This week on the Savvy Traveler, Melinda Penkava returns as our guest host. Welcome back, Melinda!

Melinda's View: Music for the Road

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Snow was falling hard one morning on I95. I was trying hard to stay awake. The cassette in the old Volvo didn't work, so I was at the mercy of the oldies station - and a Sonny and Cher song. Don't press me for details. What happened next has wiped out my memory of exactly which song it was.

It seemed a good idea to sing along to stay awake. Thing is, when you give, say, "I Got You Babe" all you've got, you tend to do the same to the accelerator. I drove faster in the snow. I passed two tractor trailers. And then I got to an icy bridge. The Volvo and I spun. We did a full 360 and I was spinning around again, and facing oncoming traffic, namely, the dark blue cabs of those tractor trailers, now bearing down on me. Somehow - drum keeps pounding a rhythm to the brain - the Volvo spun to the shoulder, and 4 seconds later, the semis hurtled by.

I turned off the radio. There was that lush hush that only a snowfall can bring. I opened the windows for air. And knew that my life, from that point on, was all a bonus.

I still love a snowfall - after all landing in a snowbank saved me - and I still listen to music in the car. But now, when it snows, I keep the sound of the wipers and the crunch under the tires louder than what's coming out of the speakers. Perhaps it's my own little offering to the travel gods so that I can listen to more music on many other roads.

Today, some of that music for the road...and elsewhere.