rdmypl8

As I was sitting in traffic the other night, on my way to an away basketball game, I was thinking about all the times I drove through snow storms to do the very same thing. Sometimes, my knuckles were as white as the snow, as I found myself gripping the steering wheel with every curve of the road through the mountain passes. On the particular night in the above photo, I eventually discovered that an accident had stopped the traffic while they were clearing it away. As I was inching along, I had plenty of time to reflect on how my drive to such sporting events is so different.

I no longer have to hope all day that the snowfall will wait until we got home and were safely tucked into our warm beds, before unleashing it's winter flurry. But, I do have to calculate a whole lot of extra time on to the drive to account for lots and lots of traffic.

I no longer have to worry about having a big coat in the car and extra water bottles, granola bars and warm gloves, in case I got stranded somewhere along the road. But, I do need to have my GPS device in case I get lost.

I no longer have to worry about an avalanche sliding down the mountain seconds before my car came around the curve in the road, keeping us stranded in Silverton for 4 hours. (true story). But, I do need to worry about remembering to turn on 101 east rather than west to find my way home.

I no longer have to worry about hitting a deer while going 15 miles per hour on a very snowy, icy mountain road. (That was the time that I was so nervous about my son riding home on a bus... in a blizzard, that I got a last minute babysitter for the girls and drove to the town he was in to watch the game and then bring him home myself.( Note:the bus did not hit a deer.) But, I do have to worry about the drivers that change lanes whether they look to see if my car is in their way or not.

I no longer have to worry about the snow and ice building up on the windshield wipers making it impossible for them to even work. But, I do have to sometimes wonder if a scorpion is in the car with me and will it start crawling up my leg while I'm sitting in traffic. Do rattlesnakes ever find their way into cars?

And one other thing about driving in all this traffic. I have plenty of time to figure out what all these personalized license plates say.(I believe some people call them vanity plates). There are a bunch around here. I'm not sure that I have ever seen so many cars with so many interesting things on their license plates. Solving the puzzle is sometimes easy but once in a while a little tricky. It's like playing Wheel of Fortune behind the wheel of my car. Wheel on wheels.

Except I just can't buy any vowels.

Note: did you figure out my vanity title? If I were to get a personalized plate maybe that is what I would put on it. Although, it has probably been used before.