Mountain Newcomers

s2s - first tires. Heavy tread tires offer more grab than all season. They ride rougher and wear faster. For a larger vehickle, BFG All Terrain T/A's can't really be beat. For a smaller vehicle, there are some great traction tires. The best way is to have two sets of wheels, one with winter tires & one with summer tires.

As for the land Cruiser - Heavy vehicle. They EAT expensive tires and expensive brakes. You might be happier with a Lexus 4WD for the same price range. Perhaps a 4Runner. (I am assuming you like Toyota.) There are so many choices and deals out there - take your time looking.

As for fog, what you think is bad now will seem like nothing after a while. We DO get that pea soup where there is zero visibility, but usually you can see some. For where you are going to live, you might want to try going through TP on 189 to 5points. think of it as the back way. It is shorter, and usually less foggy.

Hope this helps.

and the 189 has street lights which seem to help durning the fog. The LandCruiser is heavy and gonna be alot harder to stop if you slide! I make it work with 2 2wd vehicles, I run dedicated snow tires(studless) and bought good chains(diamond pattern with ice breakers) remember traction is the key!

How's your driveway?? You gotta get out of your driveway first!! A snowblower is also a good investment if you have a big driveway, some snow days last year it took me half the day to shovel out and thats why I missed work. Can't wait to use my new Ariens!

Also, living on a cul-de-sac poses it's own set of challanges. First the grader that plows our street is too big to turn around on your cul-de-sac so he only plows one side of the street(better hope it's the side you live on) if it's not you park on the other side of the street or you dig and dig!

S2S, here are some links I hope they help!
for snowblower info http://www.snowblowersdirect.com/brand/ariens.php
for winter tire info
http://www.michelinman.com/tires/winter/x-ice-xi2/?tsn
or
http://bridgestone.com/products/passenger_tires/blizzak/i...
for quality chains
http://www.thule.com/en-GB/US/Products/SnowChains.aspx

Oldguy and Potato- I can't thank you two enough- i'm definitely taking everything in! So glad I found this site!

Mini Coopers are so cool, I would love to have a third car for the two of us. You would NEVER want something that low and fwd as one of your only vehicles. Trust me. I had a Celina for years, but it was so low that it lost most of it's "cool" features along the side of the road! Fun though!

Fog is your greatest enemy commuting from here, so look into really good fog lights if you have to commute everyday. I hated it. So I have stayed "on top" for less money. WAY less money. My mom did it for 7 years, and she had enough. Moved. I'm not sure I want to ever spend that much time on the roads. (Well driving anyway! I do road flagging, so I DO spend quite a bit of time "in/on the road!" ) Good luck with everything! I've loved it up here since "she" brought me up here in '73!