Trying out my new car on a roadtrip

There is really nothing like getting in your car on a pretty day and heading down the road. I had a long distance trip scheduled this past week, and in addition to looking forward to getting out of town, I was anxious to try out my new car on its first roadtrip. The stereo system is very nice, and the interior of the car is quiet, unlike my previous car, so I was happy to find out I could listen to music without having to crank it up to split eardrum level. All was well until I got back into my car after lunch and headed back to the highway.

A few seconds later, the absolute worst noise surrounded me. I couldn't hear the radio anymore. The sound was indistinct--almost seemed like a pulse that was getting louder and louder. Then I noticed a squeezing pressure on my eardrums. I became frightened, thinking, what is this? The noise just came out of nowhere.  The car still seemed to be driving all right, and there were no warning lights on the dashboard. I pulled off at the next exit and got out to look at the exterior auto parts. I thought maybe I had a flat tire, even though it didn't seem like that was the case. And no one passing me had been pointing at the tires, like people do when you have a flat.

I circled the car--no flat tire. I didn't see anything wrong--not that I would have known what to do if I had. I got back in the car, hoping miraculously it had disappeared. I started the car up and drove off, and it was fine--for a second. Then the loud, almost sonic boom started again. I felt dismayed. The car was driving OK, and I had an appointment that I had to keep. Is there anyway I could drive 250 more miles under this condition? Do I dare consider that? No, I didn't think I could. And what if continued driving hurt the car? It is driving fine now, but what about tonight? Maybe it would strand me in the middle of nowhere.

I looked around at the surrounding billboards, hoping to see an auto parts store advertised, but no luck. The best I could hope for would be to get to the next town, find an auto repair place or an auto parts store to see if they could figure out what was wrong. And fix it quickly!

Just as I was about to despair, I turned my head around and looked into the back seat.  My right rear window was down. I must have hit the automatic window button by accident. Could that be the problem? Holding my breath it was, I hit the button to roll it back up. Success! How could a rolled down window have caused that racket? And that weird sonic boom feeling? Well it did. I continued down the highway once again a happy camper. And my car was a 10 on the road.