Hurricane Fun

Prologue: It has been raining heavily for four days in a row; the roads are washed out, Bay Road has collapsed.    http://sknvibes.com/News/NewsDetails.cfm/15285

We are stuck in the middle of a tropical depression with no end in sight. Please also note that I drive a '95 Suzuki Vitara SUV with four wheel drive and rain/mud/wind handling skills.


So today I received an URGENT email from campus admin. Apparently one of my 7th semester friends who is now in the US for clinics left my name as a contact for her vehicle which has not been sold. Oh by the way you must move the car from its lot TODAY. This car is a '95 lancer; a low rider vehicle affectionately called "Olive."

So I trudged over in the pouring rain to deal with this nonsense. Off campus housing rep gives me the keys and urges me to move the car since they will begin construction tomorrow (in the middle of the hurricane). I bound through the monsoon to olive, and find her with a) a flat tire and b) a dead battery. Mmmmmm.... I call security to inquire about a jump. As soon as I hang up the rain triples in intensity. The tire looks like it might at least get us to the other student parking lot.

Security arrives and we wait for the rain to slow. I'm ready to bail when they hop out and hook up wires. We jump it, it dies promptly, and then jump it twice more. I reverse 2 feet into a ditch where it sinks and dies. I hop out ready to scream and then lock the car, telling them we'll take care of this later... Bad ideas: don't jump a car in a storm, for obvious electrical reasons; just don't do it. They insist and get irritated so we jump her again and somehow I manage a 3 point turn to get us out of the dorm lot. I make it up the hill (barely b/c the tire is ready to completely blow.) and somehow get over the speed bumps and through the mud river. My plan is to turn and coast into a safe parking spot downhill. However, the access to the downhill lot has been washed away and I'm afraid I won't make it over the curb. So in a last minute panic I turn up the hill to attempt parking. This mistake becomes promptly apparent as the gravel is washing away and tight quarters from other cars are limiting our options fast. Don't forget: it's pouring rain. I crank the emergency brake and bail.

She began her day in the dorm lot where she wasn't bothering anyone; now she's teetering precariously stuck in a ditch, dead battery included, flat tire still leaking, blocking at least four other students in.

Now I am sitting in the middle of the LRC which is leaking; and this chic just came up to me and had the nerve to ask me to move my stuff (dripping clothes and sopping wet car paperwork) that have been sprawled all over the floor and chairs. Then she proceeds to type furiously while I try to salvage my afternoon of studying. It has been a bad day for olive and me.

~ lkc