Cooperation between a Rugby towing company, the North Dakota Highway Patrol and Canadian truckers cleared a blocked section of U.S. Highway 2 east of Rugby the night of Jan. 8. The lines in an 18-wheeler’s air brakes froze, causing the rig to come to a dead stop as it turned toward the parking lot of the Cendak Cooperative gas station and convenience store in Leeds at approximately 6:40 p.m. Bitter cold winds blew at more than 30 miles an hour, while temperatures plunged to -11. The stopped rig blocked parts of the highway’s eastbound and westbound lanes for several hours. Trooper Chris Laite of the N.D. Highway Patrol stopped near the disabled truck to guide traffic around it. “All the brakes set and it just locked up,” Laite said of the rig. “So, we have no way of getting it off the road now. We called a wrecker with an air compressor to air up the brakes and hopefully get this out of the roadway.” Al Gault from Rugby’s A and C Towing responded to the call. “I unhooked the trailer, then I hooked it onto the wrecker and slid the truck into the parking lot to get it off the road,” Gault said. Once the tractor part of the big rig was in the gas station parking lot, Gault said he noticed another trucker, who had stopped with his load of hay in the parking lot. “I had helped him awhile back,” Gault said. “I asked the patrolman to see if he would hook onto that trailer.” Gault said the trucker “came right over,” glad to return the favor. “He hooked up the trailer and got it off the road.” Gault said both truck drivers involved were from Canada. “The guy who helped out was from Manitoba,” Gault said. The disabled truck was driven by Adil Himat, Edmonton, Alberta. Gault said the work took more than two hours. “I got back to Rugby toward midnight,” he said. “It was bitter out there,” Gault said. “I was out Sunday on another call north of Rugby.” Gault said he was glad temperatures would warm to the 20s and 30s for a few days by Jan. 16. “We just had a motor home leave here,” Gault added. “They had come from Canada headed to Texas. He broke down and was here since last week. They broke down because of the cold, too.”

Cooperation between a Rugby towing company, the North Dakota Highway Patrol and Canadian truckers cleared a blocked section of U.S. Highway 2 east of Rugby the night of Jan. 8.

The lines in an 18-wheeler’s air brakes froze, causing the rig to come to a dead stop as it turned toward the parking lot of the Cendak Cooperative gas station and convenience store in Leeds at approximately 6:40 p.m. Bitter cold winds blew at more than 30 miles an hour, while temperatures plunged to -11. The stopped rig blocked parts of the highway’s eastbound and westbound lanes for several hours.

Trooper Chris Laite of the N.D. Highway Patrol stopped near the disabled truck to guide traffic around it.

“All the brakes set and it just locked up,” Laite said of the rig. “So, we have no way of getting it off the road now. We called a wrecker with an air compressor to air up the brakes and hopefully get this out of the roadway.”

Al Gault from Rugby’s A and C Towing responded to the call. “I unhooked the trailer, then I hooked it onto the wrecker and slid the truck into the parking lot to get it off the road,” Gault said.

Once the tractor part of the big rig was in the gas station parking lot, Gault said he noticed another trucker, who had stopped with his load of hay in the parking lot.

“I had helped him awhile back,” Gault said. “I asked the patrolman to see if he would hook onto that trailer.” Gault said the trucker “came right over,” glad to return the favor. “He hooked up the trailer and got it off the road.”

Gault said both truck drivers involved were from Canada. “The guy who helped out was from Manitoba,” Gault said.

The disabled truck was driven by Adil Himat, Edmonton, Alberta.

Gault said the work took more than two hours. “I got back to Rugby toward midnight,” he said.

“It was bitter out there,” Gault said. “I was out Sunday on another call north of Rugby.”

Gault said he was glad temperatures would warm to the 20s and 30s for a few days by Jan. 16. “We just had a motor home leave here,” Gault added. “They had come from Canada headed to Texas. He broke down and was here since last week. They broke down because of the cold, too.”