Four-wheel drive is useful, but it can also mean a four-wheel skid. SLOW DOWN! Turn your headlights on in snow, rain, and fog -- not just the automatic driving lights, but HEADLIGHTS. And make sure your tail lights are working!

We have had "winter kits" in the cars since 1974, when we were stranded by a blizzard for three days just a half-hour from our house. Our kits now include fire starting materials (including a folding stove), fuel tablets or Sterno, pint pots, plastic utensils, "survival" blankets, some food like high-protein bars, and the most important thing of all, toilet paper.

We spent 32 years living in the "snow belts" around Lakes Erie and Michigan. Now we live in the Idaho mountains. Yes, we're experienced in snow driving. But remember, between snow storms other people forget how to drive in snow.

My motto in all this: "I'm a good driver in snow, but I don't know about YOU, so I'm careful for me."