As some as you know, it is spring. Spring brings rain. Rain can bring flooding.
As I was driving down I-44 in Missouri last night, Randy was sleeping, and I kept seeing signs "road closed all lanes at mm 142" At that point I was at mm 50. I contacted our dispatcher, for rerouting (we are company drivers and dispatch has to give us our routing) and since it was the evening shift, they didn't respond for quite some time. So I did what we normally do...I followed my gut. My gut was saying, go and see what is up. There are many times they haven't turned off the signs, so I didn't know what was happening. But then I talked to my brother Michael, and he said..."oh you are where all the flooding is." WARNING.
FLOODING?? How bad? I had no idea.
I called the sheriff's department, they casually said, "Well, the interstate is closed but there is an alternative route." I neglected to tell them that I was a truck driver. Silly me. We can not necessarily take this big rig everywhere cars can go...so just because there is a detour doesn't mean we can take it.
I still felt I should go.
So I rolled down the road. Randy stuck out his head and asked what was going on. I explained what was happening.
Well, we turned on the CB and started listening to the chatter. The highway patrol was detouring the cars on to county roads and having the semi's go through.
Different reports were coming over the CB, and we considered just taking the detour....but, I really wanted to drive through a flood, I thought it would be a great experience, and besides if the big boys were doing it, I wanted to as well. Besides county roads are no place to start exploring with a semi tractor trailer.
As we got closer the chatter on the CB was more and more. Dirty talk, funny talk, reports, and senseless ramble. I was getting really jazzed. We were hearing reports that the water was 2-3 feet deep. One guy coming from the other direction, said he was going to call in to his company asking to be paid for cleaning the undercarriage of his truck.
We got to the point where they were pulling the cars off. Suddenly we were on the Interstate without a single 4-wheeler (that is what we call you car drivers) on the road. I honestly don't think that there was a driver on the road that didn't think that was cool. It was a totally different frequency. And excitement rolled all over me!
Soon we hit the largest back up I have ever seen in my life. Two lanes of interstate, only semi's, over six miles long!!!! It was quite the site!
On the radio I started chatting with a nice man, he and I were going to race across the river! Nice guy...I jumped out and started taking pictures, a few other drivers did the same. Of course I was so excited to see this I couldn't sit still. Well, I found out where this nice guy was sitting. He said that he wanted copies of the pictures, so we gave him our email address. Then he asked for our handles.
Randy has always thought his name was good enough. I had thought of going with Tweeter, but, it's kind of a family thing. Randy has commented that I should be called Green Chile because Richard, one of my dad's, who is also a truck driver, his handle is green onion. In driving school, the instructors called me "Two Question", guess why.
But nothing has stuck, or felt right. So I just told him our little story...and then he called me SWEET PEA. I was wearing a green shirt, he said it just fit. He apologized to Randy and said that he was really looking at my eyes, not other places, when SWEET PEA, came into his mind. So for the rest of the time we were in traffic he kept referring to me as SWEET PEA.
He got a bit ahead of me in traffic, and beat me to the flood. He was explaining to me what was happening, I was squirming in my seat, I couldn't wait to see the power of water. I have always loved water and this seemed so much more exciting than any snow storm, or ice storm, or wind storm...this is my love...WATER. I told him not to tell me, then tell me...don't do....ect.
As we were getting closer he reminded us to take off our seat belts, and roll down the windows. Randy's eyes got really big and said "He's right." All I could think of was how deep is this WATER?????
Right before the biggest convoy I have ever seen started to merge into one single lane...we saw the water...we were technically crossing a bridge over the Gasconade River. The bridge was at least thirty feet tall. The water was over the guard rails, and reached up to the tops of our tires. I have no words to explain what we saw. I have never seen flooding like this before...and I was about to drive through it!!!!
Randy pulled out the camera and tried really hard to get some pictures, unfortunately it was really dark and the flash was not quite capturing the flood right.
The water was deep and the current was strong! The flat bed in front of me which was not loaded was getting pushed across the lane. I was driving on the rumble strip so I knew where everything was at.
I really wish I could explain the power, and overall experience of this event. It was something, that's for sure.
Our friend was fading over the radio "Sweet Pea...did you make it through?" I said I did...and then he faded into the night.
After being stuck into traffic for over 2.5 hours I really had to go to the bathroom, and stretch my legs, since I had been in the drivers seat for 10 hours already that day. We pulled into a truck stop. A flat bed was pulling out, I got on the CB asking if I could have his spot, he said sure. Another driver got on and said "Sweet Pea is that you?" I thought it was our friend... it wasn't, but Randy and I both knew, I had just received my handle.
So a big thanks to that friendly driver out there...in the International (Not Kenworth :) ) You helped me through a great experience, you're wise and sweet. I really appreciate our time!
