One Snowy Day: Miracles Still Happen

I had driven this stretch of road many many times and could almost do it in my sleep, thank God I was not sleepy this day. The stretch of road I am referring to is Interstate 90 about ten miles before the Interstate 90/94 split. As you come into the Billings Montana area the road changes in elevation and drops down into a valley. As you leave the Billings area and head towards the split in the two interstates it drops down again and rises up on the right like you're on the side of a hill as you enter the split. To stay on I-90 you must stay to the right and go up a ramp because you will be on I-94 if you go straight ahead and wind up in Eastern Montana and North Dakota. When you stay to the right and take the ramp I-90 cuts to the south through the Crow Indian reservation and travels into Wyoming and South Dakota.

This day was especially cold and although the snow plows were out and about I had not seen on for quite awhile because the roads were cleared of snow and beginning to ice up, even though they had put salt and gravel on the roads earlier when they cleared the roads of snow. As I came into this valley of ice I was very aware of the greasiness of the roadway so I slowed down more in my 2000 Peterbuilt conventional tractor pulling a fifty-three foot trailer behind it. I had some weight on the trailer so it helped to anchor me to the ground. The roadway instantly had iced up from what I was driving on just a few minutes earlier and I looked over into the median strip to my left about a 100 yards out, I saw a salt shaker/plow upside down in it. So, I slowed down more but only using the lightest of braking motion because I did not want to wind up jack knifed in the median which could happen very quickly if I applied to much brake. Instead of using my foot pedal bake I pulled down on the T-bar for the trailer only brakes ever so slightly.

I still had to get onto the I-90 ramp and as I looked down the road to where it was about a half a mile or so, I could see some equipment sitting right where I wanted to go at the bottom of the ramp. In dry conditions as I remembered this ramp elevates pretty quickly at a 5% and curves to the right at about 30 angle while rising to the elevation of the connecting road. There is also a bridge right after the I-90 ramp connecting the westerly bound traffic from I-94 to merge into to I-90 east traffic at the top of the ramp. As I got closer to the ramp I could plainly make out two snow plows sitting side by side to clear the ramp. It looked like the ramp was effectively blocked by them and if I stopped I would surely jack knife right into them. I saw a patrol car sitting on top of the bridge at the connector watch me come closer and closer to the ramp. He might have been there for many reasons such as the upside down snow plow/salt shaker or monitoring the road conditions.

There was only one thing that came to mind in this Christian man and I knew how to ask for help so I called out, "Help Me Jesus!" I was directed by Him to stay to the left of the plows and I did so with his help. AS they saw me approach they ducked out of site and away from their plows as I passed by them doing at least 50 mph with their eyes wide open in amazement. Thank you Lord that problem was solved now to get up the ramp. As I attempted to downshift into a lower gear because of the incline I stalled the motor, something that does not usually happen. Instead of panicking I simply rolled the key off and restarted the engine and put it into gear I had selected when it stalled, but I had to use a lower gear because of the loss of road speed.

As I traveled up the ramp with success and merged onto I-90 and proceeded to the top of that incline there was a truck parking area there off to the right and I took it. I stopped there for a few minutes to say thank you to the Lord again and I wondered if it was Him holding up the semi and trailer as we went up that ramp because I didn't remember the road being that wide. I got outside of my truck and did a walk around inspection and assessed the situation and it was very cold and wind at the top of that mountain. So I got back into the truck just in time to hear another trucker on the CB radio say, "Let's Go (company name)" and I said. "I'll be right behind you." We traveled together for a few miles through some wintery roads into Wyoming. I pulled off for coffee in Buffalo and we parted company as the other trucker went on toward South Dakota. I found a parking spot and instead of coffee I rested. Thank you Lord Jesus for miracles that still happen today when nothing else will do. I am reminded by something my uncle Walt said to me, who lived in that area and traveled to South Dakota on a regular basis. He said, " You cannot be a trucker for very long and not experience the grace of God and the power of God when running down the road into all the things that we encounter. I definitely agree with him.