This morning it was -18 on our thermometer on this snowy and cold icy November day in 100 Mile House.Yesterday when I was driving my 4×4 blue Dodge diesel “Pearl” to work, her and I met with perilous ice. She has sandbags in the back and has studded winter tires. Just before the highway from our quiet country turnoff, she spun wildly out of control heading toward the highway with traffic ahead. I saw a flash of a semi truck. I heard my husband’s voice”Get your foot off the brake! and turn into it!”. So I did.I turned a fierce left and saw myself going to crash into our neighbouring cattle rancher’s wooden fence line. I clutched and turned the steering wheel a hard left again missing the fence, doing a bumpy four wheel drive fast over the huge snow covered icy mogals on his property then came to a stop.The first thing that came to mind was a wave of relief that I did not destroy my neighbours fence. A woman in a big black ford diesel and a baseball cap stopped to look. I waved an “I’m fine”, and she carried on. Much about living in the Cariboo is about dusting yourself off and carrying on. If something is challenging, you get right back at it and persevere. The incident was treated as though it was a normal event, as vehicles do go off the road due to ice from time to time, and that is how it is.This mental toughness and resilience is what I have developed after the last decade of living here.
