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I don't know what I did to deserve this, but I had an encounter this morning with some red clay and a utility truck.
It's supposed to rain today as it did most of yesterday, the remnants of (what was) Hurricane Frances, but the temperature this morning was a fantastic 70 degrees. I took the Vette, had the windows down but left the top on. I stop to fill up the gas tank, pull out of the station and get behind some utility truck.
He's going about 10 MPH, clearly looking for a way to get off the road and meet up with his utility worker buddies standing on the side of the road on the other side of a ditch. He stops in the road to make the turn, and instead of being impatient and just passing into the oncoming traffic lane (there was no oncoming traffic) I wait it out. I stop, he turns and gets stuck in the ditch.
Right at that exact moment I'm going by. I see what is happening and I know what's next, but there is absolutely nothing I can do about it; it happened in the span of seconds. The utility truck gets stuck, spins his tires and throws Alabama red clay the size of cherry tomatoes at my Vette... with my windows down.
All I can hear is the sound of chunks of red mud hitting my car, I look inside and it's on me, the seats, the dash, the inside rear window (coupe), the cargo cover and who knows where else. Hopefully there weren't rocks in the projectile mud nuggets. I'm pizzed but the last think I'm going to do is get out of my car and get angry with a dozen 'Bama ******** of whom sum total of teeth ranged somewhere in the single digits.
When I got to work, I surveyed the damage. It looked like I had spent Labor Day weekend in an Alabama Mud Bog; whatever that is. It was so bad, I got right back in the car and went to the spray wash. It was great because no one was there, it IS supposed to rain today... again. Nothing like washing your car KNOWING it's going to get dirty in a matter of hours.
The good news is that the, usually, indelible red clay did not leave any lasting marks on the outside. I managed to get it out of the interior to a point where I won't be worried about having red leopard spot upholstery at the end of the day. I will need to perform some follow-up care as I was only able to provide initial triage to the interior. I wasn't able to spot paint chips, but then again I didn't look to closely. Last thing I want to do is see that and think about it all day. I might check it when I get home, or sometime in 2007.
That was the start of my day. Was yours as fun?
It's supposed to rain today as it did most of yesterday, the remnants of (what was) Hurricane Frances, but the temperature this morning was a fantastic 70 degrees. I took the Vette, had the windows down but left the top on. I stop to fill up the gas tank, pull out of the station and get behind some utility truck.
He's going about 10 MPH, clearly looking for a way to get off the road and meet up with his utility worker buddies standing on the side of the road on the other side of a ditch. He stops in the road to make the turn, and instead of being impatient and just passing into the oncoming traffic lane (there was no oncoming traffic) I wait it out. I stop, he turns and gets stuck in the ditch.
Right at that exact moment I'm going by. I see what is happening and I know what's next, but there is absolutely nothing I can do about it; it happened in the span of seconds. The utility truck gets stuck, spins his tires and throws Alabama red clay the size of cherry tomatoes at my Vette... with my windows down.
All I can hear is the sound of chunks of red mud hitting my car, I look inside and it's on me, the seats, the dash, the inside rear window (coupe), the cargo cover and who knows where else. Hopefully there weren't rocks in the projectile mud nuggets. I'm pizzed but the last think I'm going to do is get out of my car and get angry with a dozen 'Bama ******** of whom sum total of teeth ranged somewhere in the single digits.
When I got to work, I surveyed the damage. It looked like I had spent Labor Day weekend in an Alabama Mud Bog; whatever that is. It was so bad, I got right back in the car and went to the spray wash. It was great because no one was there, it IS supposed to rain today... again. Nothing like washing your car KNOWING it's going to get dirty in a matter of hours.
The good news is that the, usually, indelible red clay did not leave any lasting marks on the outside. I managed to get it out of the interior to a point where I won't be worried about having red leopard spot upholstery at the end of the day. I will need to perform some follow-up care as I was only able to provide initial triage to the interior. I wasn't able to spot paint chips, but then again I didn't look to closely. Last thing I want to do is see that and think about it all day. I might check it when I get home, or sometime in 2007.
That was the start of my day. Was yours as fun?
