Yea, I remember driving the Grapevine back in the '60's. A lot more white-knuckle fun than today with 5 or 6 lanes in each direction.
A good friend is 82 and a recently (as in a 4 years ago) retired truck driver. In his last few years trucking he hauled logs for his son's logging company.
We elk hunted together for 20 years, and I heard a Lot of truck driving stories. A favorite involved the Grapevine and no way I can share it as Billy Joe can but here's the kid's version.
BJ and his brother, JF were going down the Grapevine with a load when they hit ice, a bit of light rain was freezing on the road. No chains on and the trailer was wanting to pass. Unable to really use what brakes the old rig had because of the ice, they were going faster and faster. Billy Joe was driving and while he fought their rig down the mountain, he glanced over at brother JF. JF was getting into the passenger seat with both feet. BJ "what the H--- are you doing"..........JF "I'm gonna JUMP"...BJ "Like H--- you are, you ain't leaving me in this ....dang thing by myself!" Shortly they were low enough that the road was just wet and not icy. All was good.
RonR
