Driving a Tent on the Highway

First, a little language lesson. In "British" the top is called the hood. The part that lifts up to reveal the engine ("hood" in Americanish) is the bonnet. The trunk is the boot. Got that straight? Hood, bonnet, boot. That said, it's kind of fun driving with the hood up. In cold weather it only takes a few minutes to get the inside toasty warm, and it's a little like driving a tent around. And who doesn't like tents?

The inside of the car is hermetically sealed from the elements
by the hood and the side screen, except for a "minor" two-inch gap.

After a few weeks of this I couldn't stand keeping the fun all to myself and arranged to take a half day so that Shelly and I could go out on a little lunch date in the car. It had been a little while since she'd been in it and I was excited to show her how much better the shaking was with the bad tire swapped off the car. We took off for our favorite Mexican place about 20 minutes away, 10 of them on the highway.

 A better shot of the gap. I do not even want to guess how two bird poop spots
 wound up on the inside of the hood but I'm glad I wasn't in the car at the time.

As we took off and were talking, I began to realize how loud it is in the car. It's much louder with the hood up than it is with it down. The engine noise is much more noticeable, and the wind buffeting the fabric of the hood causes you to have a pretty loud conversation even on local roads. As we got up to speed on the highway though it felt silly to try to say anything that wasn't strictly necessary. Tents are great, but there is a reason no one drives a tent on the highway. Shelly's a good sport and played along. She already knew I am crazy - this just provided more detail on the extent of my diagnosis.

Our lunch was great and we took off for home. I wanted to turn the heat up, but had forgotten that the wire had just broken off to the heater motor, so we didn't get much warmth. Unfortunately, Shelly is (and I swear I am not making this up) actually allergic to cold. Of course it was a particularly gusty day and part way home the flap that is supposed to be inside the car got sucked out into the breeze on her side and that didn't help much.  She held it in place for a little while but gave up up rather than freezing a finger off. I need to batten down the hatches on that side a bit - some of the staples and trim screws have come loose allowing that to happen. I think this was the ride in which she started using the phrase "every time you drive the car something new breaks".  I'm sure she means that in a loving way. Maybe when Spring rolls around she'll get in the car again and all will be forgiven.