No Stearing Required

So last night after work I decided to splurge $5 and get my car washed automatic style. After weeks of shitty, messy, cold, the weather here in Cleveland got its ass over freezing for a minute so I figured that even though more cold and more precipitation (and hence more salt on the road) is on the way it would be nice of me to get rid of the already existing filth funking up my ride.

I go to the car wash, get in line, pay and roll into the bay. There is a girl in front of me whose car is already riding along the track, on its way into cleaner pastures. I get lined up, drive in, put it in neutral and off I go. The soap is happening, the cloth whappers are beating against my car, the car wash magic is happening. Then there is a bit of a jolt and a thud. I figure it's just a joint in the track or something. Then it happens again. I put on my wipers to see if I can see anything and that works. The thud is actually me hitting the girl in front of me. Not hard, but hitting nevertheless. My car hits then backs off, then the next roller catches my tire and pushes for another hit. There's not a lot I can do. Brakes aren't going to help, I can't back up because there is another car there, I can't get out unless I want a soapy soaking and even then my car will keep doing what it's doing ... trapped!

After a couple more bumps, the guy running the place realizes that there is a bit of an automotive log jam happening and stops the wash. He comes walking through and notices that the girl ahead of me is sort of off the track. I think she must have been steering instead of just letting the car wash take care of everything. So she's sort of perched on the edge of the guide track. The attendant tells her that she's going to have to put her car in gear and try to slowly drive out. She puts it in gear, rolls a bit and comes off of the edge of the track. That's all good, but when her car hits the floor she hit some sort of drain which became dislodged and in went her front tire. She was stuck. She was crying.

She was there to stay until someone figured out how to lift the car a bit. There was talk of a tow truck, but none of that was my concern. I had been entertained enough. The cars behind me backed out and then I did too. I got the guy working there to rinse off the soap on my car and also got a coupon for a free wash for use some other day. So pretty much two washes for free. I guess that some low speed impacts were worth it.