Ever get the feeling that you could see what was coming? For this to happen in reality, you truly have to have seen or experienced a similar event from the past. I started out through a trucking school, in July of 2006. I had all the help to get a feel of what was required to “get the job done”, like any professional driver. Even my first place of employment enhanced the training with a driver to help guide me through my weak points, to assure I could get the best opportunity to drive solo. I drove with this driver for four months, getting better with shifting (ok, it would take years, but there was training to keep me from grinding gears).  And, together, we experienced many levels of the changing weather…short of winter snow, ice, cold, and other aspects to winter season. I would be assigned a truck, and drive solo, in November 2006.

My experience with winter of 2006, into January 2007, was more then a test….it was out to show me that trucking was not for everybody. For a time there, I thought that included me. I don’t just vaguely remember December 2006…it is burnt into my mind…forever. My OTR driving was a little predictable, from Pennsylvania area to all points west. My first –3° night was experienced in Wyoming, and I was in the Army….just not driving a 40 ton semi-truck. But, that wasn’t the image I was talking about. Picture starting out driving an Interstate, and getting in line with a convoy of trucks…through “white out” snow storm….for 78 miles! This was in the are of mountains, known as “The Sisters”. We made it! 21 truck convoy….what a long day!

My first time experiences varied and at different extremes. to include needing to stop off the highway on the west end on Donner’s Pass, because I heated the truck-trailer brakes. Still, these two experiences were not the last experiences. I would learn that my best tool in starting out was knowing the weather conditions ahead. Icing conditions started to become a daily occurance at that time, and I would try to avoid it at all cost…to include driving south and get under the storm. For a rookie, this was a good plan that kept me from being stuck for days in any given area, but so very exhausting. By the begining of February 2006, I needed to get out of this business and reconsider my place in trucking. I turned everything in to the company, in Nebraska, and rented a car for home.

After getting a rental, the weather caught my attention…another ice storm coming my way. I wasted no time, loaded the car, and drove, and drove, and drove, until I was home. I had raced the storm and had a day and a half before it caught up to me…at home. The storm made it to Scranton area, in time for the Valentines weekend. I awoke the next day, and turned on the weather to see all these vehicles “trapped” on the interstate, because of slippery roads. Cars and trucks stuck there for days…right through valentines day. Wow. I got to keep track of all this, from the comforts of home, and as a “rookie”, I would have it no other way.

So, January 2014 rolled in, and I was now an Independent Contractor, owning a truck and working under a corporations authority. I decided that I wanted the operation to be all my own, and had applied for my own authority. I would still drive with all the other hard working truckers, and roll north, south,  east and west. Days in Indiana would start with heavy snows, and I would safely roll towards my destination. Some mornings in Illinois would start out adding air to truck-trailer tires in -11° weather. Seven years later, it all becomes just part of the job. Then, the weather starts getting extreme. I worked my way south to Atlanta, Georgia, to “thaw out” for the weekend. The weather forcast was for ice and rain…in Atlanta. Time to roll!

Learning how to track the weather had become a practice for the last four years. I could avoid every snow storm and high winds all year of 2013, but January 2014 was extremely hard to predict, and there became no real place to hide from Mother nature. With my contract ending on January 31st, 2014, I wanted to focus on all the forms needed to become an owner operator. But…well, something caught my attention…the weather. Mother nature never does anything the same way, but those ice storms and heavy snows were starting to bring back my memories of Valentine’s 2007. The first week of February brought several States of Emergency, due to snow and ice. All the same, I was out of sorts, and could not get the paperwork submitted for the milestone of owner operator in a timely fashion; there was a feeling that I should just get the truck home, and find a place to get my affairs in order. I got the truck home by the tenth of February, and got out of dodge  by the twelfth. Then it snowed.

Now it really wasn’t exactly like seven years ago, but there were emergency conditions, accidents, and weather warnings….and I so happened trusted my gut, and found myself watching all these events safely in the comforts of my Brother and Sister-In-Laws home. Looking back, for me, yes, I have been here before.

May it be said that making the weather an important resource of information should be a keen interest in all our lives; to be safe, to change plans, and if for no other reason, to be safe at home.