Soap Lake couple opens car wash

SOAP LAKE — Kyle and Lynne Nelson might just have the cleanest cars in the whole Columbia Basin.

Lynne Nelson washes her car once a week, while her husband of two years, Kyle, washes his every time it gets a little dirty.

"Very clean now," Lynne said.

"If I think the truck's dirty, I'll run the truck through," Kyle said. "It's easy for us — we know the secret switch to turn it on."

The Nelsons opened the Daisy Street Car Wash in Soap Lake in March, at 423 Daisy St.

Lynne is a lifelong resident of Soap Lake, while Kyle has lived in town for three years, but before making the move, he would visit family in the Columbia Basin area throughout his childhood.

Lynne purchased the property 10 years ago, always with the intention of putting in a car wash.

"It just took time to get it accomplished," she said. "I had the car lot across the street at one time. We did detailing over there and we always thought it was a good idea if we had a car wash in town as well."

Lynne loves to talk to people in her hometown community, so for her, it's a fun business, she said.

"I like to mingle with people, I'm a people person, so I like the fact there's good comments from the community coming back, saying they're glad it's here," she said.

And what was Kyle's reaction when he learned of his wife's longtime dream?

"I just said, 'Yes dear,'" he said. "Actually, I'm not as excited about it as she is, but I know it's a good business venture for both of us."

The couple plans to use the company to build toward retirement.

Lynne agreed, noting it's not a business one has to baby-sit 24 hours a day.

"Not this one, because we built this one pretty deluxe," Kyle echoed.

Everything is automated at the site. As a result, the business does not have employees other than the Nelsons.

The facility offers four different levels of washes, from express to ultimate and several self-service bays.

"The ultimate wash, one of our friends says, 'My kids think this is better than Disneyland,'" Lynne said with a chuckle. "The tri-colored foam, it just sprays over and it smells like cherry and lemon."

"Everything here talks to you," Kyle added.

The computer system speaks English and Spanish.

The Nelsons say they're working out some of the bugs in the new computer system, including with their token machine. They work full time, so it takes some time to get the glitches out.

"The people in the community are just loving it, they think it's just wonderful," Lynne said. "The first night we opened, that afternoon, it was e-mailed to everybody. One person e-mailed it to one person who e-mailed it to the next person type of thing, so it was kind of neat."

The Nelsons built their facility for tourist traffic and the campers, boats and people fishing in the area.

"We want to accommodate everybody, as much as we can afford," Kyle said.

A grand opening is expected in late May or early June, as the weather warms up.

For more information, call 509-760-2542.