Well, there's the whole "kids and their stuff" issue, and even if she gets the kids to carry all their own things, she's still buying and carrying groceries for at least three people rather than one. She also buys massive bottled-water jugs instead of trusting the municipal water supply and they are heavy to carry -- I know this because she specifically mentioned that's an issue for her; not to mention I know from other conversations that she has some back problems -- and she's the one who raised the whole "can I rent your driveway" issue in the first place, so... it's obviously worth something to her. The question is how much. :-)

It's not a covered driveway, but there are no trees directly overhead (unless you pull far enough in that you're almost at my back door, which nobody has for several years and thus that part of the gravel has greened over) so falling branches, at least, are unlikely. And I could probably do some basic driveway-shoveling in the winter, since I seem to end up doing most of the sidewalk shoveling in general.