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Steve, That makes at least two of us who aren't particularly jealous of the weather "back" east. I used to make business trips to great winter vacation locations like Crystal City, Reston, VA, D.C., Boston, Philly, and Norfolk but once I went to Ft. Lauderdale for 3 weeks during spring break.

Now before you get all jealous, know that we literally worked 12 hrs/day for 6 days a week so I only got the two included Sundays off to terrorize the countryside. It was kind of neat. We were given office space in an old Navy barracks building and it turned out that the one I was in was the one that George Bush Sr. stayed in when training on his aircraft. There was a big mural up on the wall with a flight of planes and the one with his tail number was the "centerpiece", viewed from the rear, pilot not visible.

One thing I learned about cold weather driving back around D.C. is that those who could, didn't just keep a separate set of snow tires mounted up but kept a separate car for winter driving. Lots of folks did it. Some of them were not all that old but looked like sin dipped in manure(the cars), some had lots of rustouts from the salted roads. A couple folks slipped on the ice and bumped each other making a fair dent in the one car and the most injured party just waved the other driver on saying it was her winter car.

One of the things I never understood back there was how no one ever seemed to remember how to drive in snow and ice. Everytime I ever saw a decent snowfall when there hadn't been any snow cover for a while, folks always freaked out in traffic, drove even more like complete idiots and got into mindless accidents.

They virtually shut the federal Government down and send everyone home early (huge slipin' slidin' traffic nightmare) just because it snows a little bit or is forecast to do so. Other places I have been, folks just accomodate the conditions and it is a minor inconvenience not a catastrophe. Year after year the same people react over and over like it was the first time and they don't have a clue what to do.

I haven't been everywhere, especially in winter, but if the people in Iowa, Ohio, or North Dakota reacted like they do around D.C. they'd have starved out a long time ago, huddling in their homes, in fear of all that snow!

I have been to Michigan a few times on vacation but never in winter. Always went to an area near Coldwater MI and stayed in a cabin on a lake in a chain of lakes for fishing.

My guess is that it would have been a beautiful place to be in the winter, if they put some insulation into the cabins so they could be heated. Wouldn't want to have to drive in and out much though if it gets as much snow as I suspect it could.

I still haven't seen snow on the ground here, yet, but don't expect to be entirely dissapointed one way or the other. Our expectations are highly variable as regards snow, could go mostly without or could have a blizzard, you never know, and the weather guessers have a very difficult time trying to make accurate prognostications.

I spent three winters in Minot, ND and every winter you could always tell the newly arrived "from the south" (nearly everywhere in the US is south of ND) dependants (Air Force wives). They wold go to town, Minot (in a river valley), and if the roads were slick they couldn't drive uphill to get out of town. You'd see several stock where the highway started up a decent grade. The rest of traffic (experienced low traction drivers) would pass them by. They would back up, make a run at the hill and as speed would drop off they would "punch" the accelerator, spin the tires, and slide backwards back down the hill.

A few times every winter, I would get to that location only to find BOTH lanes occupied by this activity. Women with crying kids, crying women with kids, etc. waiting in line to fail in the attempt to creep up the hill. Each time I'd pull off the road, park, and convince one of them to let me try. I'd drive them to the top of the hill and slide back down (sort of snow bording on my size 13's) and drive another one up. Many offered a tip but we good scouts couldn't accept. After all, we weren't military, we were AIR FORCE!

Pat

"I'm not from your planet, monkey boy!"

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