Who else has perfected washing your rig in the middle of the night?

Seems I have done this multiple times now lol.

 

I live far from the off roading area get home late and it's dark.

 

I do too! But in my defense, it wasn’t the middle of the night when I started!

 

During daytime we humans are interrupted constantly and over time even those with the strongest focus will fade. Therefore we sleep, eat, wash truck, read forums best at night. Daytime is when society asks you to conform.

 

Maintenance/operation time varies with work sometimes.

We rotated shifts when I worked in the coalmine and in the foundry, daylight, midnight, afternoon.

So hamburgers and beer @ 0830 were legit after the hoot-owl, just as finishing an afternoon shift at midnight called for closing bars @ 0200, hitting an after hours club until 0400, sleeping until 1300 then having bacon, eggs and biscuits.

One old biddy went to my mother and said, "Your boy drinks a lot. I saw his truck outside The High Ceiling at a quarter till nine this morning"...

Mom just threw back that shot of Old Overholt and didn't even remove the Chesterfield from her mouth before she told that nosy old bag to kiss her ass...

 

I use one of my garage bays for night/winter washing. It's lit, warmer, and no bugs

 

@UncleShorty your poetic reminiscence takes me back to the glory days - the day’s filming wrapping at 3 in the morning, showing up at Jay’s JayBurger* at 4 a.m., to run into a company of firefighters fresh off a call, and have them inquire about the 150 yards of wet firehose in the back of our pickup, while we all hoisted burgers to our mouths - double bacon chili cheeseburger, with egg. What a monster. With that thing in your gut it was a sure thing you’d sleep soundly even though the birds would have started chirping by the time your head hit the pillow.

*Jay’s JayBurger. A primary combatant in the fabled decades-long L.A. burger wars of the ‘70’s and ‘80’s. Fought by a tenacious group of proprietors of small family-owned one-off corner burger stands. All vying to have the tastiest burger, the most sumptuous chili. Jay’s, Tommy’s, Jack’s Classic, Pinks, Tail o’ the Pup, heck, I’ll throw in Carney’s too even though it operates out of a railroad car instead of a corner stand. Those were the days.
​

In the wee hours it’s always easy to find an open bay at the coin-op car wash.

 

I would if I had a wash bay.

 

I can't say I've perfected the late-night car wash, but I sure have done it. Usually it's getting a rental car halfway presentable to avoid extra charges between hiking out and an early morning departure. A couple times it was the same thing, but for a work trip.

 

I try to find a coin-op car wash close to the off-roading area. Then I run through an automatic touchless wash close to home.

 

I like to wash just before dark, preferably when the sun gets below our trees. Keeps things from drying so quick. Then pull it into the garage to dry and do a quick speed wax.

Early morning works too, before the sun peeks over the roof of the house.

 

Me too.
I use the early morning shade from my tall workshop then hustle it back to the garage to shammy and sometimes wax.

 

Ha, you understand! My wife thinks I'm a goober for being so particular about it.

 

Interesting. I thought maybe it had something to do with not wanting to wash it in the hot sun.

I also tend to get home from trail runs late in the evening. When it's too late to wash the car, I park it and go to bed and deal with it later.

 

I watch the weather report!

When it rains, it gets washed!

 

​

Thanks. Didn't know that bit of history. I know a couple older people who seemed to have really loved Tommy's in the past. I can imagine Tommy's was better in the past. That being said I can't wait to go do some early morning eating and washing

 

Tommy's varies by location. Took my wife to Tommy's (Rampart Street location) for our first date (told her not to get the chili on the truck!). The Monrovia location was a regular stop when I was radio-tracking my bears in grad school. The Barstow location is a regular stop on our annual trips down south (brother lives in Apple Valley) as is Philippe's French dip!

 

BTW: The Barstow Tommy's wasn't up to par (still GOOD!) but the chili fries were dynamite!

 

Only time i did this was just before a heavy evening/night rain. Soaped it up, rained all night and dried it off in the AM.