A bunch of useless crap
Published on November 16, 2007 By MasonM In Blogging
Warning signs are good things when one bothers to actually read and heed them. There is a section of I-90 in ID that is typical mountain roadway. It's very curvy and there are signs warning truckers that 45 mph is the maximum safe speed through there. As I came through there yesterday I was running between 40 - 45 mph around those sharp curves.

When I rounded one of them I was greeted by the sight of a flatbed on the shoulder with his load leaning way over and just about to fall off the trailer. I guess that driver either didn't secure the load properly or, more likely, ignored the warning signs and was trying to run the curves too fast. Either way he really screwed up.

While still in WA I had heard from a couple of drivers that there had been some seriously high winds around the Livingston, MT area when they came across and that several rigs had been blown over. I wasn't surprised today to see warning signs about strong cross wind gusts in that area advising drivers to use extra caution.

As I neared that area the winds were really whipping across the highway so I dropped my speed so as to make my rig harder to blow off the road or blow over. Naturally there were trucks and RVs still hammering away, weaving back and forth as the wind gusts hit them and nearly pushed them off the roadway. Some folks simply don't listen.

The high winds lasted for 40 miles or so and I was finally out of them again. I'm now parked in SE MT, not too far from the WY line. I checked into a motel here for the night. A waste of money really, but I just felt like getting out of the truck for the night. This is very close to the Little Big Horn area where Custer and his men met their now infamous fate and there are an old military rifle and saber hanging on the wall above the motel check in desk. Probably just replicas, but you never know.

I'm just going to kick back and relax tonight, get some rest, and get back at it tomorrow morning. I'm still hoping to make it home for Thanksgiving.




Comments
on Nov 16, 2007

There's an eye catching title.   Although, I knew it was about the wind...I just had to click.

~Zoo

on Nov 16, 2007
Good luck getting home for the holiday, but first and foremost drive safely (like you have been).
on Nov 16, 2007

Ever run I-8 with the winds?  We really dont have any thing to compare back east to that stuff, and I have not run the trip that far north.  But when the winds are kicking there, NO ONE should do the speed limit!

I did the old Rt 66 with cross winds like that too.  In a car with a U-haul.  And it weren't fun!  2 lanes with that small stuff with that wind is good for a weeks worth of massages!

Glad you are out of it.  And even more so that you are behind the wheel!

on Nov 16, 2007

There's an eye catching title.   Although, I knew it was about the wind...I just had to click.


~Zoo




Glad ya did!
on Nov 16, 2007

Good luck getting home for the holiday, but first and foremost drive safely (like you have been).


Thanks. Can't get home by getting into a wreck.
on Nov 16, 2007

Ever run I-8 with the winds?  We really dont have any thing to compare back east to that stuff, and I have not run the trip that far north.  But when the winds are kicking there, NO ONE should do the speed limit!


I did the old Rt 66 with cross winds like that too.  In a car with a U-haul.  And it weren't fun!  2 lanes with that small stuff with that wind is good for a weeks worth of massages!


Glad you are out of it.  And even more so that you are behind the wheel!




Thanks. Yeah, I've run across I-8 when the winds were kicking up. Very similar to what was happening up this way. People don't realize just how dangerous a cross wind can really be.
on Nov 17, 2007

There's an eye catching title.

most definitely

on Nov 17, 2007
So he says to me, I think you blew a seal. I says just fix the damned thing, and leave my personal life out of it.......

Nice title.

Hi!
on Nov 17, 2007

So he says to me, I think you blew a seal. I says just fix the damned thing, and leave my personal life out of it.......



Nice title.



Hi!



Thanks
on Nov 17, 2007

I love Montana, it's so breathtakingly beautiful and rugged and sparsely populated. (that's the best part, hah.)



We once got drunk with Hank Williams Jr at a truck stop in Missoula.



Good job dealing with the winds, I wonder how our old friend Ziggy is doing? Haven't heard from him since 'graduation.'



Thanks. I was in Missoula last night.

I was wondering about Ziggy myself. I'm sure he's out there with a trainer finding out just how easy trucking can be
on Nov 18, 2007
We once got drunk with Hank Williams Jr at a truck stop in Missoula.


So don't ask me Hank, why do you drink.......why do you hang out with red headed sado-masochist bloggers at truck stops in Missoula, why do you live out the songs that you wrote.........

Well Dick, It's got a great beat, but..........
on Nov 18, 2007
I really hope you get home for thanksgiving and if you don't, find somewhere to have a nice dinner - if you travel close by, I'll have plenty!
on Nov 18, 2007

We once got drunk with Hank Williams Jr at a truck stop in Missoula.




So don't ask me Hank, why do you drink.......why do you hang out with red headed sado-masochist bloggers at truck stops in Missoula, why do you live out the songs that you wrote.........



Well Dick, It's got a great beat, but..........



on Nov 18, 2007
I bet his trainer murdered him in his sleep.


Ya never know
on Nov 18, 2007

I really hope you get home for thanksgiving and if you don't, find somewhere to have a nice dinner - if you travel close by, I'll have plenty!


Thanks. I thought I had it all planned out to make it home by Thanksgiving but now my alternator is acting up and I'll have to put the truck in the shop tomorrow. That delay will likely cause me to get home late Thursday or early Friday depending on how everything else goes.