Truck drivers were forced to take shelter from Saturday’s snow storm

Due to the blizzard, hundreds of truck drivers were forced to stay the night where ever they could.

Lincoln received close to 9 inches of snow on Saturday.

A lot of the truck drivers who were forced to take shelter ended up at Shoemakers Truck Stop at southwest 48th and west O street.

Scott Boston was traveling from Chicago and was forced to wait behind one of the big pile ups on interstate 80.

“I ended up just behind the accident at about 3:10… And was shut down there for about three hours… Kinda ran out of time… Had to mosey on in here,” said Boston.

Boston says he was fortunate to get to the truck stop after driving through the blizzard for so long.

“You could see about a truck length in front of you… It was slippery all over the place… It was bad. I was fortunate to get here. Just going ten miles last night took me a little over an hour,” said Boston.

He says he isn’t traveling today even though the interstate was re–opened.

He will try again on Monday, weather permitting.

Another trucker, Eric Cuinn, was able to avoid the majority of the massive storm.

He says he was lucky.

“I came in here at the truck stop just as it was starting to pick up intensity. After I parked, I sat for about ten minutes and the ground pretty much looked like it does now. If I had waited an hour later, and left the truck stop that I was at in Missouri to get here, I would have been, probably on the side of the road somewhere stopped,” said Cuinn.

Cuinn says he will also not be driving on Sunday.

He will wait until early Monday morning to finish his trip.

He says the amount of truckers packed into this one rest area was a sight he has never seen before.

“This… Out of a year and a half or so that I’ve been driving, is the most packed I’ve ever seen a truck stop due to the weather,” said Cuinn.

The Nebraska State Patrol and the Department of Transportation did open the interstate on Sunday.

Eric Cuinn says he will be taking it easy, getting some rest and playing Xbox in his trailer until road conditions improve.

“It was like if you were a kid in school… It’s more like you get the day off from school pretty much.”