As I was driving around the beltway today in 5 o’clock traffic I noticed the temperature gauge in my fourteen year old car ticking higher and higher. It was miserably hot in DC today, somewhere between 95 – 100 degrees, and I feared the car might overheat, so I turned off the air conditioner and rolled down the windows. The muggy, sticky DC air sucked the last remnants of cool air out within seconds and I was left sweating in bumper to bumper traffic.
After a few minutes I couldn’t bear the heat any longer. When traffic paused I took off my left shoe, followed by my left sock. I felt a little bit better so when traffic stopped again I took off my right shoe and right sock. When I stopped again I rolled my pants up past my knees. I lifted my top to just below my bra line so my stomach could breath. My shirt was already drenched in sweat.
For a few minutes the temperature gauge continued to climb, but eventually it leveled off. I decided to continue the drive home with the windows down just to be safe. I couldn’t help but laugh at the situation. I gave up a 2000 Honda Civic for a 1994 Oldsmobile Regency Elite, because I needed a larger, more comfortable car after my surgery a few years back. As I sat in sweltering heat, drenched in sweat, I realized that although I was physically uncomfortable with the heat, I was quite comfortable in my Regency Elite.
I turned up the radio and sat half-dressed in rush hour traffic, smiling at the situation. Honestly, I would normally panic in a situation like this. I would stare at the gauge and fear the worst, but today, after I took off some clothes and settled down in my seat I actually relaxed. If the car was going to overheat, it was going to overheat. So instead of panicking I turned up the radio and took the slow drive home to Maryland. I made it all the way home without getting stranded.
Although I remained calm and happy today, I have no plans to drive my car to work again this summer. My husband and I will be swapping cars beginning tomorrow. He has a much shorter and less congested commute to work, and although I wasn’t stranded on the beltway today, I have no plans of tempting fate again. At least not for the rest of the summer.
you could have turned on your heater.. which probably wouldn’t have been much more miserable than you already were.. and it would have helped to keep your car from overheating…