We've lived in Jacksonville, FL, for 27 years now and don't miss the snow. We saw enough back in January when we visited Desiree's folks for her mother's 90th BD on the 3rd.. We've been there every December for Christmas and seen a bit of snow. The most recent this past January when we saw -9.4°F during at least 2 days of snow.20240108_083404.jpg
This was at 7,100 feet or so east of Durango, CO. There was a foot of snow on the roof and it's 82" high, but got it off before driving. The windshield cover helped quite a bit. The new van is about 110" tall and it will be much harder to remove snow! I don't expect us to make many more trips there, though, as her folks are very elderly now... more than I, at 77+! At least her stepfather has a Skidsteer with a plow for the heavy snow, but the shoveling is a b!tch. I helped with the shoveling and hurt my torn rotator cuffs from ski falls in Europe.
We've been very lucky with not getting stuck in a blizzard or bad storm in our travels out there. I-40 has all kinds of problems at times!
Yeah, Kalifornia is beautiful and I've been stationed there 3 times as well... a year in 1964/65 at the Presidio of Monterey for language school, about 13-14 months at Navigation/Bomb Nav schools at Mather AFB in 1972-1974, and B-52 refresher at Castle AFB in 1986.
I have a brother still living there near Paso Robles and a cousin closer to the coast and L.A. It's a real shame that politics has ruined the whole damned state. I don't want to go back out there. I like being free to carry all of the guns and ammo that I want/need when I travel. I'm so glad to have had the opportunity to see a lot of it back in better times. The forests and the coastal roads are fantastic. We drove from Maine down South and across to southern Kalifornia, visiting along the way to Seattle when Desiree was going to Korea for a year, remote station. We were in the AZ forest north of Payson with her family while her dad was working on loan to the forest service there and camping out during the Gulf War in '91. I had expected our guys to have great losses, but we were lucky... skillful, actually... knew what we were doing and had the trained military then.
Oh, I bought my first pistol at age 18 in Monterey, CA... a Rohm .22LR... for about $20 new... steel and pot metal with steel inserts. I couldn't drink until 21, but I could buy a pistol! Times sure have changed!
Oh, we saw enough snow up in Maine, too, where I saw -40°F a few times. I don't miss the snow and frozen slush on the windshield and headlights when traveling in Winter, especially at night! I did learn which wiper blades to buy. This van has the good ones without all of those little tension bits that gather moisture and freeze into blocks of ice!
I like driving and practicing snow driving, but not in blizzard conditions! Back in January 2018 my son got married again and we went up to near Columbus, OH, just beating a Winter storm on the way, and then got out of there just before another hit. I did get to practice in a large empty rear parking lot nearby. I scared myself with some of the slides, but had fun drifting and correcting slides... by myself in the AWD Savana. Desiree wouldn't have liked that. I loved playing in the snow, and in sandy beaches down here when I didn't get stuck.
I've only been stuck once... and then just long enough for me to scoop enough snow by hand from under the sides of my Audi Quattro up in Maine in 1987, when I had momentarily got stuck on a snow plow berm going into a parking lot.
I got taller snow tires on a set of steel wheels for Winter then. I have never needed chains, though I had them for my AWD vans... two Ford AWD Aerostars since 1990 when those came out with AWD. I have good sets of cable/chains for the Savana but didn't even carry those last January. I think they'll fit this Transit, too... same size almost... 235/65/R16's but heavier than the Savana's 235/75/R16's. The Transit is about 6,000 lbs empty and can haul up to about 3,500 lbs... much more than I need, and I wanted single rear wheels, not dual ones that can pick up small boulders between them and cause punctures, should we go slightly off the beaten path. 9,500 lbs GVWR and it was possible to go up to 9,950, but after that dual rear tires were necessary. It can tow 6,200+ lbs, too, and came with a factory brake controller. I have never towed anything with the Savana and don't plan on any towing with the Transit, but it's nice to have the option.
Dang. I took a 2-hour nap and still have to put the dishes into the dishwasher and get to bed.
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I am addicted to brake fluid...don't worry I can STOP at anytime! 
