It seems winter is finally coming to an end. I have somewhat mixed feelings about it. On one hand, I quite enjoy winter. I generally like the cold. I like chopping wood (most days). I like that there’s less traffic on the road. I like the absence of mosquitoes. I like the absence of wildfires.
Obviously, there are some great things about the warmer part of the year as well, from hiking to camping and less slipping and sliding on icy paths and sidewalks. I personally tend to slip a lot and I’m somewhat surprised I haven’t dropped a large load of firewood on my face while carrying it into the house (I just barely managed to regain my balance on a few instances this year).
However, there’s one reason I’m particularly happy to see winter go and it’s driving related.
I don’t feel particularly uncomfortable driving in the winter as opposed to any other season but there are a few things. First and foremost, coming down the 103 hill in the morning has been absolutely terrifying on a few occasions with the sun shining at just to right angle to reduce visibility to zero. On one occasion the car in front of me decided the slow down to a crawl and I nearly got rear-ended. If nothing else, daylight savings time has thrown a wrench into that issue.
A separate issue is rock chips. Obviously, this is an issue for anyone driving in the Cariboo (my wife has a few chips in her windshield as well), but with the sheer amount of driving that I do in a year, it looks like my car has been in a violent action movie. The windshield and the hood look a little like they’ve been hit with a machine gun. Furthermore, at one point, a semi truck kicked up a rock sizable enough for it to look like my car was hit by a baseball bat.
Some residual damage existed from prior years with one rock chip having put a dent into the grill. There’s also a slight amount of damage to one of the side mirrors as a result of cows using it to scratch an itch.
Finally, while I haven’t gotten stuck on my driveway this year (knock on wood), my car did once lose traction altogether and slid through a barbed wire fence resulting in some significant scratches on the hood.
To my car, winter is war.