White Christmas?

It's been snowing here for the last couple of days.

I'm always amazed by the snow here and even more amazed by how people react to it.

After suffering through three of the worst winters in history in Pennsylvania while I was in grad school, I learned a bit about living with snow. But believe me, it took this California, city girl a good long time to figure out that boots, gloves and a hat are essential compliments to a good parka.

My first winter back east saw me falling down every day simply because I didn't understand the physics of walking on ice.

I was a disaster just waiting to happen. I'm lucky I survived without breaking a hip.

I learned how to drive (for the most part) in snow and that the essential key to making to your destination without any unplanned spinouts is speed ... or lack thereof.

Driving slowly and stopping before turning is essential.

I'm impresssed by the number of people who think that because their car is equipped with four-wheel drive, it makes them impervious to snowy driving conditions. This is definitely not the case.

I always have to laugh when I hear someone say, "I can't believe I wrecked my car while I was only driving 50 mph during a blinding snow storm. I had it in four-wheel drive."

Dumb asses.

But I do appreciate that my truck has four-wheel drive and have used it in snowy conditions numerous times.

Well, actually I've used the all-wheel drive setting. See my car's all fancy 'n' shit and has a two-wheel drive setting, an all-wheel drive setting and a four-wheel drive setting.

Last month on the way home from a gig Denver with Kelley and Laurena, the pass (for those not familiar with Colorado terrain, the state is roughly divided in two by the Rocky Mountains. To get to Denver from the Western Slope requires traversing the "pass") was pretty slushy with snow and ice. I put the car into all-wheel drive.

As the road and weather conditions worsened, I put it into four-wheel drive.

Kelley asked me the difference between all-wheel and four-wheel drive.

I replied, "Four-wheel drive is more serious."

Because really I have no idea what the difference is. But it seems that as things get worse I should just continue to click that switch upward.

I should ask my dad what the difference is, but he'll give me some technical explaination complete with diagrams and a how-to lesson on repairing four-wheel drive transfer cases.

I think I'll just ask Mr. Google.