Observations from the carwash

Just a short little story -

Today I decided enough was enough. My car was a light shade of green when it's normally silver. A large bug population had taken up their final resting place on my front bumper. The windshield was getting so bad that I had to use the washer fluid just to be able to see to drive. The Boo needed to be washed and it wasn't going to wash itself. I kept relying on the rain to take care of it... We don't need to be spending money on unnecessary things like a detail. Plus, I admire people like Mama Buck and Aunt Karen who diligently wash their cars themselves. So this afternoon, I buckle Hannah into her car seat and set off for the Jesup car wash.  As we pull up I see this sign over each "stall":

Immediately I am skeptical. First, do you notice that "0" patch over what was "5"? Second, I'm thinking 20 minutes doesn't seem like that much time. (It turns out I was right.) So before I put my 14 quarters in I read through all the 9 steps...yes, dorky, I realize. But it'd been so long since I've done a car wash myself that I thought if I read everything I will be better positioned to achieve desired results.

The steps: tire cleaner (the neon yellow spray is neat); engine cleaner (...what?); pre-soak (not exactly sure what the point of this step is); high pressure soap (my favorite step); scrub brush (most effort involved here...); rinse (which you select after several of the other steps, too); clear coat; wax; and spot-free rinse.

Here are a few things I learned:

1. The scrub brush really does not need to put out that much soap. Really.
2. The soap from said scrub brush is a ridiculously bright shade of blue.
3. The "clear coat" stage involves a spaghetti noodle-sized stream coming out of the sprayer. If I chose to stay on this option, I would have wasted most of the 20 minutes just trying to cover the whole car.
4. You have to be MOVING to get all the suggested steps done.
5. This whole ordeal was a work out. My arms were sore. My back was sore.

I really admire people that choose this route over a spiffy detail service. I understand why some people, like Joe III and Ben, choose to pay for said spiffy detail service. You really have to consider opportunity cost in this matter...

Note: This was last Wednesday. Thursday, I buckled Hannah up and went back for round 2 with Joe's car. I am crazy.

Alas, it rained all weekend.