Truckers, Gamblers Chant a Dirge for the Snowbound

ONTARIO —  “Well, that’s the life of a trucker,” said the beefy Kansan, one of hundreds of snowbound truckers holed up in truck stops here Wednesday, waiting for the mountain passes to be cleared. “Last week we were in Cocoa Beach, Florida, watching the girls in the sand.”

By mid-afternoon, more than 1,000 trucks sat idle at three truck stops along Milliken Avenue and freshly-loaded rigs kept trundling in from the San Bernardino Freeway. The truck stops are about 40 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, near the intersection of the I-10 and I-15 freeways, both of which were blocked off Wednesday because of snow.

Inside, grumbling truckers mingled with Las Vegas-bound gamblers, waiting for coffee shop counter spots.

“This is the first time we ever got trapped here,” Phoenix-bound Donna McNary, who shares the driving on a cross-country rig with her husband, Dennis, said at the Country Pride restaurant of the big TA Truckstop.

Complaints about road conditions fit right in with the good-natured cynicism truckers often display during down time. On this day, they griped also about the cost of truck stop food, California’s lack of snow preparedness and lost business.

The truckers who were loaded and ready to go--with California produce or overseas container cargo or a load of toilet seats from a Montebello plant--weighed the advantages of skirting the storm by heading south.

“You can take the 15 down to the 8,” Arkansas driver Lionel Halsted mused doubtfully, standing in the parking lot, where about 700 boxy behemoths of the road stood in readiness. “But that’s about 300 miles out of your way, even if you’re going to Phoenix.”

And so most elected to stay put, and grouse.

“Hey, doesn’t California have snow removal equipment?” snapped Arizonan Dwight Harrison, sitting in the cab of his truck, waiting to deliver a trailer full of toilet seats to Reno. “I’m just sittin’ here, not gettin’ paid.”

Roger Williams, the Kansan who reminisced fondly about Cocoa Beach, scoffed at the conditions that had brought traffic to a stop.

“This is no snow,” said Williams, one of the last truckers through the Cajon Pass Wednesday morning before it was closed. “Wyoming . . . there’s some real snow. They get 17 or 20 inches at a time. This here is just wet, sticky snow, with too many crazy people in one spot, trying to get someplace.”