Picture this Allen,you come around a corner and begin a long steep down hill decent.
The road is narrow the surface is glare ice. Your truck is fully loaded with sand, weighs around 30,000kilos (30-35 tons).
The left shoulder of the road is a rock wall,the right shoulder of the road is a cliff 300 meter straight drop.
You look ahead and see another one. A F.O.R.D. Explorer spun out in the middle of the road ,stalled ,about 400 meters ahead.(some skiers figure there bullet proof when behind the wheel of a 4 wheel drive SUV,too bad they had to use the brake pedal
)
No where to go, have to stop or plow the SUV off the road. You immediately rev you 575HP motor up and down shift. Drop two gears grind them if you have to. Turn on the engine retarder slow down a little more.
You know your still not going to stop so you ease over to the right shoulder because thats were all the traction is. (sand tends to get spun by wheels to the sides of the road. Still going to fast.
You drop your nose plow,the added friction allows you to down shift 1 more time. Still not going to stop in time,you drop your belly blade. This slows you down but now steering is almost impossible.
You are going to kill these people! You lower your wing The sparks fly as you begin to rub the guard rail. In your mirror you watch the guard rail roll up like the lid of a sardine can. The truck begins to slow,you gear down 1 more time . The truck comes to a stop.You 30 feet from the stalled skiers.
Pop on the air brakes. Survey the damage too your truck(none they are truly bullet proof).
Looking at the guard rail you realise that you spend your summers repairing all the damage you inflicted in the winter.(kinda like a goverment make work project
) You stroll over to the folks that are still sitting in their stalled vehicle. They seem to be six inches taller than when you 1st saw them.
could be they are all sitting in someting.
You ask how everyone is ,they claim to be okay but their vehicle will not start. Smiling you peekin and look at the gear shift it's still in "D". You shift it into park and sugest they try it now!(people seem to panic when they are doing down hill donuts next to a cliff.)
You climb back into your truck and contine down the mountain. 1/2 mile later you find two vehicles with a tow rope streached across the road.Here we go again!
The sun will be up in an hour and the restaurants will be open soon,you smile to your self and think how much you will enjoy your 1st cup of coffee that morning.
That's wee glimpse into riding on the back of a plow!
Laird
