little did we know when we woke up on Tuesday morning we would be sitting in several inches of ice in downtown Fort Worth. One inch is enough to cripple Texas when they don’t even have any salt trucks out before or after the storm. Thankfully we had put our trailer into the loading dock the night before when we got there. The problem came when it was time to pull it out. No salt equals no traction and once the trailer was halfway out into the road, the truck pulling it out for us was just spinning its wheels, literally. After much unhooking from the trailer and hooking back to it at a different angle several times, and theater people running to the store to buy salt to throw in the street in front of the docks(you’d think they’ve never had an ice issue before), the trailer was finally out. We hooked up to it thinking we would go park it and be on our way to California. Rrrright…. We had been listening to the police scanner all morning and hearing the horror stories of all these ice-covered ramps being blocked by big trucks that had no traction to get up them. Cars and trucks were everywhere in the road on our way to Dallas to drop off the trailer. We passed over another interstate that was closed and looking down at it there were just cars and trucks everywhere stuck on the ice. Now if this were Wisconsin or Minnesota, I just know we wouldn’t be having a problem. But in Texas, it’s a problem. With absolutely no salt or plows on the road, this ice was not going anywhere. We made it to our destination thankfully without any problems - only because Jorge had the excellent idea that before we leave the theater, we should chain up the tires. We didn’t slide once and we were the only truck we saw on the road with tire chains. We didn’t go far that night. We found a place to park back near Fort Worth with the thought that we’d get up in the morning and make our start for California. Again, we didn’t get far. Although there were a few patches of dry road, I-20 was almost completely covered in ice. There were cars slipping and sliding all around us and when it happened to us driving only 28 miles, we made a wise decision to just park the truck until the ice melts. Obviously Texas was not going to clean it up and we were not about to risk having an accident. Every other truck driver had the same thought and we were lucky to find a place to park at a truckstop in Weatherford, Texas where we’ve been since Wednesday. It’s now Saturday. Still no salt or plows on the road but today they are calling for temps in the 40’s and it looks like we’ll finally get to go back to work. We are supposed to be in California tomorrow night. At this point, I’m not sure if we’ll make it on time but it looks like a long day of driving ahead for us. We are about 1400 miles away.
On the plus side, with all the extra time we’ve had on our hands this week, we’ve had no excuse not to be going thru all our 2010 receipts and getting things ready for the CPA. Thank God for satellite TV, cellphones, and computers. It’s the only thing that gets us thru some long, cold, and icy Texas days.
On the plus side, with all the extra time we’ve had on our hands this week, we’ve had no excuse not to be going thru all our 2010 receipts and getting things ready for the CPA. Thank God for satellite TV, cellphones, and computers. It’s the only thing that gets us thru some long, cold, and icy Texas days.