When Wind and Trailer Face-off on Black Ice!

Quite an adventure began today and luckily it ended happy!!  Tomo delivered his load of office furniture and supplies on Jan. 5th, Wednesday morning and at 11 am he was back on the road out of Edmonton, Alberta headed for a trailer swap in Great Falls, Montana with an empty trailer* (*empty trailers and wind.... not a great combination).  Tomo had smooth sailing as far as Calgary where he had a flat and stopped in for repairs.

This is when you are glad for more than one wheel!

Calgary Tire Repair shop!

From Calgary, Tomo headed for Great Falls, Montana and had good traveling for about the first hour or so and then wind picked up.  Things were still going okay and traveling well until he arrived in Lethbridge, Alberta and the wind came up stronger.   It was in Lethbridge, Alberta that he met his first encounter with the Wind and Black Ice. Between the gust of strong wind and the snow that was shifting into drifts in all directions, this made Tomo a bit uncomfortable. 

The FACE-OFF Begins!

What usually takes him about an hour to reach the border, it took him over two hours.  He managed to slowly slip and slide his way to the border.  Once he crossed the border, Tomo's sights were set on Great Falls, Montana.  With a place to rest, a friend to visit, a trailer to pick up, this is where he wanted to be.  However, THE WIND had another idea!! 

At about 8:30 pm MST, Tomo began THE FACE-OFF with the WIND and BLACK ICE on a stretch of I-15 just south of the Canadian border.  Tomo's luck was with him as the Wind was blowing from West to East and caught his trailer and pushed it into the median.  Well, where your trailer goes, your cab must follow.  That was the fortunate part because if the wind had been blowing from East to West, his chances for survival were slim to none as there was a long drop into a gully on the west side of the road with only a small guardrail to stop them.  Tomo was only traveling about 35 mph but it seemed the Wind was doing about the same.  

This MOM is very thankful for wide Medians!!

Those lovely bright lights on the left was the rescue party!

Tomo said that he was fairly cool during the whole ordeal, that the things that he heard in CDL classes were made real to him, and that he has a greater respect for the power of the wind and the slipperyness of Black Ice.  Once his truck came to a rest, he quickly called his route manager and reported the situation.  In the meantime, fellow truckers stopped by to check and see if he needed assistance.  Not really sure why but probably due to the low speed and his calm reactions not to over correct, his truck seemed to slide to a stop on the snowy and grassy median.  No damage to the truck and no other vehicle was involved.  

His Route Manager contacted the police and so the rescue party came to his aid. This group of Highway officials, closed down the south bound traffic on the highway while the tow truck blocked both lanes in order to pull Tomo off the median.  All total he had a party of about nine police cars (four Custom/Border Patrol, two Montana Highway Patrol, two local Sheriffs, one Reserve-Duty Sheriff  and a large tow truck with driver to help him on his way. The Tow Truck escorted Tomo to the nearest exit and that is where he has parked for the night.  

Hopefully with Big Blue Sunny Montana skies in the morning, he will be able to get on his way to Great Falls and turn around and head back up to Edmonton, (at least that was the plan before the slippery slide into the median!! Will keep you updated on the next leg of his travels.  


Personal note from MOM* 
Some time while he was dealing with all this, I phoned him and he just said 'Call me back in about 2 1/2 hours!'  (click went his phone).  When I phoned a few hours later our next conversations started out ... 'Well, I almost died a few hours ago!'   We are thankful that he is still with us!  and even more thankful for prayers and God's plans for us!