Since I went back to visit my family in Saskatchewan at the end of November, 2014, I’ve driven more than 6,000 kilometres. Most of that is for work, attending events and meetings and taking photos throughout Rocky View County, but sometimes, I just drive for me.
I love driving. Few things make me happier than sitting in my car with music playing and looking out at a beautiful stretch of road ahead of me. Even winter driving, while admittedly somewhat challenging, is still one of the only ways I can de-stress after a rough day. Besides, snow-covered roads are lovely to photograph, and there’s nothing I like more than venturing out on a photo-drive.
However, during my stay with my parents in November, I ended up getting sick and couldn’t help my dad put a new alternator in my car as I had intended. So I left my car in Saskatchewan so he could perform the necessary repairs, and I drove my parents’ car back to Airdrie.
Before I left, my dad warned me about a couple of things. He pointed out the all-season tires on the car, since I was used to my own winter tires. He explained that he had a leak somewhere and that I would need to frequently top off the power steering fluid. And he mentioned that the ‘check engine’ light would not turn off, but that I was not to worry about it. He said nothing about the headlights.
I do a lot of driving at night, because I’m always going out to shoot photos at events or visiting friends or even just picking up some groceries on my way home from the office, since it gets dark so crazy early in Alberta in the wintertime. But I’m generally driving in an area with streetlights, so it’s well lit and I can’t really tell how bright my own headlights are.
Driving back from Banff at midnight was a totally different story.
Last weekend, I drove up into the mountains to visit a friend who was skiing at Sunshine Village. Due to our poor planning and indecisiveness, we didn’t finish dinner until almost 10 p.m., and it had started snowing lightly. Concerned about driving on icy roads by myself, I decided to leave shortly after we arrived back at the hotel.
It wasn’t until I pulled out onto the highway that I realized that my headlights were so dim that I could hardly see the road in front of me.
I pulled over to take a look and see if maybe they were just covered in snow. Sadly, that was not the case. My lights were covered in a film that I couldn’t just wipe off with the sweatshirt I pulled out of my backseat. I did the best I could, but still struggled to see the lines along the edge of the highway. Finally, I put on my brights. I figured if my headlights were that dim, having my brights on probably wouldn’t bother any of the other three drivers on the road with me.
It worked okay, until the snow picked up. Then, it was more like I was driving through outer space, and following the road was virtually impossible.
I finally got home shortly after midnight, after finding some taillights to follow until I got back to Calgary and streetlights. Streetlights! Stoney Trail is amazingly well lit, and I’ve never appreciated it more. And while the mountains are beautiful in the daytime, at night they just make everything look like it’s the same black as the road, and prevents all of that super necessary moonlight from ever reaching the Trans-Canada.
And I made a trip to Canadian Tire to find some of that plastic headlight cleaning stuff, because it works like magic and I really don’t want to die yet.
