Member of "Chain Gang"

It was one of those things I was hoping I would never have to do, install chains onto my drive tires in order to get up a hill. I was on my way back from California and had spent the night in Laramie, Wyoming. The forecast was predicting snow in the mountains and I was hoping they would miss the forecast. I had waken up and prepared to make my final trek through the remaining mountains that I-80 ran through after Laramie. I was lucky that I had gotten out of Salt Lake City the night before and had beaten the snow fall that was predicted there.

There was very little snow fall in Laramie so I felt it was safe to head on out. As I started up the hill(mountain) a west bound driver advised me via CB that there were a couple of trucks that were stopped on the way up the hill in the right hand lanes about a mile up the hill. I thanked the west bound driver for the info and proceeded on my way. I could see that other trucks were having a major problem trying to get up the hill and then could see the trucks that were sitting still. I was doing just fine, had plenty of momentum and was determined to make it up the hill. Then another driver had pulled in front of me, which slowed me down to a point that I had to stop as well. Once stopped, I could not get moving again. I even tried locking my power train so all four drive wheels would be pulling the truck instead of just two. No luck, just spinning wheels.

I bit the bullet and decided that I was just going to have to put on the chains, so I proceeded to the chain box and pulled out the chains. I have never put on chains before, let alone, install them onto a semi tractor. The only knowledge I had to go on was the winter training that was provided to me a few weeks prior.

I installed the chains and attempted to move up the hill. I got about a quarter of a mile before my wheels started spinning again. I stopped the truck and got out to inspect the chains, only to find out one was missing. What, missing? How the heck did that happen, and where did it go?

Now this was no fun thing to do, installing chains while sitting in the middle of an interstate highway. I have never stood in the middle of an interstate highway. Something was wrong with this picture. It was like time was in slow motion, like people talk about when they go through a traumatic experience, an accident or a near death situation.

There were a number of things going on around me. Every time I got in/out of the cab to retrieve my flashlight, gloves, and/or to try to drive the truck up the hill, I was reminded of the dangerous situation I was in. The other drivers were talking on their CBs, sharing information and trying to help each other out. There was also a lady who was crying out for help over the CB. Her husband was bleeding badly and she was trying to get help for him. Apparently they had crashed into the cement divider in the middle of the highway going down the hill. Everyone was trying to figure out where she was located so they could get to her to help, but she could never explain her exact location, and nobody could tell by looking, where she was. One of the other drivers called 911 and advised her that help was on the way.

Two tractor trailers heading west bound, coming down the hill, had turned 180 degrees and were facing east bound in the west bound lanes. One was on the birm and the other was in the right most lane, right against the one on the birm. They were both upright though, and neither driver appeared to be hurt. Directly in front of them was another tractor trailer that had managed to stop about half the distance of a tractor trailer rig before hitting them. While he was sitting perfectly still, his trailer decided to start sliding into a 45 degree angle down the hill and stopped. He was saying that he did not know what to do, as he was already stopped and had not done anything to cause the trailer to start sliding, it just started sliding, but he was happy that it stopped sliding before jack knifing on him. It did slide out to block the next lane of traffic going west bound.

The local sheriff had shown up finally and started to survey the situation. I was walking back down the highway looking for my missing chain when the sheriff drove up next to me. I had thought he might want to ask me why I was walking in the middle of the interstate, so I walked over to his cruiser. He rolled down his window and I told him what I was doing. He said, "Good luck, we have accidents that we are dealing with.", so I proceeded for the rest of my quarter mile journey before I found my chain that had come loose, lying in the middle of the interstate. I walked back up the interstate a quarter of a mile to my truck, dragging the chain behind me.

I reinstalled the chain and was on my way up the hill again. I had come upon a rest area that I thought I would pull into, however by the time I had realized the rest area was off the exit I had just passed, it was too late. A lot of the rest areas in Wyoming are off regular exits. This rest area was on the west bound side. So one had to get off the exit and travel across the interstate in order to get to it.

Since I had passed the rest area, I had decided to stop on the side of the road to inspect my chains again. One had shifted on the tire and was about to come off. So I took it loose, reseated it, and then tightened it up again. This time, I got it as tight as I could get it. When I got back into my cab another driver made a comment about how stupid it was to install chains, that they would do no good in the ice. I had to say something, I could not let this idiot remark go unnoticed. I replied to the remark with, "I installed the chains so I could get up the mountain in the passing lane where there was snow, not ice, which is why I did not drive up the right lane where everyone else had driven and turned the snow into ice."

I managed to get up the hill to another rest area, which was really a scenic view area that everyone was parking at since the road had closed by now. There was no room to get into this scenic view area, so I had pulled onto the entry ramp area and parked my rig. There was no place else to go. I got out and inspected my chains and was really surprised they actually had stayed intact and had not slid off the tires again. They were still where they were supposed to be. Guess I had finally gotten them on properly and tight enough.

Finally, a sand truck/road grader went by followed by other tractor trailers. I inspected their drive tires closely to see they did not have tire chains on, and they were moving at a pretty good rate of speed. So I decided to take off my chains and set out on the road again.

I made it to dry road and began moving along quite well, after going through three hours of misery, chaining, rechaining, spinning tires, seeing other trucks jack knifed, turned around 180 degrees, and hearing on the radio that there was a fatality that morning.

With all this in mind, I began to count my blessings and realized the good Lord was with me, or I would not have made it through this ordeal.