My wife and I were all set to drive to Cincinnati to see her parents for Christmas. We had rented a car and were taking our elderly adopted toy "choodle" with us. We had a car harness and all that. I noted that Christmas Day was supposed to be all of about 12 degrees! Our dog, Peanut, shivers when it's 70 degrees outside. So we were taking blankets, her heated bed, and other goodies.

While I was packing the rental, my wife checked out The Weather Channel. Bad news. Her home town was being hammered. We thought it might blow over in a day. So we'd leave a day later. No such luck. This record-breaking snowstorm was predicted to last three days! After thinking it over carefully, we decided to abort until after Christmas. We'd leave on the 26th.

We made the necessary call to her parents, who are in their 70s and were looking forward to our visit. They agreed, telling us, "Don't come." Okay, we'll cool it for awhile. We decided to wait until the 26th. We also had to call our motel and plans had been made -- you know, the whole nine yards. Everything had to be pushed back.

The appointed day arrived. The car was packed. Peanut had her winter sweater on, and her car harness was strapped to a seat belt. She was in the back seat. We had read of pets being killed by front passenger air bags. I even warmed up the car before we stowed her aboard. Off we went.

All was well until we got to Ohio. Fifteen miles into Ohio, we hit a snowsquall. Then we saw a terrible accident. A car flipped over on its roof and turned 180 degrees. Cars were splayed out off the road all over. We hit the same patch of icy road, and began fishtailing and sliding. My wife was driving by then. She's a damn good driver and she kept us on the road. I said let's get off at the first exit offering a motel. She indicated that was fine by her.

We ended up sleeping in a fleabag motel that had not been redecorated since 1960. Yikes. We didn't use the shower, we didn't undress, and because I insisted we take our sleeping bags, we were able to sleep on top of the beds in our bags. Peanut slept with us. The floor was too cold and she was too excited, as tiny dogs are apt to be. We got about 3 hours of sleep.

Peanut slept fine!

We also decided to get the hell out of Ohio and drive back home. We called her parents as well as the motel and they understood. We will visit in the spring or early summer.

Sometimes there is wisdom in knowing when to call it quits and go home.

-- Craig