Winter driving - This was the first year in a while that I have not changed my own tires. I like changing my tires, there is something empowering and meditative about it - plus, I like to practice so that if I am in a situation where I actually have to change them in winter, I know what to do. I do a lot of winter driving. Apart from heading to the ski hill as often as possible, I have also done the trip twice to my parents place since Christmas. The drive - while beautiful - is remote and deserted. I learned just how remote and deserted ten days ago.

The drive over was long. Traffic leaving Ottawa really slowed me down and resulted in the "interesting" parts of the drive all being done in the dark. I have been lucky enough not to have done the first parts of the drive in the dark in a long time. And so there I was driving in the dark on a very windy night. And then outside Bancroft I hit the first of two white outs. Driving along at 20km, not being able to see the road and hoping you are on the right side of the road when cars head at you can be terrifying, especially when you don't have anywhere to actually stop to let the weather blow over.

A few when driving in conditions like that - test breaks and tires to see how slippery the road really is, never use the high beams, be hyper aware and know that you have to trust your passenger side mirror, lastly, love the way that on-coming traffics' lights play off the snow in the sky and light every thing up.

The drive took six hours (90 minutes longer than usual - it could have been worse). I figured on the way back, things really couldn't be any worse, right? Wrong! The road was dry and fast until the half way mark when I hit light snow and conditions slowed down, but it was still very drivable. Soon after I pulled onto Highway 41, I picked up a pick-up truck and followed him until we ended up on the scene of an accident. The two of us were first on the scene.

It was a roll-over. A car heading in my direction had hit black ice and skidded into oncoming traffic pulling a full 270 and in the process hitting an SUV full on. The SUV ended up in the ditch, on its side, the driver strapped in and hanging from her seat belt. As the men extracted her from the vehicle, I called 911; but there was no service. We tried to move her into my car, but decided it would be too hard to get her in and out, so instead she spent 40 minutes on the tail gate of the pick-up truck wrapped in my jacket and blankets as we waited for the ambulance. While others dealt with getting traffic through, I sat with Shauna and tried to calm her down.  

An ambulance was called by a passing car from a house down the road and eventually the fire trucks arrived as did the police. Once Shauna was on her way to the hospital, I was given permission to head out - following the ambulance, after removing the inch of snow that had accumulated on my car since I had pulled over. The total drive home took 5 and a half hours.

There is no moral to the story, or learning. Just a reminder that the roads are dangerous in winter and that we should always stop and help.