Welcome to the moth.
I'm Emily Couch.
It's bleak outside this time of year.
Okay, maybe if you're in Sydney or Miami, the weather's lovely and sunny,
but if you're in the northern hemisphere, well, it's chilly and snowy and gray.
As the weather outside gets colder and colder and it seems like spring will never return,
the moth is sharing stories all about the magic and the misery of winter from traveling down icy roads to finding warmth with your loved ones.
So instead of going outside, Why don't you bundle up,
pour a mug of hot cocoa, and listen to some stories?
First up, we have Kola Rung, who told us at an Atlanta story slam where the theme was elbow grease.
Here's Kola live at the moth.
I was an escort driver for two years, delivering brand new vehicles all around the country.
Being a Floridian, I was initially enthused with the prospect of seeing a real wonder.
until I drove through a real winter.
In a month's time I went through so many life-threatening situations involving snow that I had begun to perceive that cold white icy stuff collectively as one large anthrax smoothie.
From behind the wheel I watched 35 vehicles crash all around me outside of Dallas when I-20 froze over.
It taught me how to cruise my vehicle without smashing on the brakes or make rash movements with the steering wheel.
I flipped my vehicle over in the snow in the countryside of Wisconsin at two in the morning when I pulled over to check my mouth.
It taught me the importance of knowing where the park during the snowfall.
I learned the value of calling ahead to truck stops to make sure they were still in service when I pulled into this truck stop in the upper peninsula of Michigan and one in the morning doing a snow storm to find out that it had been abandoned.