Climate Change

When I was 20, my friends and I drove up to Helena, Montana in a blizzard. We left Denver in a beat up Jetta my friend owned. I was driving because I was too uptight to let anyone else drive (which was fine by them). They had to watch to make sure I didn't drive off the road on the right as semi trucks flew by us on the left leaving us blinded by snow and slush for seconds at a time while the wipers caught up.

We got to Casper, Wyoming by about 6:30 p.m. and pulled off the highway into the parking lot of a hotel. Sitting in the car we decided that driving in those terrible conditions was more exciting than trying to find something to do in Casper so we got back on the highway.

This is why you shouldn't be allowed to drive until you're in your 30s.

Around age 28 or so, my girlfriends and I were driving over Rabbit Ears Pass on our way to Steamboat during a snow storm in December. We were in my third Honda Civic and once again my friends were helping me navigate the edge of the road. Except on a mountain pass, the edge of the road equals many hundreds of feet drop instead of a simple ditch or soft shoulder in Wyoming.

At one point we turned a corner from one side of the mountain to the other and I eloquently said "There's way tons more snow on this side." "Way tons more" may be my legacy... inscribed on my tombstone will be:

Melissa Marie

1977-20XX

Beloved Daughter/Sister/Aunt/Humanitarian

She had way tons more shit to do

It didn't occur to me at the time that maybe a 4 wheel drive vehicle was smart for such a trek, or that snow tires were things that were necessary, or even that we should maybe at least be driving during daylight hours to increase our visibility?

Growing up in Colorado, one of the first things you learn when learning to drive is how to behave in the snow. My first car was a little Nissan pick up truck with rear wheel drive which is the dumbest thing in the universe in the snow. The first year I owned that truck (age 17) I ended up in two ditches because I didn't know how to handle it in the snow. But after that, I never struggled again. I knew how to manuever it over and around anything. We bought sandbags to weigh down the back. I was a force to be reaconed with in my little blue truck. Sure, my roommate in college wouldn't ride with me in the snow because I had to gun it to make it over the lip of any icy driveway, but I never hit anything or anyone and I never slid off the road after that first winter. 

Every car since has been a Honda Civic. Seriously. It's a thing I have... this Civic love. Moving from rear wheel drive to front wheel drive made snow driving so much easier. I was invincible. 

Until nothing whatsoever happened and I was suddenly wary. What if I can't make it up that hill? What if I slide off the road? What if that asshole behind me doesn't stop in time and we cause a 12 car pileup? Seriously? What if I can't make it up that hill? 

The other night it took me 2 hours to get to my parents' house from the office because I was trying to avoid hills. This is like trying to avoid air. I do not live in a flat state. Every hill was approached with trepidation and heart palpitations. And then, by some miracle, I made it up every hill. Just like I always have. 

I got to my parents' house vowing that my next vehicle would have 4 wheel drive. Which I am loath to even admit because during my 20 year driving career I have scoffed at those who think 4 wheel drive is necessary. Pshaw! Colorado winters aren't bad enough to need 4 wheel drive.* 

And they aren't. They're no different than they were 3 years ago or 10 years ago or 19 years ago. Nothing has changed.

2009 selfie.

Except me.
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*At least not if you don't do a lot of mountain driving in the winter... which I don't.