Search Results for: blog winter driving tips on how to navigate through treacherous travel conditions

Warm-Up Winter Driving Skills

  Winter Driving Tip #1:  Don’t use the wind as an alternative to snow brushes and ice scrapers.  Get off your lazy behind and remove the snow from your car before you hit the highway. So, yeah, the meteorologists were right.  We got dumped on a couple of days ago.  The first significant snowfall of the season and now drivers in these parts are being forced to warm-up their winter driving skills after a long hibernation. Unfortunately, many motorists I followed yesterday morning must have overslept or couldn’t remember where they stored their brushes because I got pummeled with sheets … Continue reading →

Tips for Winterizing Your Vehicle–Part 2

Have you winterized your vehicle yet? If you read the first part of this blog you know that I’m only part way through the winterizing process. Old Man Winter snuck up on me and already dropped more than a foot of snow on our state and the temps have barely crept out of the teens over the last couple of weeks. Okay. Who am I kidding? I procrastinated and now I am trying desperately to get my winterizing checklist complete before we head out on our holiday road trip. If you are driving over the river and through the woods … Continue reading →

Tips for Winterizing Your Vehicle–Part 1

It’s almost mid-December. More than a foot of snow has fallen in the past week in my neck of the woods and the temperature hasn’t risen above freezing since Thanksgiving. (I have a feeling it’s going to be a looooong winter.) To make matters worse I am not done winterizing my car. I’m not ready for Old Man Winter, and sadly my car isn’t either. So, dear readers, learn from my mistakes. Stop procrastinating. Tackle the tasks you can do yourself and book an appointment at a service station and let professional mechanics finish the other jobs. And you’d better … Continue reading →

Reviewing Winter Driving Tips

Here it comes… the first major storm of the winter season is heading straight for the Midwest and our city is looking to get hit with at least 8 inches of the white stuff. I’m not looking forward to driving to church tomorrow morning given that the road crews will have barely started clearing the highways before we have to head out. Even if your neck of the woods is escaping this round of bad weather (although I hear it is headed for the East Coast as soon as it hits us) it’s as good a time as any to … Continue reading →

Tips For Driving In Bad Weather

Earlier I told you that my family is bracing to deal with Hurricane Flossie. Make no mistake; hurricane and tornado season is here and for travelers that means making sure you have emergency plans for a natural disaster. That goes double for those of you who do a lot of driving across the Great Plains and the Gulf and Atlantic coasts. It’s important to know what to do if you forced to drive in severe weather. According to the AAA (and common sense), it’s always better to stay off the roads until inclement weather has passed. But if you absolutely … Continue reading →

Winter Car Care Tips—“Hooray! My Car Started Today!”

I cheered when my car started this morning. I couldn’t help it. The mercury has not hit ZERO in days. We have been sitting at about –10 degrees Fahrenheit for the last three days. When I went to start my car this morning it was –18 (with the windchill it was –39) and we don’t have an attached garage. My trusty Nissan sputtered, moaned and coughed a bit, but then roared like a champ after about 30 minutes (that’s how long I let it run before I put my child in it and ventured away from home… and believe me … Continue reading →

Preparing For Car Trouble

Has your car ever broken down on the highway? Or maybe even on a long stretch of road in the middle of nowhere? To make matters worse, it is dark outside and you have the kids in the car. Years ago it happened to me. Luckily, my son was at home with his father. If he had been with me, I know the situation would have been a lot worse. At the time, I did not have a cell phone. I can hear it now, “What? No cell phone?” Yeah, that’s right. Can you imagine breaking down and not having … Continue reading →

Holiday Travel: This Is It!

For the past five weeks I have been sharing travel tips with you in a series called “Holiday Travel.” Well, the countdown we started more than 45 days ago is in its last days. Brace yourself fellow holiday travelers—we may be in for a wild ride. According to travel guru AAA, a record 64.9 million Americans will be hitting the highways, the rails and the sky during the weeks of Christmas and New Year’s, crowding the nation’s airports and roadways like never before. AAA says the number may even surpass 65 million depending on the weather. Either way, the projected … Continue reading →

Holiday Travel: Saving Money On The Way To Grandma’s House—Part 3

Holidays are expensive enough without having to deal with exorbitant gas prices. Whether you are traveling across the state or across the country to get to grandma’s house this holiday season it’s always a good idea to plan for emergencies. In keeping with “Holiday Travel” blog tradition (click here to see what you have missed so far) here are more tips on how to get to a loved one’s house with money in your wallet and your sanity intact: Don’t Forget The Mustard Four months ago I was driving to our playgroup’s picnic when I realized (one exit shy of … Continue reading →

Winter Driving: I’m Stranded—What Do I Do Now?

When I moved to Wisconsin from Hawaii to attend college (almost two decades ago) I didn’t know how to dress for snow, let alone know how to drive in it. I didn’t have a car while I was in school so I didn’t do much driving at at any time of the year. However, six weeks after I graduated from school I bought my first car, and got a crash course in winter driving. (Lucky for me I didn’t literally receive a crash course in winter driving.) I managed to stay accident-free for the first few years despite having to … Continue reading →