Driving... Sliding in the Snow

Since I'm now a pro at driving in the snow I will inform everyone of what I have learned.

We own an SUV and a car and whenever we were moving here I envisioned my car getting stuck EVERYWHERE and just flying off the road at the very first snow fall. Well my car can actually keep up pretty well in the snow. The other day I had to take the car out to make it to an appointment on time. I was TERRIFIED! Snow was still coming down pretty hard, the snow plows couldn't keep up, and it was already dark out. I walked out to a car COVERED in snow! I had to clean the car off and THEN shovel all around it. Oh my goodness shoveling is a work out. Snow is not as light as it looks.... But we finally got on the road and here are a few things I learned..

#1 Try to NOT look like a southerner when you are driving. Driving in snow is not as easy as it looks but it's also not nearly as hard as it looks either. Up north they are pretty good at keeping the roads clean but their are times the snow is coming down way faster than the snow plows can plow it. Now for real here are my tips.

You have to slowly accelerate, you can't take off like you're racing Vin Diesel in the Fast and Furious. Your tires will probably just start spinning and you will possibly get stuck and look like a southerner. Just like accelerating, if your going to stop you need to slowly stop... SLOWLY! If you can help it never fully stop. When it comes to a red light I try my best to start slowing down early and HOPEFULLY by the time I get to it, it's green so I can just continue going instead of coming to a full stop. Give yourself space and time. Don't pull out in front of someone like you would on a day in the middle of summer. You wont take off as fast as you normally would and they wont be able to stop as fast as they normally could. In snow weather you don't have to drive like a grandma but you also don't have to drive like an idiot. Remember... Slow and steady wins the race :)

Be prepared. Be prepared to get stuck, be prepared to go get groceries and then walk out to a car that is covered in snow. BE PREPARED TO BE STUCK IN THE MIDDLE OF NO WHERE WITH NO SERVICE IN A BLIZZARD!!!!! I can't say it enough. BE PREPARED! Have a shovel in your car so if you get stuck in a patch of snow or work all day and your car is snowed in you can shovel around it. If it's snowing out or is supposed to snow take your ice scraper/brush into the store with you. Keep blankets, jumper cables, a shovel, waters, snacks, non perishable foods, some handwarmers/footwarmers, first aid stuff, a deck of cards, and whatever else you may need(diapers, wipes, a can of formula, baby food, etc.) You could also invest in a flare gun, an extremely loud horn, etc. You can never have too much if you're ever stranded. BE PREPARED!

Don't get mad at the snow plow drivers, they are just doing their job. Yes they may block your driveway with even more snow for you to shovel but it's not like they were doing it intentionally. They are just trying to clear the streets. Maybe even take some goodies to them at their job. And another thing don't get mad at the "idiots" who are driving too slow. Because they are just being safe and may be new to driving in the snow. At one point in time you were probably just like them.

Just because you have all wheel drive, snow tires, or chains doesn't mean you wont wreck. Also, you don't NEED a truck to live up north. You also don't NEED an AWD vehicle, you can survive just fine with a compact car. BTW I am so not really a pro at driving in the snow but just in the past few months I have learned a lot about how to drive with snow on the ground and not thinking "WE'RE GOING TO DIE!!!"

New Car to Move the Moreno's

The beginning of this year we got temporary custody of my husbands niece.. Well we only had one vehicle and with 3 little ones in car seats we NEEDED a bigger vehicle and we needed it ASAP. We ended up with a minivan.. Sexy, I know. I so was not happy about that minivan BUT it had TV's and it worked. We had LOTs of room and it had room for whenever people would come to visit :) The kids LOVED the van. Well whenever we got orders to Alaska the people we made our payments to would not allow us to take it to Alaska. Thanks to the Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act we were able to turn the vehicle back in with no penalties. We actually ended up getting SOME money back haha.

