Nine hours and forty-five minutes. Straight.

That's how long I spent yesterday trying not to hydroplane as we drove home from Virginia in the pouring rain.

Kam is now a resident of Virginia for a year, but more on our awesome trip when I get the pictures put on my computer, which might take a day or two, because getting back into reality and getting caught up from being away from reality might take a few days.

The leaving her in Virginia part was not awesome, but the rest of the trip pretty much was.

Anyway.

Kailen and I drove home through this:

  
With lots and lots of this:

And even some of this, although this picture really doesn't do it justice. It was really foggy for a bit:

As I was driving for the above-mentioned amount of time, I had a lot of time to think. In keeping with my goal to try and find the silver lining in everything, I came up with five reasons why driving in pouring rain for nine hours and forty-five minutes is a good thing.

Here you go:

#1   You get a free car wash. Over, and over, and over again. And your car kind of gets pressure washed when all the semis drive by and spray a deluge of water on your car. That is awesome, as long as your windshield wipers can quickly remove that deluge of water on your windshield. Otherwise, it's a bit scary.

#2   You don't get a nose headache from wearing your sunglasses for nine hours and forty-five minutes. I bought new sunglasses the night before, in anticipation of the sunny drive home, because I forgot my sunglasses and so I wore Kam's on the way to Virginia. (And yes, I did check the weather report a couple of days before. Note to self: check the weather report the actual day before you travel, because evidently weather can change. Daily.) Since she was staying in Virginia, she wanted her sunglasses to stay with her. Yep. Didn't wear the new sunglasses for even one second. (The nose headache is a recurring issue that stems from the broken nose I suffered the morning of my Junior Prom, which is a story for a different time, but when I wear sunglasses - any sunglasses - for any length of time I get a nose headache. That is my medical term for it.)

#3   You don't get those impressions on the sides of your nose, which are caused by wearing sunglasses, that look like you've been pinching your nose for hours.

#4  You don't get a suntan on one arm - the arm by the window - and not the other arm.

#5  You have to drive slower which gives you extra time to enjoy the scenery that you can see through the pouring rain. Okay. That one's a stretch. 

But even with the almost ten hours of straight pouring rain, we had a great trip and actually made pretty good time. Considering.