It feels great to be able to talk about my car when I mention car-related things. Today was hot and sticky. I was getting alternately overheated and chilled inside. I got hot the moment I walked outside, even with clouds; the air holds the heat when it's damp.

I drove to the mall with the air conditioning on full blast. I try to avoid that, because it takes a lot of power that could be staying in my gas tank, but I did not want to overheat and fry. I was still pink and sweating after obtaining the birthday gift. Then I drove out to Mesa.

The roads were surprisingly clear, so I was able to maintain a decent speed. But once I got close to Mesa, the wind kicked in. ("How many laws did you break?" Darkside wanted to know. "I wouldn't say break," I hedged. "Bent?" he suggested helpfully. "I wasn't driving as fast as your dad! The wind--" "--Had already knocked them over for you, I see." (And in strict point of fact, I had been maintaining pace with the rest of traffic, and had gone slower than many people due to the fact that the wind was bouncing poor Gemini around.))

It turns out that a dust storm with sporadic spurts of rain turns the windshield into a mud storm. Dry + poor ground cover/construction/buildup of dirt, dust, and litter on the roads = dust. Dust + wind = dust storm. Dust storm with not enough water to damp the dust down = mud storm.

I half wanted to stay out there in it.

There was a reasonable amount of stormclouds and general raininess on Friday night, and my camera and I went outside at the end of break. The series of photos starts here.