Snow day, in the car.

It was a day much like today; it had snowed in the morning and had warmed up enough by the early afternoon that the snow was melting.  This leaves slush all over the place, including on cars that had not been previously cleaned off.We know from previous stories that my first brand new car was a 1979 Mazda GLC wagon.  One of the first things I did to it was to have a sunroof installed.  One of those ones that flips up or can be completely removed.  I really wanted T-tops, but that would have taken way too much reconfiguration on the car, since the doors had rims around the windows. (Hmmmm, T-tops would be relatively easy on my Subaru).

Anyway, it was a day like today.  My sister and I had to go somewhere up in the Bountiful area, I do not remember where or why but it’s about a 20 minute drive on the freeway from home.  The car was covered in snow, so I had to clear it off.  I cleaned off the hood, the windows and all of the roof except for the snow in the roof rack.  After all, it won’t block my view at all.After the car warmed up it was time to open the sunroof.  Anyone who drives with me knows that even in the coldest weather I have at least one window cracked for fresh air.  My theory is that the heater has two levels; off and full heat, full blast.  The rest of the temperature regulation is done with the windows.  So we’re driving up to Bountiful with the heater on, the sunroof flipped open and a roof rack full of slush.

We get our exit, one of Utah’s notorious short exit ramps, and I have to come to a quick stop at the light.  The slush doesn’t.  A two and a half foot by four foot, 2'” thick slab of slush comes sliding right through the sunroof onto our laps.  (That’s over 12 gallons or 47 litres).

To this day I never leave without cleaning the snow out of the roof rack, if the car has one.