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Old 12-23-2009, 03:11 PM
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Jud Jud is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Jerusalem, Israel
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Holiday Wishes from Shania

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

I've been in the North Country of Ontario, Canada and, after a crazy drive through a snowstorm to get here, I finally made it North for the holidays to take in the spirit of a great, white Christmas. What would normally be a two-and-a-half hour drive took over seven hours with several accidents along the way. We experienced dead stops of long waits during whiteouts. Miles of vehicles were lined up bumper to bumper, blanketed in snow from hours of sitting and waiting for news of what was happening up ahead. Very scary driving conditions, and I really felt lucky to have made it safely in the end. It was centimeter after centimeter of snow falling for hours on end. Even we Northerners can only cope with so much snow all at once. I have personally never seen such a crisis just over falling snow, but this snowfall was an exception. We normally cope pretty well, and falling snow is just a part of another winter day, but this storm was a doozy!

Many people were running out of gas on the highway. It was a chilly night so it was very uncomfortable and actually dangerous for anyone not prepared to spend the night in their vehicle without heat, which many had to do in the end. I couldn't help thinking of anyone with children onboard and how they must have coped - no washrooms, no emergency vehicle access without painstaking effort, and even when emergency support made it out, it was slow. Not a good night to have an emergency. In fact, during one of our dead stops of four hours, we only saw one tow truck make it through. We were very lucky that we had a full tank of gas, a heavy, sturdy vehicle and some groceries in the back.

I've spent years driving these same roads in bad weather in cars with no front or four-wheel drive, only enough gas to get from A to B and a lot of wishful thinking and luck to get me safely where I was going. Phew, this trip was a reminder of all those years coping with winter drives in the North. For most of the ride this time going North, I was pretty scared since our vehicle was sandwiched between a transport truck in front of and behind us. It's very dangerous to try to pull off an unplowed, unsalted, unsanded, snow-covered road with whiteout conditions unless you are really able to slow down to pullover. With an 18-wheeler not far behind who can barely see you, slowing down is not a good idea. Also, we were reduced to one narrow lane, and all we could see were the taillights of the vehicle in front of us if we stayed right on him. So, too close for comfort yet not able to stay back for risk of losing our visual reference for direction and not being able to pull over. I wasn't driving but was squirming in my seat, anxious and nervous. There was no point saying much and other than keeping my eyes strained on the truck ahead and any other visual reference possible, there was nothing I could do as a passenger. So, I decided to try to keep myself preoccupied and calm by texting Fred and Eja, keeping my thoughts off a situation I couldn't control. I was aware of the probability of our car going out of control and wanted to make sure I touched base in case that actually did happen. I know too well all about the risks on these roads in bad weather so my concerns were warranted. What a hairy night!

Since I finally arrived North, I've enjoyed some exciting, local hockey games (which made my voice raspy from all the yelling and cheering for our team), some fun in the snow with the kids, more dangerous driving on snowy, windy, winter roads with deer popping up all over the place, lots of seasonal music (Michael Buble's "Let it Snow" is this year's favorite), family and friends around the bonfire, being at the rinks drinking hot chocolate, and then more fun in the snow. We got lots of the white stuff early this year so have been taking advantage of it. It's a pain to shovel but great news for the Olympic games to have such a good base for the outdoor sports and, just for recreational time, makes for great tobogganing, snow fights and amazing scenery.

Enjoy the holidays wherever you are, and I look forward to touching base again with you all in the New Year! Lots of exciting things to report and share with you in early 2010 so I will be in touch with more news soon.

Lots of peace and love to you ‘til then,

Shania
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