Snow days

It's not all fun when it snows.

The snow started on Thursday and kept going through Friday. What a mess for the city of Portland and surrounding communities. The company I work for, Ruan Transport, hauls a lot of different commodities and products. Some of them are pretty basic, essential items that need to be delivered regardless of the weather. Two of the most essential are dairy feed and medical supplies. 

We deliver dairy feed to farms in Oregon and Washington, feeding cows that produce milk for Darigold, Tillamook Creamery, Fred Meyer, Safeway and many others. These take place daily and are necessary to keep the milk flowing. So they need to happen in good weather or bad. The drivers chain up for the snow and adverse conditions, take an extra thermos of coffee and head out on these runs. These are tough runs, on roads that are off the beaten path and don't see the snow plow and sanders that the major highways get. Yet they get through and get the job done. Wet cold conditions, climbing ladders covered in ice to open bins, turning and maneuvering in icy farmyards, the feed gets delivered and the cows fed. 

Another one of our terminals here in Portland delivers supplies to hospitals throughout Oregon. These occur daily also and can have critically needed items on our trucks. Surgery supplies, medicines and sterile products are on the trucks and the deliveries keep them providing essential services in their communities. On our Friday run to Medford we had some items that they had an urgent need for and, again, the driver chained up and ran on 260 miles of snow covered roads to make the delivery that was needed. We were the only scheduled delivery that arrived that day. 

So while a lot of people enjoy a snow day by spending time with family, sledding or just having a day off work, our drivers come in, brave the elements and make sure the animals get fed and hospitals can continue to provide care. They worked through the weekend to cover the needs of dairies and hospitals. Trucks!! the lifeline of America!