Still Winter In IA & MN Today

I drove I-35N today from Des Moines to Clearwater, MN. There was a winter cold front overnight.

Passed four trucks in the median ditch and two cars.

The highway was still slick in a few areas. Temperature around 31-33F and windchill at 22F. Had to dig out my winter clothes again.

I’m parked until early Monday morning when I can deliver near St Cloud 18 miles away. So a long reset break.

Glad you made it through unscathed! I had to stand outside this morning with my boys for a food drive and it was cold! I got talking to one of our volunteer paramedics and he said they responded to 3 rollovers at I35 exit 133 in Ellsworth by the loves. Common cause was people hitting a patch of ice by the bridge with cruise control.

Last weeks 80s had me thinking spring was here =(

All of the truck accidents were southbound and two were at a bridge.

A truck driver had gone off through the left guardrail into the gap between the south and northbound bridges. Authorities were pulling the tractor & trailer out.

The other near bridge incident had the trailer sitting upright across both southbound lanes with the tractor hanging through the guardrail into the median ditch. Traffic backed up for a long ways.

Yesterday south of Des Moines there was a tractor-trailer laying on its right side at bottom of an I-35 exit ramp. Don’t know how it happened, but exit ramp traffic backed up into I-35N causing a problem.

Rob T, your point about ice near bridges and CC is very good.

I was actually watching out for that today by shutting CC off any place where the road looked wet and approaching any bridges.

The truck off road between the two bridges was a tanker. Hope not hauling hazmat.

Glad you made it through to safety. Overpasses are notorious for lost traction when using cruise control in wet or icy conditions. I still have some winter weather gear in the truck. I'm headed that way this week.

Terrible accident on I65 in Indiana a couple of days ago on perfectly clear roads and warm and clear weather. Hard to explain things sometimes. But, I saw a truck just drive off of route 76 like they meant to just park it in that field. Wild scene. The driver didn't even appear phased. Maybe he thought it was a good place as any to take his 30?

I keep two large duffle bags in the truck. One for winter and the other for summer.

Good reminder for anyone about cruise control. Personal habit from driving cars, is never turn it on below 39 degrees. The temp swing in mountain driving can get you loose and wrecked faster than you can blink.