Opus
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This is a long one, so if you're allergic to reading this isn't for you.
I needed to take Mrs. Opus' Jeep into the dealer to have them look at some paint bubbles. As it turned out the body guy found some that I didn't catch. The plan now is to take it in in the spring to get them fixed before the 5 year corrosion warranty expires in June. This meant that I had both Jeeps at home today when it was time to pick Mrs. Opus up from work. Hmmm. Decisions... decisions. Take the four-door with the hard top and A/C. Orrrrr... under a heat advisory, take the two-door with the soft top, tube doors, no windows and feel the wind in what used to be my hair.
I checked the weather apps and the local radar before I left. A chance of thunderstorms later this evening but otherwise just hot and humid. Believe it or not, the corn in Flatlandia sweats as it grows and adds to the humidity.
Anywho. I, of course, decided to take the two-door. I got to Mrs. Opus' work at 4:00. She was scheduled to get off work at 4:15. As I'm sitting there in the parking lot I'm seeing a darker cloud rolling overhead. But I could see patches of blue sky all around. What I didn't put together at the time was that where I parked I was behind the building which obstructed my view southwest... the direction where the cloud was rolling in.
Then, I saw lightning and heard the first roll of thunder. Now, at this point a smart man would have gotten out of the Jeep, put on the rain cover purchased for just this kind of situation, and gone into Mrs. Opus' workplace to wait out whatever rain might be coming. But, if you've read any of my contributions to this forum you know "smart" isn't the first adjective that leaps to mind in describing me. I looked at my watch and it was now 4:05. 'She'll be out in 10 minutes and it's not even raining,' I thought.
At 4:10 I'm still just getting an occasional bolt of lightning and some low rumbles. Not a single drop of rain. Only 5 minutes and we're out of here.
At 4:14 (I know because I was watching my watch, counting the minutes) the sky opened up with torrential rain and a sudden gust of wind blowing that rain straight though the driver's side tube-door. I got out as quickly as I could and grabbed the rain cover and started trying to put it on. My wife, bless her, came out to help but in the midst of the deluge we somehow managed to put the cover on sideways before we went inside.
In the amount of time it took to put that cover on I was soaked completely through to my skin. But once I realized that the cover was on wrong I had to go back out (by myself this time, 'cuz once you're soaked through what does it matter...) and turn it around the right way because I had no idea how much longer the rain was going to last.
That was pretty much all I could do at that point. It pissed rain for another 10 minutes or so before it started tapering off. We waited for it to stop and the sky overhead to clear before we went out to take off the cover.
There was some standing water in the floorboards but the Weathertech liners kept it in place. The tub I have in the back of the Jeep had standing water in it as well. There was some water on the dash, but it didn't look too wet. The seats were damp but not soaked.
The Jeep fired right up and we drove home slowly as we were now chasing the storm and didn't want to drive back into it. At home I sopped up all the standing liquid and opened all the bags and containers that got wet to let them air out. I spread out the rain cover in the garage to let it dry too.
Assuming things do dry out before they get musty, no lasting harm done. It would have been much worse if I didn't have that rain cover. Even sideways it kept a lot of rain from getting in.
So, what's the moral of the story? If you've got the gear... use it. And gamble with Mother Nature at your peril.
I needed to take Mrs. Opus' Jeep into the dealer to have them look at some paint bubbles. As it turned out the body guy found some that I didn't catch. The plan now is to take it in in the spring to get them fixed before the 5 year corrosion warranty expires in June. This meant that I had both Jeeps at home today when it was time to pick Mrs. Opus up from work. Hmmm. Decisions... decisions. Take the four-door with the hard top and A/C. Orrrrr... under a heat advisory, take the two-door with the soft top, tube doors, no windows and feel the wind in what used to be my hair.
I checked the weather apps and the local radar before I left. A chance of thunderstorms later this evening but otherwise just hot and humid. Believe it or not, the corn in Flatlandia sweats as it grows and adds to the humidity.
Anywho. I, of course, decided to take the two-door. I got to Mrs. Opus' work at 4:00. She was scheduled to get off work at 4:15. As I'm sitting there in the parking lot I'm seeing a darker cloud rolling overhead. But I could see patches of blue sky all around. What I didn't put together at the time was that where I parked I was behind the building which obstructed my view southwest... the direction where the cloud was rolling in.
Then, I saw lightning and heard the first roll of thunder. Now, at this point a smart man would have gotten out of the Jeep, put on the rain cover purchased for just this kind of situation, and gone into Mrs. Opus' workplace to wait out whatever rain might be coming. But, if you've read any of my contributions to this forum you know "smart" isn't the first adjective that leaps to mind in describing me. I looked at my watch and it was now 4:05. 'She'll be out in 10 minutes and it's not even raining,' I thought.
At 4:10 I'm still just getting an occasional bolt of lightning and some low rumbles. Not a single drop of rain. Only 5 minutes and we're out of here.
At 4:14 (I know because I was watching my watch, counting the minutes) the sky opened up with torrential rain and a sudden gust of wind blowing that rain straight though the driver's side tube-door. I got out as quickly as I could and grabbed the rain cover and started trying to put it on. My wife, bless her, came out to help but in the midst of the deluge we somehow managed to put the cover on sideways before we went inside.
In the amount of time it took to put that cover on I was soaked completely through to my skin. But once I realized that the cover was on wrong I had to go back out (by myself this time, 'cuz once you're soaked through what does it matter...) and turn it around the right way because I had no idea how much longer the rain was going to last.
That was pretty much all I could do at that point. It pissed rain for another 10 minutes or so before it started tapering off. We waited for it to stop and the sky overhead to clear before we went out to take off the cover.
There was some standing water in the floorboards but the Weathertech liners kept it in place. The tub I have in the back of the Jeep had standing water in it as well. There was some water on the dash, but it didn't look too wet. The seats were damp but not soaked.
The Jeep fired right up and we drove home slowly as we were now chasing the storm and didn't want to drive back into it. At home I sopped up all the standing liquid and opened all the bags and containers that got wet to let them air out. I spread out the rain cover in the garage to let it dry too.
Assuming things do dry out before they get musty, no lasting harm done. It would have been much worse if I didn't have that rain cover. Even sideways it kept a lot of rain from getting in.
So, what's the moral of the story? If you've got the gear... use it. And gamble with Mother Nature at your peril.
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