Winter Driving in Bothell, Mill Creek, and Woodinville

Winter Driving

I am sitting in my living room watching the snow fall and contemplating all the places I need to go.  It got me to thinking about what I needed to do if I was planning to go out in the snow.  And as my brain works- it brought me back to the time that  I learned about driving in winter weather the hard way.

Many years ago my husband and I decided to travel to Boise Idaho to visit  family with our 2 month old daughter.  It was a beautiful fall day in November  when we left, and a lovely drive from Seattle across the Cascade, and Blue Mountains.  We had a nice weekend, but when we were preparing to drive home, the weather report started talking about a winter storm warning.

It looked like a storm was brewing, and we did stop to buy chains for our VW Vanagon.  But, we didn’t have winter coats, tools, supplies, or anything else to survive in a winter storm. 

Well, you can imagine what happened.  We were the last car that allowed to pass through the Blue Mountains, and fortunately we had put our chains on, but we drove through a white out condition.  It was the most frightening thing I have ever been through.

You may wonder why we didn’t stop?  When we started out it wasn’t that bad. It wasn’t that bad when we started up the mountain.  When it got “ that bad” it was too late to stop, because we knew we didn’t have supplies to survive in that weather- especially with a 2 month old baby.  Okay, I admit we were really foolish!

But, guess what? I learned from that mistake.  Now, my car, my husband’s car, and my daughter’s car are all equipped with a tool set including jumper cables, blankets, winter gloves, boots, coats, and hats, flash light, emergency flasher, and at least water. 

This is really serious.  People die from not being prepared.  So I am going to include some links to sites for ideas on driving in winter weather in hopes that you never have to go through what I went through or worse!

http://www.ready.gov/winter

http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/emergencypreparedness/guides/winterstorms.html

http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/safety/winterdrive/winterdrive.shtml

http://www.carinsurance.com/Articles/content83.aspx

These site all provide good information.  I am sure there are many more.  Please take time to prepare for driving in our crazy Northwest winters.  Keep warm, and enjoy the season.