More Earl

Well, Earl has been downgraded to a category 1 hurricane (at 5:00 pm) and is pretty much just going to be a heavy rain event here. I like a good storm, but I guess it's better to not have to deal with the aftermath.

Our new Rav4 leaked during the last rain & wind storm so I spent a few hours in the Toyota dealership waiting room yesterday while they ran a hose over it for a while, then put it through a car wash. There was no luck in recreating the leak, but they wanted to to keep the car through Earl and see if the leak would occur. The service manager did not have a loaner car available yesterday, so he had me return today (Friday) for a loaner and to leave our little Rav behind.

So far they have treated me very well. When I first made the call I spoke to a woman in the service department who insisted that the leak was caused by a plugged air conditioner drain. Knowing full well that this was not possible, but not wanting to sound like a stereotypical male telling the woman she had no idea what she was talking about, I told her I was on the road and had to call back when I was near my calendar in order to set up an appointment. This was not a lie.

When I called back I spoke to a gentleman and described the issue again being sure to emphasize that the car was parked during the storm and was not driven, therefore no air conditioning was used. This sunk in quickly and he had me bring it in for a water test.

So our loaner is a very nice Toyota Avalon. I drove it around a bit this afternoon and took some pre-storm digital images around Falmouth.

It was noticeably warmer and more humid. So humid in fact that when I got out of the vehicle my glasses would fog up.

Falmouth Harbor looking north. Taken near the Falmouth Yacht Club.


Nice little boat coming in to the harbor. The Clam Shack in the background all boarded up.


A closer look at The Clam Shack.


Rachel J in Famouth Harbor.
The Island Queen over the bow of Rachel J.



Falmouth Heights and The Heights Beach. Nice and calm and oh so tropical feeling. The air smelled so good here. Amazing smell of the sea.

Beach is virtually empty, but the parking lot was quite full. I would have enjoyed a stroll on the beach and maybe even a dip!

Now, at 7:30 pm, we're still waiting for the majority of what's left of the storm to get into our area. I expect heavy, rain and some windy through Saturday morning.