What that means to the daily traveller (particularly one who happens to live without the luxury of a garage) is a never-ending, finger-freezing, dark-of-night dance with electric cords and block heaters; obsessive scans of the weather and road conditions web sites;  and emergency stashes of chocolate in the glove compartment, along with blankets and candles in the back seat.

It also means a choice between feeding an unconscionable amount of carbon monoxide into the air while your vehicle warms up (thereby defrosting your windows and somewhat unthawing ice-block seats) or doing it the ‘environmentally responsible’ way and letting it warm up for no more than a couple of minutes. (Some ‘experts’ say 30 seconds. Are they serious? Have they been to Saskatchewan? Have they even heard of it?)

Doing things the ‘responsible way’ means clearing ice and snow from windows, typically using hand-held scrapers whose complete lack of utility can only be explained by assuming the folks who designed and manufactured them have never experienced winter. Maybe snow-scraper manufacturing is a big industry in the Caribbean. By the time you’ve carved strategically placed peek holes in the windows with the next-to-useless scraper, you’ve probably surpassed the two-or-three-minute warm-up.  

Off you go as the temperature in your posterior plummets to a point where it approximates that of the ice-block seats. The good news is that you only feel the cold until your cheeks go numb. It’s important to take shallow breaths – preferably into your gloved hand. Otherwise, the warmth in your breath opaques the inside of the window, nullifying any benefit you gained from scratching the scraper across the outside.

Time for another confession: I let my car warm up longer. Not saying how long – just … longer.

Those of you who’ve read Bill Bryson’s brilliant The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-town America will recognize the opening lines. Of course, he was from Des Moines. Same difference really.

I love the book. I love his tone. The irony. The underlying commentary. The pictures he paints with words. It’s one of the few books I’ve read more than once. It makes me laugh out loud each time. I’m setting my goals high in trying to emulate his style.  

Of course, my purpose is not nearly as grand as his. He travelled over a good portion of the U.S. My travels are mostly within the province that’s “easy to draw, but hard to spell.” He was writing a book. I’m venting   thinking aloud  writing a blog.

The blog will be loosely – very loosely – based on my almost-daily travels down the highways, grid roads and city streets of (southern) Saskatchewan. I drive a fair amount. Mostly the same couple of routes, back and forth, but now and then I stray farther for one reason or another. (First confession: I’m a ‘flatlander’ that feels more at peace in the Rockies than on Prairies.)

While I’m driving – I spend a lot of time thinking. It’s amazing the insights that come when you are doing something that, while demanding of your conscious attention, allows your subconscious to wander. Sometimes I think I’m brilliant. Mostly, I’m sure I’m not and that I just have a lot of random thoughts. Maybe writing them down will help clear up my confusion.

By the way - I love Saskatchewan! That’s why I came back after moving away to Alberta for almost 10 years. Well, that’s not really why I came back, but it’ll work for our purposes.

Have a great day!