I was closing in on two years with England driving truck for them. I had leased my 2012 Freightliner and was trying this truck driving adventure Independently. I wasn't having much luck at it. Weather, mechanical difficulties, and just plain bad luck have taken their toll on this old man. I was looking forward to the end of my lease. I was not going to renew it and find something else to do for a living.
I had just picked up 35,000 lbs. of Breyers Ice Cream from a frozen foods distributor in Fontana, CA. I was headed North to Sacramento on Interstate 5 through a pass they call "Grapevine". I had never traversed it before but heard others talk about it. Better even, I heard others curse about it. This trip was to be in the cursing category.
The Grapevine has escape ramps branching off both sides of the downward part of the road for heavy trucks whose brakes fail on this five mile long, 6% grade.
Headed North down the pass on the other side of Grapevine, CA., yes they have a town called Grapevine, another trucker came beside me honking and pointing frantically to the back of my trailer.
OMG! I was on fire. The brakes on the trailer had overheated and caught fire. It is not the actual brake that burns it is the oil on them from road filth. There were actually flames wrapping themselves up the side of my trailer.
Looking around, there was no time to thank the other driver, I looked for a place to pull over. This was the grapevine. The only place to pull over was the Run-Away ramps if you found yourself in trouble.
I was in trouble.
