Driving the 50-mile strip mall known as Salt Lake City is always a challenge. Utah drivers here drive hot and aggressive, I suppose they figure their Mormon god will protect them from each other. Today as I was driving north through the strip I saw a giant dark cloud directly in front of me. I had heard on my scanner that thunderstorms with hail were in the area, and here I was driving straight into one.
I briefly thought about exiting the freeway and finding an overpass to hunker down under and take a nap but talked myself out of that wimpy plan and kept on driving. Hey, I am a pro after all. Um-hmmm…
The storm hit with a vengeance: heavy rain, lightning, and large hail that I really thought stood a chance of cracking my window. I kept my cool, and my lane, with a big buffer between me and the vehicle in front of me. I spotted a speck of blue sky far off in the distance and knew I could ride it out.
Suddenly, a tractor pulling two gravel type containers merged onto the freeway from my right and proceeded to hit standing water right next to me. Like a slow-motion movie, I saw him start to lose control. The rear trailer began to drift into my lane so I backed off and watched as it did, right in front of me. I told myself that what I did in the next five seconds would determine wether I lived or died.
Visibility to my left and rear sucked so I couldn’t trust it. As soon as the rear trailer started drifting the other direction I gunned it forward and shot by the tractor just as a gut-wrenching noise happened as the gyrating trailers pushed the tractor into my lane and I’m sure it kissed my ass as I rolled on by. I thought this big boy was ready to roll but when I checked my rearview he was still upright and swerving all over the freeway. I really hope nobody got hurt.
As I continued down the road I took stock of my body. Not to my surprise, because I’ve noticed this reaction before, my heart rate was normal and I had no adrenaline rush. Nothing! I don’t know why this is but the bottom line is, my truck and I survived…
I’m hunkered down now in my motel in Logan, Utah and the TV weatherman is saying he has never seen hail as large as today in the decades he’s been doing the weather here in the Salt Lake area. Sheesh…