Tag: driving

In Synch

In 1980, singer Eddie Rabbitt had quite a few country cross-over hits. One of them was Drivin’ My Life Away. One of my favorite lines in that song is:

“Those windshield wipers slappin’ out a tempo,
Keepin’ perfect rhythm with the song on the radio,
But I got to keep rollin’“

In all the years I have been driving, I’ve never really experienced such a phenomena. I spend a lot of time on the road. Weather conditions often require the windshield wipers to be on during my drive. Sure, every now and then the tempo of a song and the wipers have been close – but never in synch with each other. If it had, I never really noticed. Finally, tonight it happened!

The drive in was absolutely awful. Temperatures were in the upper 20’s. North of us, they were getting hit with snow. Near me, it was freezing rain and drizzle. The roads were icy and I knew I’d have to leave earlier than normal. As I headed out, those icy conditions were very apparent.

The freezing rain, drizzle, and rain continued all the way to work. I had to have the heat blowing on the windshield the entire way in because if I didn’t it was freezing to it. I also had to bump the wiper speed from “intermittent” to “low” to keep a clear view. Because of this, everything fell “in synch.”

I had finished listening to a book on tape, and switched over to Sirius XM Symphony Hall in hopes that some classical music would keep me calm and focused on the drive in. They were playing a symphony or a sonata from Joseph Haydn. I don’t know that I ever heard it before. I can’t recall the name of it. It was either in 6/8 or 3/4 time. It was almost “waltz” sounding.

As I listened to the wipers slapping back and forth against the ice and rain, I noticed it had a “1-2-3, 1-2-3” feel to it. The first beat as the wiper raised, the second as it reached the top, and the third as it rested back at the bottom. It then became very clear as I listened to the wipers that the Haydn piece was totally in synch with them. It is the silliest thing, but I actually got excited and even more into the piece! Immediately, the words of Eddie Rabbitt came to mind.

I drove and listened to the remainder of this song in perfect time with my windshield wipers and the whole time I was giddy as a kid in a candy store. Ridiculous, right? Maybe, but sometimes you need something so silly and so simple to put you in a good mood.

Where Am I Going?!

Yesterday I took the kids to a birthday party for a co-worker’s daughter. She lives about 40-45 minutes from me. I punched the address into the GPS and it told me where to go.

My co-worker sent me a text saying to look for the pink and purple balloons on the mailbox on the side of the road. As we got closer, I saw a sign with “Summer’s Birthday” at the side of the road. This was not my co-worker’s daughters name, so I ignored it.

Immediately after the sign, I saw a mailbox with pink and purple balloons. I looked at the GPS and it said I still had a 1/4 mile before I’d reach her house. I kept driving. When I got to where the GPS said the house was….there were no balloons and the address was way off.

I turned around and sure enough the pink and purple balloons were her house. And the other party? It was next door. My co-worker and I laughed about the GPS and she said in some cases, when you get to the wrong destination, the GPS shows a picture of an ATM!

Ella and AJ had a blast at the party and made new friends. Sam had asked to for us to be home before she left for work so she could see them. As I walked to the car, it started to pour rain. I rushed the kids to the car and strapped them in their car seats as the rain soaked me to the bone.

Once inside, I wiped the rain off my face and punched in the home address into the GPS. As I drove, the rain was so hard I had the wipers on high. I could barely see where I was going.

I called Sam, who had texted to see how things were, and told her we’d be there before she left because of the ETA on the GPS. I hung up and tried to see the on ramp to the expressway.

I followed the GPS instructions and when I got on the expressway the GPS lost signal. Bad area, obviously. So I kept driving. When the GPS kicked back in it kept telling me it was rerouting. The ETA also changed. I figured maybe an accident was causing us to get home later.

I texted Sam and said that’s a GPS was now saying I would be home much later than it did originally and for her not to wait for us. I continued driving and the GPS continued to reroute.

Finally, about 30 minutes later I was looking at the exit signs and thought, “What road is this?!” “Where am I?!” It was then that I noticed the Interstate sign said I was going East instead of West!

I had literally driven 40-50 miles in the wrong direction! What an idiot!!!

I should have been home by 5:30, but didn’t pull in the driveway until 6:40! Every time that GPS told me to turn around, I should have listened. I was sure it was wrong…

That’s what I get for being so stubborn.