STRAYCAT’S DOGGONE BLOG

Life Day 22016: Neither Rain, nor sleet, nor Gloom of Night (nor Wind nor Fire) Shall Stay this Courier from his Appointed Rounds.

October 22, 2007 on 9:40 pm | In On The Road, Travelblogue |

Yesterday was an interesting day. I left Vegas at about 0800 to pick up a back haul in San Bernardino, CA. There was a mild breeze, but nothing to worry about. Just before I got to Zzyzx Rd, traffic came to a complete stop. It was only a brief delay while an ambulance picked up an elderly man who was evidently having some sort of medical emergency. At least, there was no apparent damage to his vehicle when I passed. It was just parked on the side of the road. (I have provided a link to the History of Zzyzx Rd. mainly because I was curious about it myself). Things progressed nicely from there until I got to Cajon Pass. There the wind picked up dramatically. By the time I transitioned from I-15 to I-215, the winds were fierce. Just after the transition, traffic came to a complete stop again. I thought that Cal Trans or the CHP had closed it because of high winds, but it turned out to be a tree blown down and blocking the left lane and a car that had hit the center divider trying to avoid said tree. About 1/2 an hour delay this time, but I still arrived at the customer by 1300. The load pick-up went smoothly. I left for the return trip about 1430. Just north of San Burdue, Traffic was stopped again. This time it was a real mess. The back up was about 6 miles. I could see a fire out on the horizon, so I thought they had closed the road for that.

They were routing everybody off the freeway and sending them back toward San Bernardino. While in the tie up, I saw every sort of emergency vehicle struggle past on the shoulders of the road (people are such pinheads when traffic is backed up); CHP, County Sheriff, Ambulance, and Fire Trucks from both San Bernardino and the US Forest service. But, just as I was approaching the exit where they were detouring the traffic, the road opened again. Thank God!! This delay was about 2 hours as it was. Having to take the detour would have been even worse. I also discovered the true reason for the delay. An 18 wheeler had been blown over onto his left side due to the winds. There were also smoldering embers on both sides of the freeway at the I-215/ I-15 junction, so maybe it was closed for both reasons. I have no Anemometer, but I would estimate the wind speed at a constant 50 mph with gusts over 70 mph (if you look at the palm trees in the picture, you can get an idea of the intensity of the wind. Palm trees usually have fronds on both sides). Now that’s breezy. The rest of the trip was uneventful. I arrived back in Vegas about 2030.