Traveling in terrible weather

During our recent trip through the UP, I found myself thinking to all the road trips I've made in snow storms. There were many growing up. One stands out in my mind of it being Christmas day and somewhere in the middle of ND. I will never forget the face of a guy who approached our station wagon to ask us to go call for help. This is before cell phones and we drove to a farm house and they called for help. We got back on the road and thankfully continued our journey without incident.
I remember not being worried, my father was worried enough for all of us. It was a serious time, but I do not remember fear. I think I had complete faith in him to get us to our destination safely. He always did, regardless the road conditions.
It is completely different when you are the parent. I believe my blood pressure to be high the entire last two days of our holiday vacation, even with medication.
I never realized the true need for the bumps they put on the middle and side of the road. When you can't see the road, one can depend on those bumps to keep you in your lane. The bumps in the middle are louder when you drive over them. There are more and it is a very pronounced sound. The bumps on the side are softer, but loud enough to be useful.
We received snow these past two days. We haven't had any since the first snow day in November. The kids were thrilled. Last night, they played outside for more than an hour. Such an easy way to entertain themselves, send them outside. There is once again a hill in our back yard. I imagine it will continue to grow as long as more snow comes. We will take what we can get. As much as I was looking forward to just skipping winter and heading right to spring, perhaps that would be too hasty and unfair to these snow loving children of mine. They didn't get enough winter days. I'll just keep making the hot chocolate according to each request.
Another memorable snow storm trip I forgot to mention: my father picked me up from college for Christmas break. A friend from the Netherlands came home with me. Housing closed our hall during break and he had 3-4 days before his flight to remain in the area. The day my dad picked us up, there was a snow storm. Niels had never experienced anything like this. During our drive, he asked my dad if he could get out and take a picture. Oh boy. My dad explained that we had to keep going. Niels had never experienced the smell of skunk either. I took him out to my aunt and uncle's cattle farm and showed him ND. He was fun and I enjoyed showing him around. Too bad we lost touch after he left the area. He did travel more around Europe after being here, but we only communicated a few times later that year. Wonder what ever happened to him.