My freshman year, the day we left for Kansas City on holiday break coincided with a massive snowstorm. Four of us stuffed into a classmate’s VW Bug, which we soon learned had no heat. It took a perilous 2 1/2 hours to slide and crawl to Des Moines, where the snow slowed. The highway was covered and total whiteout conditions made it impossible to see, so we stuck as close as we dared to the car in front of us, following its tail lights to stay on the road. At one point we followed the car into a rest stop without even knowing we’d exited! Thankfully, we made it home safely.
After that harrowing trip, I was grateful to have my family’s trusty rusty Chevy Suburban for my final three years at Grinnell. I must have jump-started half the cars on campus one January when temperatures dipped below zero.