Car Washes

Car Washes--

After a very snowy week, it was time to get the salt off the car.  That spells terror for me.

It is no big deal to drive up and place the money in the slots.  That is where easy stops.  The next step is to wait for the sign to say Drive Forward. Drive forward into the tube of horror better known as a bay. Now we are talking challenge.

Positioning the left wheel so that it moves into the slot provided is tricky.   Have you ever been almost sideways in that thing?  Well, I have.  It seems to me that that wheel slottie thing moves whenever it sees me coming.  How in the world can I miss it everytime?  I feel the wheel rubbing on something--I have no idea what.  All I know is that I am usually higher on the left side of the car than the right side.

No one to help guide me into that trough.  All on my own.  Sometimes I straddle white lines in parking lots so it is not difficult to understand how I might be concerned at the car wash.  After parking my car in a slot, I often look back to see if I am in straight only to find that I am at least five feet from the curb. Well, that is not a bad thing.  No scratches on the front bumper.  However, my guess is people passing my car have rather unkind things to say about how far it sticks out into the driving part of the lot.  Oh well.

And then all the soaping and rinsing are finished.  It is time to exit.  This is almost as traumatic as entering that tube of horror.  When I try to pull forward, I hear all sorts of noises coming from the tires.  And I know that in the next bay is a man who is chuckling about a woman trying to wash the car.  Well chuckle away, fellow.  At least my car is as clean as yours!

If it is icy on the exit side of the bay, I know I will be thrown into a slide and probably take out other vehicles in the process.  This whole process is so stressful.  When I do exit correctly and join all the other cars on their way to who knows where, I begin to breathe again.

There has got to be a better way to do this!