If there’s one thing I can say for all this sorta-snow Duluth has received as of late, it’s how marvelously thoughtful said sorta-snow is to melt away almost immediately, leaving awful smudgy scummy muddy messy smears all over my little Fiat 500′s Bianca Pearla exterior! (Sarcasm level: 8 out of 10.)
Simply put: Doña Farfalle needs a bath.
Call me crazy, but the notion of the car wash has always been rather nostalgic for me. I used to treasure the rare times Mom would tote me along on this magical errand. She’d drive up on the geared track like it was a roller coaster ride, pay the man in the jumpsuit, and away we’d go! A mechanically-guided 3-5 minute tour on a straight course through a whimsical tunnel filled with bubbles and suds and thick wiggly curtains that made a delightful slapping sound on the soggy windshield, bliss! And then the NASA-powered blow dryer that polished everything to squeaky-clean perfection? It was terrifying and awesome and strange and mysterious and a thrill.
The only thing cooler than actually going to the car wash were those hot, lazy weekend days when my parents would fill up a bucket with laundry soap and warm water, hook up the garden hose, hand me a sponge and say, “Have at ‘er!” in one way or another. There was nothing like making a big soapy wet mess in the driveway with the sun beating down — and besides, this was a golden opportunity to climb on the roof of the car because hey, those parts needed to be scrubbed, too!
That said – when I think back to those special errands and driveway adventures with the family car, they almost always seem synonymous with “summer.” I can’t recall going to the car wash in the autumn or winter. Spring, maybe. But really – a car wash seems to suggest to me, “It’s summer, yippy skippy!” just the way the local swim club and ice cream cones and trips to the beach suggest summer.
That said… the idea of going to the car wash in the winter seems, well, certifiably insane.
Thoughts? Comments? This is my first car in 3 years. First car in the great Northern Midwest. Help, teach me local etiquette / standard practice. Is it typical to go to the car wash in the winter? Should I wait until the snow stops falling for an initial cleaning? All advice gratefully accepted from this humble transplant 