When we were getting close to Cape, I told Friend Jan, “The Cape bridge is really pretty at night. You might want to be ready to shoot a photo when we get closer.”
She started waving her cellphone around, making little squeals of what I hope were pleasure.
I had already called Mother to tell her we were about home and asking her if she wanted us to pick up anything from Hamburger Express. She did.
I had just made the right turn at River Campus to go work my way down William when Jan hollered “STOP!! Turn around! Look at the moon!”
She used up a whole day’s worth of exclamation points in 12 seconds.
So, minutes after entering Missouri, we were exiting Missouri, to go back into Illinois to go back to Missouri. You can see how this has been a long trip.
Day started off with ice
We spent too much time sightseeing on Thursday (pictures to come) to make it all the way from Athens, Ohio, to Cape in one shot, so we stopped on the west side of Louisville. The weather report didn’t look good, so I wanted to be on the west side of town so we wouldn’t hit morning rush hour and snow at the same time.
When I went to load the car, my head and feet almost swapped places. The whole parking lot was a shiny sheet of ice. I’ve never seen an ice sheen that perfectly smooth. The whole car was coated, too. It was time to give Jan a new experience: ice removal.
I handed her a can of spray deicer and a scraper and told her to have at it.
She handled that spray can like a well-trained riot cop with Mace.
“You need a smaller car”
When it came time for the scraping, she said, “You need a smaller car. I can’t reach all the way to the middle.”
“No, I need a taller passenger.”
That’s when I came clean: “The deicer speeds the process up, but the car’s defroster would have had the windshield warm enough for the wipers to slide the ice off,” I explained.
I should have waited until she put the can of deicer down before I broke that news.
You can tell you live in Florida. A credit card might have worked better than that teeny tiny scraper you gave her. Man up and buy her a big honk’in one!
Do you think I’d trust somebody like Jan with my credit card? That’s crazy talk.
Besides, I wasn’t sure we’d run into snow and ice when I bought the deicer and scraper. I figured I’d leave the spray with Mother, but she already has a manly scraper (and she’d mock this one like you and Madeline did).
Ken, I recommend that you lose that scraper with the metal blade; it may irreparably scratch your windshield. We have had customers do just that thing to brand new vehicles and then try to claim the windshield glass is soft. For best results against ice, frost, bugs, and ultimately rain drops I very strongly recommend Rain-X windshield treatment. If the windshield is just barely above 32F, the ice will sheet off in almost one piece. Never mind how much better you can see in rainstorms; and I know you encounter them much more in Florida than ice.
No way in the world would I turn Norris loose with a sharp metal object. It was plastic through and through.
I always apply a good coating of Rain-X to my windshield before taking off on a long trip. Greatest stuff in the world.
The windshield was nowhere CLOSE to 32 degrees, unfortunately. We’d have thought that was beach weather.
The trip back over the bridge was worth it, Ken. That moon photo is fantastic!!
As for the ice scraper…pathetic! You’ve lived in Missouri before: You should know better!
You do know they make scrapers with longer handles! LOL! Following the two of you navigating winter weather has been a hoot! I am glad, however, that you are safely in CG. No amount of experience helps any person drive when everything is covered in ice.
Which one of you are making plane reservations for the trip back to Florida?
I’m the one jetting back to Florida – again, by choice. I have a sort of new grandson I miss dreadfully, and real work to do.
Winter weather has been an experience – even for Steinie. He’s been out of it just that long – and was wishing he were the one with long underwear just the other day. I was very thankful LIla Steinhoff gave me all her winter clothes. I hope she doesn’t need the ones I’ve picked up to add to her stash – woe if she does!
In case you hadn’t read my Facebook posts, I am voluntarily here. To experience winter weather. As for riding with Steinhoff, we’ve done it before on both two and four wheels, so I knew quite well what I was in for. The weather – not so much! I would have paid to see his face, however, when he walked out to the car on ice, especially since just 1/2 an hour earlier, he threw me the keys so I could drive to get coffee. I came back saying it was probably a bad idea….I would have been buying a whole new ratty van.
Ken,
Could have used those lights in November of 72.
Bars closed in Cape. Headed for the Purple Crackle.
Didn’t make it. Still don’t know who hit me. Life went
on and I came back in 73. Couldn’t stay away from the Cape