Wow, can't believe it's been so long since I have posted **anything**.  I started writing an entry yesterday and then a little person wanted to climb in my lap and the whole thing blipped away.

Had great holidays -- haven't been having much snow out west here though.  Well except the 2 times that I had to drive somewhere.  I even caused it to snow in Vegas, more snow than they had in 30 years so they even shut down all the roads in and out.  All because I had to get to San Diego -- had a rental car, pulled the kids out of school and was debating what routes to take -- thru California or just down 395 thru Nevada and then over into Southern California.  We hadn't had ANY snow at all, not even our early October snow so I hoped I was in the clear but I had to leave on Thursday and they started predicting snow storms coming thru starting Monday.  Well we didn't get the snow but Southern California did.  So the grapevine was closed so that pretty much helped me decide on the 395 route.  So then I had a brainstorm and suggested to my husband that I might just drive around the snow by going to Vegas and then from Vegas to San Diego -- ha, ha,  Boy did that backfire.  When I was heading out all 3 routes had travel restrictions but the 395 one was supposed to lift after 12 noon.  So I figured we'd be in the clear cuz we'd be to that area waaaay past noon.  We had almost no snow visible the first 4 hours, a scattering here and there and you could see it on the mountains as we passed the entry to Yosemite but nothing on the roads at all.  Then we made our first (and only) stop for gas, potty break and food.  So I decided we'd push on thru since mapquest said it was 9-hour drive.  Little did I know we'd get stuck where 395 merges into I-15.  Because of ice and spinouts, they aren't used to snow down there and they plowed the lanes of the 2-lane road but not the middle of the road.  So when the sun went down all of that had melted and the roads were just sheets of ice.  It took us 3 hours to travel 10 miles.  I was between 2 18-wheelers and all I could see was a street sign.  Used the GPS on my phone to figure out where the heck we were.  Couldn't turn around for fear of ending up in a ditch, moving slowly was preferable to being ditched in a rental car I wasn't familiar with.  Luckily the baby slept cuz if she had to "go", I was at a loss at what to do.  Didn't want to go along side of road, there were houses there but nowhere with a potty but you couldn't really pull off the shoulder to knock on a door to even ask for that favor or you'd get stuck in the snow piled there from off the road.  So by the time we hit 15, we decided we'd just keep on pushing thru.  We were in the car for 9 hours straight by the time we finally made it to our hotel room.  Me and 3 kids -- a toddler and 2 teenagers.  I tell ya what, they all earned brownie points from mom for tolerance that day.   The ride home was totally uneventful because of course, we had 3 days to get home and all the snow had melted by then.  We checked into our hotel and then hit up a fast food place for stuff to eat, drove by the beach because we wanted to and then went back to our room.  I was too tired to eat and too wound up to sleep but just laid down until I did finally fall asleep.

The next trip was to go back to the office in January.  But I needed some time and the Reno nonstop flights only give me about 6-8 hours to be there.  So I figured I'd drive to Sacramento, leave the little one with my mom for the day because Sac has about 10 nonstops each day.  Well I got a rental car on Saturday afternoon but instead of driving at night, I thought I'd leave in the a.m. right after Sunday school (since I assist the teacher).  They said there was a snowstorm coming but it wouldn't hit until the afternoon.  Might not even make it the valley floor (i.e., the City of Reno).  So when it started snowing in Reno hard and steady at 10:10 a.m., I knew I was in trouble.  Sure enough, I had to buy chains and pay someone to install them, I figured out how to remove them myself after the chain controls ended.  So out of 135 miles, half of it needed chains.  NOT because the snow was building up on the roads, there were snow plows out but not needed.  It was 26 degrees in the mountains but the snow was melting on the roads.  I theorize they did chain controls to make money for the official installers ($30 to install, $15 to remove).  Luckily I did think to hit the ATM to get $20 cash before hitting the road which is what I used to pay the guy at Chevron to put on my chains.

So my life came be summed up in driving adventures and I have one more tale but since this is getting a bit long, I'll just end it for tonight.

Oh by the way, I have rented 3 different cars so far.  The first time they gave me a Ford Escape.  It had stiff, uncomfortable ride.  The next was a Dodge Avenger, that car was pretty incredible.  Smooth ride, huge trunk, enough power to climb the mountains.  The last was a PT Cruiser and it was okay.  I felt like I was in a hearse (black PT Cruiser), no cruise control which stunk and the chains made the steering wheel totally wobble and the whole car vibrate.  I was able to fit a 2-drawer file cabinet in the "trunk" and I liked how you could hide things in the back.  But I definitely wouldn't ever buy a Ford Escape or PT Cruiser.  Maybe the Dodge Avenger but I liked the Chrysler 300 my hubby rented much better than it.  (Oh and seems the trick with the Thrifty Car Rental here is to go ahead and reserve the compact car because they give you whatever is on the lot anyway so might as well get it at the cheapest rate.)