Joyfull Joyfull Morning Chorus -or- Waking up at dawn after a snow storm (A submission for the Comp-II post)

[robert_a_dupree at bankone.com]

An eye creaks open and stares at the alarm clock.  It's blissfully silent
as the time for it to errupt into the cacaphonic siren song that drags you
from slumber is still nigh in the future.  Your mind, while still grappling
with the question of the moment (Why in the hell am I awake!?!) is fighting
your body which is being driven to get up out of bed.  This unknown force,
this desire, seems to come from your hands and feet.  Were it up to your
eyes they would stay right where they are, blissfully unaware of the
outside world.  Your extremities know better and thus you find yourself
wandering to the window in your domocile that affords the best outside
view.

Silence,
Wonder,
Awe,
Drool...

These are the happenings in the environment of the Audi Quattro driver whom
has found himself staring down at a landscape covered in white.  No tire
tracks, no plows yet about.  This is nirvana, for your Quattro has chosen
you this morning to 'fly in the white'.  In the instant it takes to go from
a butt-scratching morning haze (during which you've accused your brain of
not controlling the rest of your body to keep you comfortably in bed) you
find yourself in an almost state of panic.  Boots, gloves, clothes and
other coverings fling about with reckless abandon as you are determined to
get out there before anyone can make the first tracks.  As you head to the
garage you find your pace is hampered by the 26 inches of fresh snow, and
your face nearly splits in two as you open the garage door to see the wall
of snow that has packed you in.

Now is the time of greatest fear for the Audi owner.

Will the gods be kind?
Have I made the appropriate offerings to the Four-Ringed-Lords?
Is my battery still good?
Will it start???

"please..." is the only vow you utter as you instert and turn the key.  The
infintesimally small time period between the closing of the electrical
contacts in the relay and the engagement of the starter drags out seemingly
for hours...

VROOM!

The un-matched sound of a 5 cylinder in-line turbo motor shakes the snow
from your overburdened eaves.  The devil on your shoulder demands a tribute
and so you rev that willing motor.  Ensuring that your neighbors are also
disturbed from their slumber.  Your time is here.  It's 5:45AM and you are
backing out of the garage.  Your Hakka Q's leave a crunchingly happy
chevron pattern in the snow and practically scream "THIS IS QUATTRO
COUNTRY!".  It's an open dare issued to any other vehicle.

What follows is the pure joy and fun associated with the near mystical
powers as driver and Quattro defy laws of physics and man.  It's a ballet
of skill, luck and technology that some have described as better than sex.
Hours pass and you find yourself sated, the gas tank is down to less than
half and you think maybe it's time for coffee...  As you return home and
settle in a more traiditional morning routine you find your partner
baffled.  It is at this time they realize the the coffee is only an
interrum stop.  You're headed back out again, tow-rope in hand.  It's time
to rescue some SUV's with your little car...

Rob Dupree
     '84 UrQ
     '97 4Runner
     '77 Dodge Colt SCCA Club Rally Grp 2
     '87 5kCSTQ (owned and sold)
     '88 5kCSTQ (owned and sold)
     '83 UrQ (owned and sold)
     '93 LT-1Q (built and sold)



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