A Long Night
...of sleeping in the car with my Great Dane
At an interstate off-ramp on the outskirts of Savannah, Georgia, is a Mobil gas station. Behind the station was a dirt road cut as the beginning of a residential subdivision. It was like most days in the middle of summer in the deep south, hot and humid. My Great Dane, Thor, rode in the back of my Toyota Celica Convertible. We were crammed in with the remnants of my house. Which wasn’t much, but after all was a sports car. As night fell we pulled out of the station. Drove down the dirt road without headlights around a curve and tried to get some sleep.
Within a half an hour I could tell it was going to be a very long night. The mosquitoes were in a feeding frenzy. Savannah is pretty much a swamp. I dosed the dog and myself with one hundred percent DEET. Leaving a nasty chemical taste in both our mouths. We settled back and tried to sleep. Thor with his head right next to mine panting heavily trying to shed his heat. Mostly directly into my ear which was very annoying and not conducive to sleep for either of us.
Eventually I opened the rag top and let the mosquitoes and air in. Thankfully the pure DEET covering everything kept the blood feast to a minimum. Again we tried to sleep. Finally sweet dreams fell upon both of us.
Sometime in the early morning we awoke to rain falling on our heads. Having to close the rag top was frightening. Having to roll up the windows was horrifying. Soon we found ourselves in a body heat sauna. Thor panting as if he ran a few miles and me sweating salt stains unto the fabric of the seat.
We both gave up sleeping that night.