It’s days like today that really fortify my faith in humanity.
Sometimes a little adversity shows people’s true nature.
Brings out the good or bad.
Texas just got fucked by this snow storm.
Closing in on my final final destination near Dallas Texas. The interstate was clear. I assumed the off-road‘s and parking lots were free of ice also.
Not so much.
Long story short I got stuck in a truck stop parking lot. My truck was blocking in several other trucks. The other driver dudes saw my problem and immediately came to the rescue.
Some put down kitty litter and sand under the tires.
That helped a little.
The guy that really saved the day was an old timer that came with a long crowbar. Boy! He went to work chipping out ice from in front of my tires, forming a runway, so I could get some momentum, get up the hill and back on the road.
I snatched the crowbar away from this gentleman. Wasn’t gonna let him have all the fun. I chipped away at it myself. Made 2 six foot trenches in front of my tires.
Climbed in my rig and gave it a try.
Spun the shit out of my tires and made it about 15 feet.
Got stuck again
We chipped out another couple runways
Took a few minutes to help a Challenger and a Prius get unstuck from the ice ahead of me. One driver went to block traffic so I could ball out into the road if I got traction.
I put the hammer down.
Inched along spinning my tires like crazy for about 25 yards.
WOOHOO I MADE IT TO THE ROAD!!!
Blew my airhorn in gratitude and then blew it again to make sure passenger vehicles stayed the fuck out of my way as I got out on the road.
My hands ached from working that crowbar. I made it back to the interstate heading east wondering where I was going to park for the night.
Called a hotel 25 miles down the road that said they had truck parking.
Hotel attendant, “hello”
Me, “yes… hi… how icy is your parking lot?”
Attendant, “oh it’s fine… you should be fine”
Me, “I’m in an 18wheeler, are you sure I won’t get stuck?”
Attendant, “oh yes… no problem, just a little snow”
Well…. when I got there, that parking lot was even worse than the previous one. There was no way I could pull in there.
That attendant was either lying or ignorant.
I was pissed.
I crept past the entrance, drove a half mile muttering obscenities, then pulled onto the shoulder to figure out where to turn around.
There was no place to turn around for 100 miles on this back country Texas road.
A pick-up truck came along. The guy knew I was having a problem, so he pulled up next to me. he told me definitely not to go down that way because in about a half a mile it was nothing but ice.
This solid Dude helped me reverse my tractor-trailer a half mile to get back to the interstate. Another pick up truck came along and blocked traffic coming the other way.
Man… brings a tear to my eye. These dudes really helped me out. I feel like that’s 10 dudes that saved my ass in one day.