Road Trip: day one

I left my camera in my car so I'll post the photos I took today tomorrow, but I was going to start out with the type of cab to avoid if you come to/live in NYC. I awoke to the media frenzy of flooding torrential rain, but when I left my apartment to go to the rental car place, it wasn't raining and I thanked God for small favors. I was trying to get a cab and they were scarce.

Typically I prefer the sedan-style cabs. Lately there's been a plethora of cabs that are like mini SUVs -- you'd think they'd be bigger inside, but they're smaller. I was standing at the corner and I felt the drops just as one of these mini-SUV cabs was coming and I thought "any port in a storm" -- Not only are they small inside, but they are hard to get into -- awkward I should say.

In fact, last week, coming home from the dentist, I let one pass me by, only to have this slight woman come running out to grab it and I watched her trying to get in and felt justified by her difficulties that this wasn't for me.

I got in the cab, barely, because there is an outside pretuberance/step, then a high door frame floor, then another step down and your feet go into this little well with a hump in the middle. I got in on the right side, and my right foot was still on the inside second step and I couldn't move it so I left it there, thinking it would be easier to get out  (it was).

During the ride, I looked at the space between the seat and the divider and imagining a 12-inch ruler, I would guess that it's about 9-10 inches.

Squished or not, I made it.

When I made this trip in January in the snow, I knew I'd be back mid-May and I imagined sunny skies, blue birds trailing my car, and me with sunglasses admiring the roadside wildflowers.

Not quite.

I went from misty rain to heavy rain to rain rain -- and there was a 10-minute period where I was truly afraid. It takes a lot for me to be physically afraid when I drive. I feel I'm a confident and calm driver, but I was in fog and then torrential rain started -- the kind where the windshield wipers can't keep up and visibility is about the end of the car. I considered stopping, but I didn't and eventually the rain let up.

Today was not as bad as my worst time -- which was driving from Chicago to Oshkosh and it was a summer thunderstormn and there was literally no visibility -- you couldn't see the front of your car; you couldn't see the road; you couldn't see anything. I still remember that, how horrible it was.

So now I'm in Somerset, PA. More tomorrow.