On The Road In The Longroof

It is now Tuesday evening and I decided, actually my friend Carri decided for me, to get my butt online and blog about the rest of the trip On The Road In The Longroof. She called me today to make sure I had gotten home, as her sister Wendy mentioned to Carri, see them here, my last blog was Saturday from the Mississippi Welcome Center. I am grateful at least someone cares! Love you Wendy.

As I mentioned, I had stopped at that Welcome Center to, hopefully, let a severe rainstorm pass on by so I would not get caught out in it. Well, I blogged, had a bite to eat and decided to get on down the road to see what would happen.

At the pit stop I did shortly thereafter for gas and vital fluids, I accidentally left the headlights in the olefalcon on. Normally, when I do this on any newer car, and someone points it out, I will comment, "It's okay, they'll go out when the battery runs out." I must remember, that is a distinct possibility in my newest vehicle. Anyway, as I was walking back out from the gas station, I noticed the driver's side tail light had burned out. I had checked all of the lights prior to leaving the AutoZone I had stopped at the previous day, and all were in working order. No, the gas station I stopped at did not have any bulbs, but the one next door did! so I went in and got one. As I was standing in line, I struck up a conversation with a Dad and his son about the upcoming storm and they mentioned they were heading the opposite direction as me and it was a duesey of a storm. (I doubt those were their actual words but you get the idea, I hope). I went out and did a 65 Hours of San Antonio light bulb change as the storm was blowing in.

As I was leaving that gas station, heading east, the same direction I am heading on I-10, at the highway in front of it, the rain was picking up and blowing like hell into the van through the area where, normally, there would be a wing vent window. Well, the olefalcon needs some work and replacing that wing vent is one of the things it needs.

So, here I am getting freaking soaked and I am not even in the middle of the biggest part of this storm yet. And while, most of the time, Ignorance is Bliss, I realized I did not want to get on Eisenhour's Freeway System, no matter how much I loved it at this point, in the worst thunderstorm to hit coastal, southern Mississippi that day. So I started looking around for something to get under. I looked back and the canopies over the gas pumps were full so I headed out to the north to try and find something else. I did find an office complex, new, yet, significantly, vacant, so I pulled in the parking lot, turned and backed around and around, much like Jim and Regina and I did so many years ago in that brown Ford 250 in that Wizard of Oz-like tornado when I spent the summer On The Road with them, trying to face my rain attracting vent window toward the south to keep the rain from blowing in.

So, there I was, smugly sitting there thinking how I had beat the rain to the punch and was only slightly damp. I lit up a cancer stick, opened a bottle of water and reflected on the olefalcon and its, and my, future.

It took a few moments to sink in, but I realized I was getting wet. I looked up at where the water was coming from, through the rubber seals around the door. They were shot. I then looked to the passenger side and water was pouring in that one also. I looked to the rear of this old window van and rain was coming in every window! The windows on the up storm side were the absolute worst. Now only that, all of my belongings were soaked!

Here, I must interject, I knew the seals were bad, but I did not connect that knowledge with the nearly horizontal rain I was currently in. Yes, those rubber seals need to actually work for the rain to stay out.

As this rainstorm was nowhere near over, I set off in search of cover. I found it at the Interstate overpass. While all of the space under the overpasses was taken, due to the rain falling the way it was, the area down wind (rain) of the overpass got no rain due to the bridge actually blocking the rain. I pulled to the south of the overpass, not even under it, and no rain fell on the olefalcon. The last car, I was in front, in this line up of four cars, while physically under the overpass, was getting pelted with rain, due to the wind.

So I commenced to setting all of my stuff up on those brand new tires to keep my stuff dry. Thanks is given here to WallyWorld for me having those tires to set stuff up on. It was comical. I had clothes laid out to dry, towels, shop cloths, sheets, sleeping bag. I looked like a Hillybilly Hoon from Hooterville. There was a hitchhiker under the bridge in front of me and if I had offered to pick him up, he probably would have turned down my offer, without a second's hesitation, even if I delivered him to the door front of his final destination.

So now, I am sitting there, drying off, and I thought I would log on the the net to check the NOAA website I have as a favorite to see what's up with the future of this storm. Once I had done that, I realized there was about ten more minutes of downpour and then it would slack off to near nothing. During this time, I checked my emails, checked out the bus, the CDM, and those off the wall car guys at Jalopnik.

The rain started to lighten up so I set off on my way. You see, as the storm was moving from the northeast to the southwest, I knew the worst was now behind me and it was, well, at least as far as the weather was concerned.

Now Counters, as I mentioned, it is now late Tuesday evening, and you know I returned home safely.

This evening, I did the Triple O, that is Orlando, Ocala, Ormond run. I drove down to pick up my former lover, Kim, who was arriving from her 3 week vacation in the Metro Detroit area, at the Mickey Mouse airport they have down there. Return her to Ocala and head on back the Birthplace of Speed.

For the record, 246 miles, 4 hours, 31 minutes, one pit stop, one nature call stop, one quicky stop at the Ockahumpa Plaza on the Turnpike, twenty five minutes at the airport, and no tickets. Gotta love those kids in those Lexus IS250 (Ormond to Orlando) and the Honda Accord (Ocala to Ormond) with their speed detection devices. Thanks.

Til the next time.