Driving (in the) Rain

Today's thunderstorm reminded me of an incident about 18 years ago.

At the time, I was living in Denton and working at Chili's in Carrollton.  That day, it was raining very hard as I drove to work.  I was driving a '79 RX-7.

I was coming up on the bridge over the lake just as I was catching up with another car.  Just about the time my front bumper was even with his rear tire, we hit a huge puddle of water.  His tires kicked up a continuous wave of water that crashed over my windshield.  I was completely blind.

Then, I felt my Tiny Japanese Mobile Coffin lift, and the steering wheel went slack.  I was hydroplaning.  Luckily, I recognized it immediately.

Unfortunately, it felt like my car was drifting to the right a little.  The car that was still blinding me was to my right.  And I think we were overlapped, a little.

I moved the steering wheel less than an inch to the left.  And I pushed in the clutch.  Man, I was glad I was driving a manual just then.

And then I just waited.

There was nothing more I could do.  I just waited to see what would happen.  Was I going to keep drifting until I contacted the other car?  Was he hydroplaning, too?  Would he/she/it freak out and wipe out into me?

A week and a half later (it was probably two seconds, total) the deluge from the other car subsided.  My car lost enough speed to settle back onto the road.  I made it into work without further incident.

It was mildly exciting.  And, if I'm allowed to toot my own horn, I was pretty proud of myself for keeping my cool and handling the car properly.

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