I got up this morning expecting to roll into the Seattle area just about the time the morning rush hour oversized load curfew ended. As I approached the bottom of Snoqualmie Pass the big electronic signs advised that traction tires were advised and oversized vehicles are prohibited. Damn!
A quick check of 511 confirmed that it's snowing up there (it's snowing/raining down here too) and that they are prohibiting oversized vehicles until the conditions improve. No idea when that might be.
I had stopped in Ellensburg to eat late yesterday afternoon and was told by an Eastbound driver that it was snowing up there then, which is why I opted to wait until this morning, thinking that would give them all night to clean the roadway to make for safe travel. I guess the pass is really getting dumped on right now so it could be a while before it's opened up to oversized loads again.
Looking at the camera images from up there on the WA state DOT website, it does look pretty slushy up there at the moment. Definitely not conditions under which I want to pull a load in excess of 100,000 lbs. As much as I would like to get this load delivered and be reloaded again, it isn't worth risking the extreme fines for violating the restriction, and certainly isn't worth getting killed or killing someone else.
I guess I'll head back to the truckstop in Ellensburg and wait it out. Some breakfast sounds pretty good about now anyway.