My first Dodge Ram had chrome wheels. I loved them. I washed that truck every weekend, sprayed Armorall on my tires, and then buffed the crome to a radiant shine with a towel. Every weekend.
A friend of mine who was the building superintendent at our church (he's black so it's okay to quote him...) said to me, "You keep yo' truck cleaner than any brotha' I know." He had ordered a case of some sort of high-powered plastic and vinyl shine solvent for use around the church...about 25 times more powerful than armorall...and I used it on my bumper, mirrors, and trim until I finally ran out of it.
That trend pretty well stayed true through PA school in Lexington. I lived in an apartment complex, so I didn't have space or a water supply to do it by hand. There was an amazing automatic carwash with the big swinging spongy things for $5. And they had the kind of drying system that didn't push you through or time out...you could creep thru as slowly as was required to blow off all of the air. Add to that the fact that they gave you a stack of disposable shamois, and you could get every drop off by hand within seconds. It was HEAVEN.
If it rained within 48 hours, you got to come thru again for free. So my x-terra stayed clean all the time.
When I worked for the car dealership, I could take my own car thru their wash bay any time I wanted. And I could use the detail shop for the tires, vaccum, etc. So I would alternate taking my car and Jenny's car, and they always stayed clean.
Then came Waco, and grad school combined with teaching part time, and church activities. I began to slip. The cars were usually clean inside, but might not be sparkling on the outside. We had a garage, so they weren't terrible, but they weren't exactly perfect. But still, when I washed them, it wasn't just a wash. It was vaccuming. Windex-ing the windows inside and out. Polishing the rims. Using Resolve on the floor mats and carpet. Wiping down the dash with a pledge grab-it to get off all the dust, then armoralling, then rewiping with the grab-it to get any trace of remaining dust.
I would usually have Bailey out on the driveway with me while I washed them, and he would play in the water. I would finish off the day by hosing and scrubbing him down, so I killed two birds with the proverbial single stone.
The two months I spent as a house-husband in Little Rock before I came on staff at Calvary provided me ample time to keep up with the cars. I would even drive over and pick up Jenny's mom's car while she was at work and clean it for her.
So, having told you all of that, imagine what a big step it is for me to own up to the following images of utter defeat and complete disgrace...
There just aren't enough hours in the day...
