So today started off as hot and humid as any other day here in beautiful south Florida. It was about 85 degrees F outside when I woke up this morning, and there were a large number of white cumulonimbus clouds out west. Luckily for me, we have the AC on at night and during the day when people are hime, so it stays around 75 degrees inside during most of the day. My mother woke me up around 9:00 so that we could go to Lowes and pick up a new lawnmower (the 16 year old, 4.5HP Tecumseh has had a progressively worsening fuel leak for the past few years - easy enough to fix, but it’s time for a new one anyway) and a machete to cut the unruly high-grass in the side yard. After waiting for about 15 minutes in the garden section at Lowes, looking at the various breeds of orchids that we do not have, the lawnmower had finally been moved from it’s position on the shelf, about 15 feet overhead, onto a dolly on the ground. We packed it up, moved it home, and I cut the lawn.
In Florida, if you’ve never heard it before, there is a saying “if you don’t like the weather here, wait 5 minutes.”
I was mowing the back lawn when, all-of-a-sudden, a large raindrop splattered on my glasses. This drop was immediately followed by about 40 more, and, next thing you know, it’s full-out pouring. I bring the lawnmower around to the front of the house and into the garage - the rain stops, and the sun comes out from behind the clouds. I drink some water, clean my glasses, and head out to finish mowing the back yard with the new 6.5HP Briggs & Stratton self-propelled front-wheel-drive lawnmower (with 30% easier pull-start!). It started to rain again - a sunshower this time. It is incredibly humid here.
I had made plans the other night to go out with friend, Megan, today around noon. Plans changed; I finished my daily yard-work around 3pm, showered, and headed up to Jensen Beach to pick her up from her house. Pulling out of my driveway, though, I noticed that, even though the rain had once again let up and it was sunny again, there were large gray clouds, accompanied by grayer skies, moving north-westward - the same direction I was headed.
I could see the wall of rain approaching as I drove further north along US-1. I broke through the wall, wipers going full blast, and then it stopped as quickly as it started - and then it started again, as quickly as it had stopped.
When I finally passed the town of Stuart, where the rain had so-far been the worst, I headed over the Roosevelt Bridge into Jensen, made a right, and continued towards Megan’s house. US-1 is generally a 50-70MPH road, but today I barely reached 40. I had never driven in such a heavy downpour (I’ve been driving on my own for a bit more than 2 years), and that’s saying a lot for FL.
I pulled slowly into her neighborhood, grateful that it had stopped pouring again, I saw that her neighborhood was prone to flooding…I’d never been here after it rained, so this was a surprise. The puddle in front of me was about 130 feet long, 30 feet wide (yes, it covered the entire road and most of the people’s front yards almost up to their doors), and appeared to be about 10 inches deep, judging by the height of the water on the mailbox posts.
I slowed, even moreso, as I approached the puddle, unsure of it’s actual depth (not knowing how tall the mailbox posts usually were). I was in my ‘new’ car: a 1999 Ford Escort LX, a little 4-beater compared to my ‘old’ '97 Grand Marquis (v8). It handled the puddle the way I would imagine a snake handles a frozen pond. Halfway through the puddle I realized that the puddle was much deeper than I had anticipated. I guess it must have been ~14 inches deep, as the car stalled partway through. “Water got in through the exhaust pipe”, I said aloud to myself. “Damn.” I turned off the car since it no longer responded to my foot on the accelerator. I tried turning it on, no go; it wouldn’t turn over. I tried another time, success. I shifted into Overdrive and made it out of the puddle. Steam was coming out of the hood. Smoke was pouring out of the exhaust pipe. “Damn.” Luckily Megan’s house was only 3 houses ahead. I turned into her driveway, which was a lot harder than it sounds because the power steering had gone out…
I waited for a few minutes at her house for her to get ready, telling her parents what had just happened, and how I wished I had the Grand Marquis instead.
Leaving the neighborhood (via a different route) I noticed that the brakes weren’t working right either - I pumped them to dry them, and they worked after about a half-dozen pumps. The power-steering, however, remained funky for a while - it would work sometimes, and then it would lock up, and then it would be almost-normal, and then it would be difficult. It’s fine now, though.
So that’s pretty my adventure of the day.
If you have anything that is in anyway relevant to anything I’ve said in the last (checks) 10 or so paragraphs, post it.
-Joe