Signing off,
Sweet Pea
As I was driving down I-44 in Missouri last night, Randy was sleeping, and I kept seeing signs "road closed all lanes at mm 142" At that point I was at mm 50. I contacted our dispatcher, for rerouting (we are company drivers and dispatch has to give us our routing) and since it was the evening shift, they didn't respond for quite some time. So I did what we normally do...I followed my gut. My gut was saying, go and see what is up. There are many times they haven't turned off the signs, so I didn't know what was happening. But then I talked to my brother Michael, and he said..."oh you are where all the flooding is." WARNING.
FLOODING?? How bad? I had no idea.
I called the sheriff's department, they casually said, "Well, the interstate is closed but there is an alternative route." I neglected to tell them that I was a truck driver. Silly me. We can not necessarily take this big rig everywhere cars can go...so just because there is a detour doesn't mean we can take it.
I still felt I should go.
So I rolled down the road. Randy stuck out his head and asked what was going on. I explained what was happening.
Well, we turned on the CB and started listening to the chatter. The highway patrol was detouring the cars on to county roads and having the semi's go through.
Different reports were coming over the CB, and we considered just taking the detour....but, I really wanted to drive through a flood, I thought it would be a great experience, and besides if the big boys were doing it, I wanted to as well. Besides county roads are no place to start exploring with a semi tractor trailer.
As we got closer the chatter on the CB was more and more. Dirty talk, funny talk, reports, and senseless ramble. I was getting really jazzed. We were hearing reports that the water was 2-3 feet deep. One guy coming from the other direction, said he was going to call in to his company asking to be paid for cleaning the undercarriage of his truck.
We got to the point where they were pulling the cars off. Suddenly we were on the Interstate without a single 4-wheeler (that is what we call you car drivers) on the road. I honestly don't think that there was a driver on the road that didn't think that was cool. It was a totally different frequency. And excitement rolled all over me!
Soon we hit the largest back up I have ever seen in my life. Two lanes of interstate, only semi's, over six miles long!!!! It was quite the site!
On the radio I started chatting with a nice man, he and I were going to race across the river! Nice guy...I jumped out and started taking pictures, a few other drivers did the same. Of course I was so excited to see this I couldn't sit still. Well, I found out where this nice guy was sitting. He said that he wanted copies of the pictures, so we gave him our email address. Then he asked for our handles.
Randy has always thought his name was good enough. I had thought of going with Tweeter, but, it's kind of a family thing. Randy has commented that I should be called Green Chile because Richard, one of my dad's, who is also a truck driver, his handle is green onion. In driving school, the instructors called me "Two Question", guess why.
But nothing has stuck, or felt right. So I just told him our little story...and then he called me SWEET PEA. I was wearing a green shirt, he said it just fit. He apologized to Randy and said that he was really looking at my eyes, not other places, when SWEET PEA, came into his mind. So for the rest of the time we were in traffic he kept referring to me as SWEET PEA.
He got a bit ahead of me in traffic, and beat me to the flood. He was explaining to me what was happening, I was squirming in my seat, I couldn't wait to see the power of water. I have always loved water and this seemed so much more exciting than any snow storm, or ice storm, or wind storm...this is my love...WATER. I told him not to tell me, then tell me...don't do....ect.
As we were getting closer he reminded us to take off our seat belts, and roll down the windows. Randy's eyes got really big and said "He's right." All I could think of was how deep is this WATER?????
Right before the biggest convoy I have ever seen started to merge into one single lane...we saw the water...we were technically crossing a bridge over the Gasconade River. The bridge was at least thirty feet tall. The water was over the guard rails, and reached up to the tops of our tires. I have no words to explain what we saw. I have never seen flooding like this before...and I was about to drive through it!!!!
Randy pulled out the camera and tried really hard to get some pictures, unfortunately it was really dark and the flash was not quite capturing the flood right.
The water was deep and the current was strong! The flat bed in front of me which was not loaded was getting pushed across the lane. I was driving on the rumble strip so I knew where everything was at.
I really wish I could explain the power, and overall experience of this event. It was something, that's for sure.
Our friend was fading over the radio "Sweet Pea...did you make it through?" I said I did...and then he faded into the night.
After being stuck into traffic for over 2.5 hours I really had to go to the bathroom, and stretch my legs, since I had been in the drivers seat for 10 hours already that day. We pulled into a truck stop. A flat bed was pulling out, I got on the CB asking if I could have his spot, he said sure. Another driver got on and said "Sweet Pea is that you?" I thought it was our friend... it wasn't, but Randy and I both knew, I had just received my handle.
So a big thanks to that friendly driver out there...in the International (Not Kenworth :) ) You helped me through a great experience, you're wise and sweet. I really appreciate our time!
Signing off,
Sweet Pea
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