we loaded in in salt lake city for porterville, california and we were excited about the trip since we were going on a different route than we had before.....we've been across i80 a gazillion times, but this time at wendover, nevada, we were heading down us 93......we got over to wendover and were shut down because the road was closed due to snow....even i80 was closed further west......but we took this in stride and had a fantastic supper , gave the casino there a little of our money and had a good nite's sleep..........heading out early the next morning, we were enjoying the trip....us 93 takes you thru ely, nevada....a nice town with a lot of old buildings, then down thru the lavarock hills.....the light snow lying on the hills made you think you were looking at a black and white photograph.....then us 6 into tonopah, nevada......tonopah touts that it is the number 1 stargazing destination in the world....a claim that i cannot confirm since we were there in the afternoon......what i can tell you is that it is a very quaint little town with lots of personality......lots of little shops that i would love to go in......the streets are lined with artifacts from the mining days and with metal artwork depicting early prairie life.....brad especially enjoyed the murals on the sides of buildings...especially the ones with the old war planes.........from tonopah we climbed over the mountains to bishop, california, where we had another good meal....(we cook so much in the truck that anytime we actually eat out is a big deal for me....lol)....and spent the nite there......bishop is another great little town, home to the california rodeo and again....lots of little shops that tempt me somethin awful......lol.....
the next morning we started out early again....the weather was cold but beautiful as we headed south on us 395, then west on 14 and soon even further west on ca178.....178 is a 2 lane road with moderate mountain climbs that offer you fantastic views, especially when you get over near lake isabella......it is at lake isabella that we were dropped onto ca 155....ca155 is a tiny gray line on the map and not much bigger in real life......we had questioned this part of the routing but after checking the atlas and finding no restrictions, we started the climb up the tiny mountain road.......near the beginning of the trip there was a sign that said "winter conditions may exist"....it was a small brown wooden sign....the kind of sign you see when you enter a state park......more of a welcome sign than a warning.........but a little further up the road the next sign we saw was a bold yellow sign that read "11% grade next 14 miles"......not quite so welcoming......but with the road so tiny and absolutely no where you could turn around 75 feet of truck and trailer we continued our climb up the mountain......the views were fantastic, as were the homes that people who had loads of money had built there to allow them constant access to these views......upward we went, climbing and twisting thru 90 degree turns that were usually followed by another 90 degree turn in the opposite direction.......climbing.....slowly, since we were grossing almost 79,000 lbs........and then we hit the snow line......well, make that the ice and snow line.......brad was driving and he made the first few turns without any problems but then it became apparent that we were going to have to chain up just to stay in the road......we...well i should say he, put on three sets of chains....my contribution to the work consisted of pulling up or backing up a tad so that he could get the chains hooked up......now, most people when traveling in their cars don't pay a lot of attention to the elevation or grade signs, but let me explain that we were at 5,528 feet and on an 11% grade.....11% is steeper than most houses roofpitch.......the road was so steep and so icey that he fell 3 or 4 times while he was working out there.....and even tho i had my "gobhopper" boots on, it was all i could do to stand up out there......he got the chains on and tightened up but they didn't do us much good.....when he tried to start out again we couldn't go anywhere.....it was like taking 1 step forward only to take 2 steps back.....after several tries we hadn't made any progress.....and then we started to slide.....it is uncanny how sliding even 6 inches can seem like 5 feet when you have 79,000 lbs pulling you backwards down the side of a mountain and all that lies between you and what appears to be an endless ravine is a snowbank and a few trees........even with the chains we couldn't get the traction we needed to go forward and we slid backwards even more.....brad was able to get the rear of the trailor into a snowbank which stopped our slide, but this caused the tractor to come around and as it was sliding, the passenger side front bumper caught another snowbank, which tore that side loose from the truck, but kept us from jackknifing..........
it was about this time that the calvary arrived in the form of a california black and white........after the officer finished shaking his head about us being there, he gave us a ticket for being there......he said he had no problem believing that we'd been routed that way....and he agreed that there were no restrictions listed for that route in the atlas....but he said that trucking companies have access to "network maps" that show where trucks are NEVER supposed to be and that they are supposed to use them when routing us around.....he said we should pass the ticket along to the company.....the good news about the ticket is that it doesn't put any points against brad's license.....neither of us have anything against our license and we'd like to keep it that way............after he gave us the ticket, he turned into a really nice guy and actually became our knight in shining armour since he had the state highway department bring a huge chained grader up there and pull us out......he also had them bring a smaller grader which worked on the road and then they put down a couple truckfulls of sand.....the grader pulled us up to a spot where there was a cross road and cleaner pavement and we were able to do a u-turn......they stayed with us until we were able to head back down the hill........the descent was as slow as the climb had been.......once we were below the snow line we stopped and took the chains off and bungie corded up the bumper as best we could..........we crept on down the mountain to lake isabella again and on across 178 to bakersfield... it added about 90 miles to our trip......the road was a little larger, but the mountain curves were almost as tight, tho not as steep and there was no snow down there... and again the scenery was magnificent......and we breathed a little easier....but i don't think my heartbeat slowed down till we were over to bakersfield and on level ground......lol.....the mountains are truly a work of God and we're thankful we got to experience the sights, but we'll never be this way again, at least not in a big red truck.......
after we delivered at the walmart distribution center in porterville, which by the way, we did 6 hours early even after this ordeal......we headed back down to bakersfield to the freightliner shop......the trees in the orange groves that line the road here are loaded and absolutely beautiful and made me want to slip in there and swipe a few.......we got to freightliner and after they checked everything out, they said they didn't have all the parts to fix the bumper and so they rigged it up till we could get somewhere to get it fixed.....but they asked us if we'd been having any trouble with the windshield leaking and since we had been having some minor leaking so they wanted to reseal it......well, in the process of taking the windshield out......you guessed it.....they broke it.....and they didn't have any in stock, so we're sitting in the motel waiting for them to get a windshield delivered and installed........alta sierra slowed us down, but it turns out it's a little windshield leak that shut us down.......go figure!
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