Dodging Raindrops

This week's Mythbusters episode dealt with whether it is possible to stay dry in a convertible in the rain by driving fast. I could have saved them a lot of time and effort (and saved a very nice Porsche from a wet interior). I conducted that experiment under real-world conditions, and can conclude that the myth is confirmed.

Dad and I contrived a plan to drive his convertible (the sadly departed M Roadster) from LA to Oregon a few years ago. Our plan was to drop the top and take the spectacular coast roads all the way up. After going as far as Santa Barbara the first evening after work, we awoke to rainy skies. Not ones to let a little precipitation get in the way of our plans, we set off for points north with the convertible top stowed behind us and jackets zipped up to our chins. I can only imagine what people bundled up in their SUVs thought of us as we scooted past them in our open roadster in a driving rainstorm, but we stayed remarkably dry. A little water curled in the side, soaking our outboard shoulders, but otherwise the rain stayed away from the cockpit.

As long as we kept at speed on the freeway.

Everything changed when we pulled off in Pismo Beach for breakfast. At a stoplight at the end of the freeway exit, we got more wet in ten seconds than we had in the prior ninety minutes. Despite our clever use of aerodynamics to keep us dry and yet enjoy the outdoors for well over an hour, we still dragged into Marie Callendar's looking exactly like what most people would think someone would look like who didn't have enough sense to put the convertible top up in a rainstorm. What they didn't know is that nearly all of that soaking happened in the couple of minutes since we had pulled off the freeway. If we had managed to keep driving until we got out of the storm, nobody would have been able to tell that we had driven for miles though rain without a roof over our heads.

Best road trip I ever took.