Our PLAN was to get a second vehicle a little after we got to Alaska.. Things changed like they always do in the military and we ended up getting orders to New York instead of Alaska. Well that caused a BIG problem.. With us moving to Alaska we were going to fly and the airlines we'd be flying approved 2 free bags for the service members and dependents(when flying with the service member) and THEN the military would reimburse us for 2 suitcases.. So that gave us 16 suitcases total that we could check. Well whenever we got orders to New York we would have to drive the car. The car we have is a SMALL Acura TSX. Now I love this car. It's a 2006 and it has been great to us. We have had one complication with it since we've had it and that was just last month. The power steering went out and we had to have that fixed. But its just a small car and driving just that car halfway across the US would have been hard. If we drove one vehicle it would have been me, Adam, our 2 kids, and Boidoe. At the very least we would have 5 suitcases and Adams golf clubs. The issue is whenever we drove from North Carolina to Texas it was only me, Adam, Boidoe, and Adams suitcases. That is ALL we had room for in the car. So there is no way all of us and ALL of our suitcases would fit in the car. Also I will start working once we get to New York, the kids school is about 20 minutes away from our house, I also want to start going to school. So we NEEDED a second vehicle again.

We started looking for vehicles about 2 weeks ago and oh my goodness I wish we would have just kept the darn minivan. Car shopping is MISERABLE whenever your on a budget and don't have the best credit(we've been working on it). Also we NEEDED roof racks, leather, 3rd row seating, and navigation. I WANTED a sunroof. And the kids wanted a tv haha. My mom and step dad were even helping us look for vehicles. Well I found a vehicle I loved we went and test drove it and were so ready to get it. Turns out it just looked like it had navigation. He wanted about $2000 more just to install the navigations. So after even more looking we decided all we need is 3rd row seating, leather, and roof racks. We can buy a darn tom tom. We can get portable dvd players or tablets for them to use. And a toe hitch we can have installed.. I found a few vehicles and THEN something amazing happened... I FOUND IT!! It was THE ONE! She was a BEAUTY! Red is my weakness when it comes to cars. I LOVE red, black, and white. But red is my FAVE!

It's a GMC Acadia. I still remember the first time I saw the GMC Acadia's. I was at the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo with my family and Adam. I saw this brand new car I have never seen before(the Acadia's just came out that year) It was such a pretty car and I wanted it. I saw the price and it was WAY out of my price range.. Well 2 days ago I FINALLY found one and it was a GREAT price! Plus it had EVERYTHING! 3rd row seating, leather, roof racks, sunroof, TV, heated seats, navigation, and VERY spacious! Now let me answer a few questions for yall.. You are probably thinking why in the world do yall need 3rd row seating? Let me tell you why. We are a family of 4. We are also a military family that will be living 24 hours away from family. We need the extra space for when family visits. Also I carpooled whenever we lived in NC and needed the extra seats. And who knows maybe in a few years Adam and I may decide we want another child and we will for sure need the space. Now why do we have to have leather?

Big Red? Rosie? Betsy? Pepper? We need a name for it.
We also kind of need a name for our car haha.
Big Blue and Big Red?? Papa Smurf and Rosie?

Ummm.... kids. DUH! Oh and dog hair haha. Boidoe sheds like crazy whenever we drive. Navigation? Well we made the switch to Verizon and this whole not having unlimited data SUCKS!! Yes we are going to print the directions out but we are planning on stopping and sight seeing and could get off the path that we printed out. Navigation helps with that. Plus we travel last minute and just kind of go off.. Whenever I first moved to Fort Bragg I went and picked Boidoe up from the vet. It was an 45 minute drive at MOST(round trip).. I was gone for 3-4 hours. I got so lost with a dog and 2 kids. In a not so great area. Had no idea how to get home and my phone died.. It was horrible. Having navigation then would have helped. Sunroof.. People make fun of me because I LOVE my sunroof.. But I was willing to give it up AGAIN. Thankfully the vehicle I found had the sunroof :) I could have cried haha. The thing is I was willing to give everything up. Just get a vehicle with 3rd row and roof racks because I knew those 2 were the most important things we needed. But whenever I finally found this car I knew I was done searching and I was so happy :) Now the stress of finding a vehicle before we left for New York is over :) Seriously ONE WEEK before we leave we signed the paperwork! haha


It is so spacious!! 2 seats up front, 2 in the middle, and 3 in the back.
And Boidoe STILL has room in the very back :)

 

*You can comment down below with some names and once we pick them I will let yall know :) We may let the kids decide. They seem to come up with some good names haha. Brett named Boidoe :)