He's staying put...!

Chuck finally got a tow at 1:30 to get him free of the guard rail...it took them 3 tries to winch him free of the rail. He's done much more damage to the truck than originally thought. He strapped the body piece that was in the ditch to the back of the truck...hopefully they'll be able to reattach it. He did also have a flat tire - behind the cab. He waited for a second tow to come and fix his tire so he could move forward. The tow truck pulled him to the next ramp, around 2:30 this afternoon. He is now sitting on the ramp somewhere near Cumberland, Maryland. Another driver pulled up behind him - that guy, unfortunately, was empty, so his trailer is blowing all over the road. That driver is from Maine. Chuck, luckily, has 40,000lbs of Ragu` spaghetti sauce behind him. So, he's heavy, otherwise he might have had a worse outcome earlier in the day. He was in touch with his claims department in Phoenix, luckily the woman he spoke to was originally from Salt Lake City, UT, so she knows about snow! She had him take some pictures of the truck so they can determine the damage, etc. before he gets to a terminal. I'm not sure what will happen, now. He will try to go forward, tomorrow, if there's a break in the storm. He's 30 miles from the next truck stop. He only had a 1/2 tank of gas and it had taken him 3 hours to get 40 miles this morning. He's had the truck on most of the day to stay warm. He does have food in the truck with him, and water...but no bathroom on board, obviously. He said if things got really bad he could see houses not TOO far away - probably 1/2 mile away or so. I think it's best if he stays put. He told me not to worry, that he's a "big boy"....but how can we not worry? Hopefully Swift will be forgiving when they complete their investigation....I'm not sure when we'll know that. He's just hoping to get home by Thursday. It's supposed to snow until Thursday, and I'm not sure, also, if they will have him keep driving the truck damaged or if they will want him to get it into service on Monday - that could hold things up, too. What a day! Hard to stay cheerful - thanks for all the support! I'll be in touch.

Robin