Doin' the Moho Slalom

I got the tow pins tonight. All I will say about that is that I'm surprised that I'm surprised about how that went down.

Anyhoo, I arrived at Miranda's parking spot for the last time around 7. I took perhaps fifteen minutes to unload boxes and empty as many of them as I could.

Then, I looked for the magic battery button, but I don't seem to have one, so I positioned Pommette for a boost. Once I got Miranda going, I manoeuvred her into place for hooking up the toad behind her.

Hooking up was surprisingly easy!

My tow bar is a Blue Ox Aventa II. I would have bought an Aladdin, which is a high end model suitable for towing a small car, but much cheaper than the Aventa II. The Aventa II, also a high end model, could probably tow a Hummer. It's really huge and heavy, but I like knowing that I could upgrade Pommette to a pickup or SVU one day and still have a tow bar I can use.

The Aventa II is a self-aligning bar. I can't figure out what's 'self-aligning' about it, but I can say that I was completely hooked up, safety cables and all, in less than 20 minutes. The hardest part was getting the toad lined up perfectly with the coach and at the correct distance. Then, it was just a matter of attaching safety cables and electrical wires. I figured out the wiring on my own. As it turns out, I had to open a thingy under the rig, push in another thingamabob, and then plug the cable into the thingamabob. I'd seen the thingamabob in the rear pass through and had offhandedly guessed that it was part of the towing system, so I was already one step ahead of the game when I couldn't find a skinny rectangular outlet for the wire.

I'm surprised by how easy it was to hook up the car on my own. There is no way I could have done that with a traditional 'fixed' tow bar, the kind with a ball coupler. The only thing I wasn't able to do was confirm that the brake lights were working on the toad, but since the turn signals were, I didn't worry.

Then off we went, the very picture of freedom and the antithesis of the current economic climate, LOL!

The drive back to Ottawa was very emotional. I was pretty sure it would be my last time driving up the 416 into a beautiful orange sunset and watching the pastoral landscape slowly become the skyline of the adopted city I will always consider to be my hometown. For all that's found, something else is lost....

I let Majel the GPS pick the best route to the garage where I would drop off Miranda. She had me go down a narrow residential street that had cars parked down it. The parkers were smart and alternated which side of the road they were on, so I was able to take a serpentine route all the way down. Maybe I'm just tired, but I really got a kick out of doing the moho slalom.

Towing was a piece of cake. It really helps that I could see the car in the backup camera monitor, as well as all the connections. I didn't notice much of a difference when stopping and starting, even on hills.

I feel positively drained and have to keep reminding myself that this time next week, the first day of my adventure will be just about behind me.

Removing Tar From a Car

When I was out and about on Saturday, I noticed a long scratch down the passenger's door of my car. Disgruntled, I examined it more closely and realised that it was actually a streak of something that I could flick away with my fingernail.

I suddenly remembered that when I got back to Mr. Wonderful's street on Thursday to pick up Pommette, the owner of the house in front of which she was parked was tarring his driveway....

My heart in my throat, I took a closer look at the car and realised that the whole passenger side, windshield, front, and part of the driver's side was flecked with tar. I hadn't noticed because of the way she's parked at home. Yes, I'd noticed that the windshield was messy, but didn't really think that much of it.

At any rate, I was pissed off about how much money and time I was going to have to spend to clean up the car.

I got home, did some Googling and came up with a list of possible solutions, from the supposedly undamaging to the 'definitely works, but you'll strip the finish and need rewax the car.'

Tonight, I finally had a half hour to kill to try out these solutions and figure out how much time it was going to take to clean the car completely.

Twenty-five minutes later, I had a shiny, non-damaged, and clean car.

The answer to tar on your car is...

Baking soda!!!

I sprayed the car with water, then sprinkled baking soda all over. I used a raggedy wash cloth to rub away all the tar. Minimum elbow grease was needed. When I was done, I used the hose to rinse the baking soda from the car.

I didn't even get dirty. Or wet.

*heaves a huge sigh of relief*