December 6, 2018

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I came home from KC on Dec. 6.

I haven't any pics of the most-of-an-inch of snow I brushed off the car before I left.  At least I'd checked before I left the rental place to make sure there was a scraper.....  And it was easy to brush off.  No prob.

I also haven't any pics of my windshield, which got dirtier and dirtier as I drove to the airport.  The washer didn't work, which, I assumed, meant its reservoir was empty.  I stopped at a QuickTrip and bought a gallon of washer fluid.  I opened up the hood, and the thing that looked like it had a windshield-washer symbol also looked like it had had orange fluid in it, rather than the blue I'd purchased.  I didn't know if that was ok or not, so I went back in.  A nice young QT employee came out and agreed with me that was where the stuff was supposed to go, and put it in for me.  I left the rest of the washer fluid with him, because what was I going to do with it???

Unfortunately, that didn't help one bit.  The wipers would go, but nothing came out.......  So I went on to the airport, with the windshield getting dirtier and dirtier.

At one point, a truck's tires pitched a whole bunch of water up onto the windshield, which was cleaner than the windshield, and I had a temporary reprieve from the very dirty windshield.

(It was weird to look in the mirrors -- the views they showed me were perfectly clear, while the windshield was noticeably obscured.  The contrast between clear/not-clear/clear was odd.)

I made it to the airport safely.  Luckily there was very little traffic for the second half of the trip.  And it got warm enough and dry enough that, at some point, no more crud was kicked up on to the windshield.  (I kept trying the washer, in case it had been frozen -- in addition to being dead empty -- but it never did work, even after driving all the way to the airport.)

I intended to wash the windshield after I got to the gas station at the airport, but their little bins of washing fluid (water?) were frozen solid.  I had some water to drink in the car, so I threw that on the window and ran the wipers.........

I gave Hertz a piece of my mind, and got some money back on what I'd spent on the car, and they gave me a personal ride to the terminal (in that same vehicle).

At least I had PLENTY of time -- I'd decided I'd rather be twiddling my thumbs at the airport than at my brother and sister-in-law's, so I had plenty of time, despite the 20 min or so I ended up spending on the QuickTrip detour.  I was aggravated by the no-good washer, but not concerned about having enough time at the airport.


You can bet your bippy I will never again drive a rental car off the lot without making sure the windshield washer works!!!   !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Sheesh.



[cleansing breath]

We'll pick up with my first picture of the day.  Fancy floor at Kansas City International Airport.

I had plenty of time to walk to both ends of the terminal building.  The overcast morning turned into a blue-sky partly-cloudy day.

Airport carpet.  I like that the red loops are bigger than the others....

More fancy floor.  They are going to replace this airport.  I understand the impetus, but am sorry to see it go.  It was an incredibly good design for a very short time before the hijackers starting making everything more difficult for everyone.  Dirtbags...............

The floors are very fancy in many (most?) places, and they have held up really well since 1972......

Adventure-cat socks.

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