Snow Tires

We got our first big snow of the year on November 1st. It was crazy - on the evening of the 31st we were all over the neighborhood trick-or-treating, it was fairly mild, and the streets were dry. Twelve hours later it was coming down fast and furious. Now, as I've mentioned previously, I don't mind winter temperatures but I am not a fan of winter driving in flat places let alone in the mountains. That said, I went out anyway that morning and slip-slided all the way to the gym. Coming back an hour later was even harder. I made it almost all the way home before I ran into trouble. After turning onto Beattie, which runs uphill at a pretty steep incline, all forward progression stopped. I was stuck.stuck.stuck. I spent about twenty minutes backing up and attempting to move forward, but my wheels just spun and spun. Finally, tearfully, I was able to pull over to the side of the road and hiked the last five blocks to the house. I hated Montana right then. I felt so enormously incompetent, I was embarrassed, and I thought I was going to spend the next six months sitting at home because I couldn't drive in the snow.

(Quick aside: my regular tires were totally shot before I left Illinois. I knew this. I went in for an oil change in mid-August and they told me they were totally shot. But I was losing my ever-loving mind at the time trying to get the house packed and I just didn't have time to deal with it. I fully intended to get new tires with new tread upon arrival in Montana. But I didn't.)

Several hours later, my father-in-law and I drove down to my van to see if he could get it up the hill. Is it terrible that I was elated when he couldn't? He's the best driver I know - the guy flew helicopters, for goodness sake - so if HE couldn't get my van up Beattie then maybe I'm NOT a Montana failure after all. I was so happy!

It took a shovel, a spade, and a bucket of gravel to get the van out. We drove it directly to the tire shop where my beloved minivan, Alexvander Hamilton, was fitted with studded snow tires.

(Quick aside: I had no idea what studded snow tires were. I didn't even know they existed. Sean thought this was crazy, but it turns out that studded snow tires are illegal in Illinois and that's the only place I've ever done any winter driving. So it's perfectly logical that I didn't know what they were.)

Shortly after this debacle I learned that you can also get studded thingamajigs that you can put on your BOOTS so that you can HIKE in the SNOW! What a miraculous invention! As we near the end of November, I am a newly liberated winter woman. My van and my feet have studs and I can go anywhere. Bring it on, winter!