Half of my car got washed twice

I only really had a few things on my to-do list Friday. I absolutely wanted to have my glasses repaired and I absolutely wanted to have my car washed. After those two things were finished, I figured I'd run some errands or go do some work at Theresa's. As long as I got those two things finished, I'd call it a successful Friday.

Stop #1, Optometrist. I should have known then that the ole brain had checked out for the day, because I passed the office twice. Once, because it came up faster than I had anticipated...even though it was way farther down the road than I remembered. The second time I missed the driveway. Luckily I found a parking spot right out front. However, instead of properly backing in, I went in nose first and had to do the back, forth, back, forth a million times until I got in the spot.

Once I got inside, all was good. I handed over my glasses. They repaired, straightened, cleaned, and shined until my glasses looked new. Pretty exciting really.

With goal #1 finished. I immediately headed out to get #2 done...car wash time. The thing about Burbank is that it has a million car washes. I could have gone to any one of them and would have been finished in no time at all. However, I had camera equipment and camping gear in the back of the truck, so I didn't want to go to a car wash where they drive it though. I figured I'd just go to one of the little quickie drive thru car washes at the gas station.

Here's where my problem started. I am not a Shell gasoline girl. I know that the Shell station down the street has a car wash, but I don't want to hand my money over to them. Luckily, I remember seeing another station recently that has a car wash in it, so I start driving towards that one. Of course, I can't remember what street it was on.

I already know I'm wasting time and gas by randomly driving around looking for this mystery gas station with the car wash, but I still decide to pass the Shell station. I absolutely know that the other station is a few blocks down. So I drive on....and on...and on...and came to another gas Shell station with a car wash. Really? It can't be another Shell. I don't remember it being Shell. I could swear it was another company. So I drove around some more. I drove all over the damn place! Knowing that I did want to actually want to finish other things that day, I decided to just give in and use the Shell drive thru.

So I pulled in to get gas. I notice there was a little chaos going on in the car wash. The attendant was signalling for the car to leave the car wash, there were a million cars lining up and a lady drives out with soap on half her car. First I laugh a little...because bonehead lady..and then I think, shit, I'll be here forever if I have to wait in that line. So I decide to drive all the way back up to that other Shell station.

I pull into the station, fill up the tank, get my car wash code and pull into the car wash line. There was just one truck in front of me and he's heading into the washer. I enter my code into the machine, it's excepted, and then I wait for him to finish up. As he pulls out, I drive in. I inch forward waiting for the little red light to tell me to stop. I inch forward and forward and hit that little bump and still no red light. So I pull forward some more. I go over the bump and pull forward a little more and finally the red light comes on. The wash starts and sit back and relax for a bit...until I notice that the wash is starting way far back on my car. Shit. I had totally overshot the stopping point. So, I pop my car into reverse and roll back a bit but, I can't get back over the bump. Wet cement, spinning tires. Then an alarm starts going off. So I quick pull forward again to where I was. All is quiet again and the washing continues...on the back of my car. I am totally that boneheaded woman from the other car wash jacking things up! Now I know what she did! Here's the problem, because I am so far forward, the whole system is off. It soaps up the car and then the scrubber spinner thing is supposed to start from the back and move forward. However, it can't tell where the car is, so it just spins in place. I am hoping the three cars behind me are not noticing...right. I knew I had to do something. I had already decided there was no way in hell I was going to the attendant and tell him what an idiot I am...way too embarrassed! With the car still soapy and the spinners at a stand still, I decide I need to just get out of there! I'll just leave and say I washed my car. So, I decide to leave mid wash and shoot out of the car wash!

Only, I still can't see though any of my front windows. I have to finish getting my car washed, so I head back to the other Shell station again. I really don't want to pay for two car washes. I hate to spend that money, but I need this car washed. Then I realize I have cash. I'll just roll into the other car wash, pay cash, finish this car wash ordeal up, and hopefully Mario won't notice that I am such a dork ( I know he already knows, but I like to think he still thinks I'm a little cool) .

I pull into line at the other car wash. There is only one car in front of me in the wash. I pull up to the code machine and read the sign that says "wait for the car in front to finish washing before entering code". This was probably where I went wrong at the last car wash. Now I know. I wait patiently for the other car to pull out. I reach over to feed my $10 bill into the money machine, and only notice then that it only accepts $1 and $5. NOOOOOO!! I push the attendant call button a million times! There was no answering. Had I just looked closer at the machine while the previous car was washing, I would have had time to leave the car and run in and pay for a wash. Now, I have four cars behind me and I cannot just get out and run up to pay the attendant. I would be pissing a lot of people off. So, I decide to be nice and just drive through the car wash. This is twice today that I have driven through a car wash without getting my car cleaned!

Only this time, I park my car and run in to pay for a car wash. I get back in the car, pull around, and get back in line for the third time. I wait for the car in front to exit. I enter the code. I pull in slowly...not pulling over the bump. I finally sit back and wait for my car to get a nice full wash.

I'll be honest, that wash was over entirely too fast for all the time I spent, diving, waiting, stressing, driving, waiting, and driving more. I totally deserve it all but, at least my car is finally FINALLY clean!