Husband Heads to Shikoku

A few days ago, my husband set off alone on a touring trip to Shikoku. Meanwhile, my daughters and I had nothing particular to do and spent our time lazing around the house and watching foreign dramas. Since we were so bored (we probably should have done some leftover year-end cleaning if we had the time), I casually checked my husband’s social media and saw the words “I’m at the Sada Misaki Lighthouse.”

Apparently, it’s the westernmost point of Ehime Prefecture.

“Nice… I wish I could go for a drive somewhere to wrap up 2018…” I thought. At times like this, it would be great to practice driving a manual and take the Boxster out, but unfortunately, the Boxster only seats two, so “me and my two daughters” would be over capacity. Besides, the Panamera has been all muddy from recent rain and sleet, so I wasn’t keen on taking it out.

Anyway, since the Volkswagen Golf was low on gas, I took the girls out around 2 p.m. to fill up. Since we were already in the car, we decided, “How about grabbing some McDonald’s for old times’ sake?” So we ate some junk food at an odd hour, then thought, “Since we’re out, let’s hit the 100-yen store too” (at this point, I wasn’t even sure what was so special about ‘since we’re out’). We stopped by a nearby Daiso and stocked up on various things on the way back.

On a whim, I tweeted:

“Maybe I’ll take the girls to the Royu Driveway tomorrow.”

And got replies like “We’re going tomorrow too!” and “Hope we can meet up!” So, with that in mind, we decided to head to the Royu Driveway the next day.

First Time Washing the Car!

The next day, since we were going to Royu, I decided to wash the muddy Panamera first. But seeing how crowded the nearby gas station’s hand car wash was the day before, I thought, “It’s probably impossible to get a spot,” so I decided to wash it myself.

To be honest, I had never washed a car by myself before. Just as 2018 was coming to a close, I unexpectedly made my solo car wash debut, lol.

I had the girls wait inside the car and referred to a car wash article I wrote before while preparing the Kärcher pressure washer.

“Alright, first, let’s blast it with water!!” I said, grabbing what looked like a handle…

How do you even use this ((；ﾟДﾟ))!?

Since I’d never used a Kärcher before, I had no clue how to connect the various parts… “Where’s the hose? Where does this pistol-like thing attach? Where’s the end of the pipe?” I was completely lost.

I looked it up online but still couldn’t figure it out, and on top of that, it was freezing outside. I thought, “If I keep struggling with this, I’ll freeze to death!” So I reluctantly gave up on the Kärcher and just used the garden hose we had at home.

What a gentle water pressure (´∀｀)

After rinsing the car, I thought, “Maybe some of the dirt washed off. Next, I’ll use the blower to dry it off.” But looking closely, the dirt hadn’t come off at all — it just absorbed the water and floated on the surface.

No wonder with that water pressure, it didn’t work.

I thought, “Using the blower now would be pointless. In fact, wiping with a dry cloth afterward might even scratch the paint.” So,

I wiped it down with an absorbent towel while it was still wet. By this time, about 20 minutes had passed, and the girls were starting to get impatient, saying “Are we not leaving yet!?” So I gave it a quick wipe and decided to drive on the Royu Driveway to dry off the remaining moisture. Off we went.

Well, it was cleaner than doing nothing.

Off to the Royu Driveway

The weather was beautiful that day. Though the temperature was low, the sunlight was very warm. “The Royu Driveway must be nice and sunny too,” I thought as I switched to Sport mode and steadily climbed up.

However, as we neared the observation deck, signs warning “Beware of Ice” started appearing here and there.

Seriously…? (－_－)

Well, it’s true that the Royu area is usually about 5 degrees colder than the lowlands… The Panamera isn’t equipped with winter tires, and slipping on a curve would be scary, so I kept my speed down. The scenery gradually turned snowy — maybe it had snowed quite a bit the day before.

The temperature on the meter dropped steadily, and by the time we reached the observation deck, it was just 1°C, with snowflakes drifting down.

I judged that going further up from the Higashi Rokko Observation Deck might be too risky given my driving skills.

There were almost no cars at the observation deck. It was the end of the year and so cold, so that was to be expected. A bright red Ferrari showed up briefly but left shortly after.

The girls played in the snow for a while but soon started saying “It’s cold…” and took refuge inside the car. I waited a bit, thinking “Maybe someone will come by?” but didn’t want to keep the engine idling, so we headed back.

Happy New Year

In the end, we didn’t meet anyone on the Royu Driveway, but I was glad to drive the Panamera again for the first time in a while to close out 2018. Next year, I hope to drive to many more places, including the Kanto region.

Time flies — 2018 ends today. Thank you so much to everyone who read and supported this blog throughout the year. I’m filled with gratitude. I look forward to your continued support in 2019. Wishing you all a wonderful New Year.