A Winter storm hit the Kingman, AZ area last night. It started with some sleet  and progressed to a small amount of snow and then ice. The wind was incredible as it rocked my truck violently most of the night. As I sat in my truck and watched this weather the power failed at the truckstop and everything went black. It came back on for a short time and then went out again. It was still out when I decided to go to bed.

This morning the power was back on and everything was covered with ice. Common sense should tell most anyone that when the roads are covered with a sheet of ice it's probably not a good time to get out and drive. I guess common sense really is an uncommon commodity because there were a lot of people out driving this morning, and a lot of wrecks.

As I sat in the truckstop drinking my coffee, with occasional trips outside for a smoke, I watched several of these wrecks happen. People would be driving along way too fast for conditions (any driving at all was too much really) and would spin out and crash. They were all over the place out there, including a few roll overs, and were keeping the cops pretty busy. One person was airlifted out and I saw another leave in a ground ambulance. Idiots one and all.

I just can't quite fathom how someone can honestly think it's safe to get out and drive a vehicle on what amounts to a huge ice skating rink. It really does boggle the mind at times. Most of my fellow truckers were just sitting around waiting for the sun to come up and thaw out this disaster area enough to make it safe to continue on their way.

While we are all sitting around talking about the road conditions over our coffee one trucker boasted "I know how to drive on ice" and left. The sun hadn't even started to rise yet. He made it about half way up the interstate on-ramp before his rig slid off into the ditch and fell over on it's side. He had to walk back into the truckstop with a very sheepish look on his face. We all just laughed at him and let him know what a moron he truly is. That towing bill will likely be over $1,000 to get his rig righted and out of the ditch, not to mention the repairs that will be needed and any damage claims for the freight.

The sun is doing it's job and things are slowly thawing out now. Trucks are gradually venturing out onto the roads again and going off to wherever it is they need to be. I am still sitting here just watching them come and go, wishing I were out there making some cash instead of sitting here losing it.

I'll probably pull out of here Sunday morning and make my way into CA. There's a truckstop just about 5 miles from the first base I need to deliver to so that will be a good palce to park for the remainder of my wait. As a lot of drivers take off until after the first of the year I am expecting to not have too much trouble getting a parking spot there.

But you can never know for sure. The only thing I do know for certain is that there are an amazing number of stupid people in the world and most of them have a driver's license.