Jeep'n in the Rain

The rain storm this afternoon reminded me of an experience I had almost one week ago on Aug 12. I decided to get out of the house and spend the afternoon doing something other than research. So I went to State College (10 miles away) to run some errands. Typically when I stay home and do research I don't take the jeep out (actually, it's quite rare for me to do this, especially since we took the top off), but the sun was shining and I wanted to check some items off my to-do list. I was running a little behind (I was trying to get home at the same time or just before Richard) and had one last stop at the grocery store. While in the store I called Richard to tell him I was in Wegmans’ bakery trying to resist their delicious pastries. During our conversation he asked if it had been raining. I assured him there was no rain and it had been a perfectly sunny afternoon. Well, after peeling myself away from the bakery (No I didn't buy anything, but I fantasized about eating their chocolate cake and fruit tarts.) and walking outside it began to sprinkle on me. I knew Richard would be leaving work in a few minutes on the other side of town and see the same thing, so I laughed and thought of our conversation. I had just gotten on the freeway when the downpour started. I drove right into some heavy rain clouds that gave me “very little” visibility. The only solution I could think of was to pray, follow the outline of the white lines on the road–the only thing that kept me on the road—wipe the rain off the inside of my windshield, and keep going. Since we don’t exactly live in a city, I wasn't near anything I could drive to for cover, so I just kept going. After a driving few miles at 55 mph (that’s the speed limit on the road) the rain eased up a little, at least enough to give me better visibility, and I realized that I didn’t seem to be getting too wet. Until that point my biggest problem had been visibility. But just as I began slowing down to get off our exit (basically a big circle you make a 360 on) the rain drops seemed to penetrate me. Apparently, the slower you go the more wet you get! I made it off the exit and noticed some bikers hovering under the overpass. Hmmm, what were they afraid of, getting wet? Eventually you have to get to your destination and the rain didn’t look like it was going to let up anytime soon. Well, at this point I only had two miles to go, so I kept driving. As I approached the first of four stop lights it was red and I had to come to a complete stop. That was disastrous. When I stopped the rain began pelting my eyes so hard that I could barely see. At that point all I wanted to do was drive and NEVER slow down. As I approached our home all I could hope was that Richard beat me home waiting with the garage door open. Unfortunately, that was not the case so I parked the jeep outside and ran to our front door. By the time I got to the door Richard drove up with the garage door opener.

I must have been the funniest looking thing on the road. From a few honks I received I have no doubt other drivers were thinking, “What is that crazy woman doing?” The lesson I learned through all of this is that when you’re caught driving a topless jeep in the rain, drive as fast as you can and never, never stop. Too bad we didn't capture any pictures of this, I was drenched.