We dropped our load this afternoon at the Climax Mine on top of Fremont Pass, north of Leadville, CO. Now I am in Pueblo, CO, heading home.
Our load was 27 feet wide. That means that on a typical two lane road, the load hung over each shoulder. We ran with four escorts-two up front and two in the back. The lead escort was out forward about 1/2 mile, while I ran about 200 yards directly in front of the load. The other two escorts trailed the load, holding off traffic when we were approaching narrow sections, skinny bridges and the like, and advising the driver when traffic got too backed up.
Being the second front escort in a situation like this is VERY stressful. As vehicles would approach, I weaved into the oncoming lane of traffic to get their attention and then moved back into our lane of travel. As the vehicles got closer, I waved a bright orange flag out the driver’s door window and waved them to the shoulder. Some of the bridges we crossed were so tight that there couldn’t have been more than one foot on either side of the load. In those cases, I raced ahead and then pulled completely into the oncoming lane of traffic and stopped traffic or attempted to do so.
Occasionally, vehicles would go around me but very quickly came to a stop once they saw the load. In one case, I could see that the woman driver was going to try to go around me, so I inched forward and forced her to stop. Let’s just say she was QUITE demonstrative in her unhappiness with me, until her daughter pointed out that our load covered the entire bridge. As I passed her, she was smiling at me and saying “thank you”.
We had one incident in which a little blue haired lady was on her cell phone as she passed me. She actually drove UNDER the load. I am not sure she ever saw it. If her car had been just four inches higher, it would have become and instant convertible.
Then, there are the folks who absolutely hate escorts and oversize loads. One guy flipped off every escort and the truck driver. Several miles down the road, we were stopped by a highway patrol officer who said they had reports that our load was travelling without escorts or a permit. It actually helped us because he provided us with police escort the last 30 miles of the trip and arranged for city/county escort through a couple of small towns along the way.
