Mike Nickerson gives breaking away for lunch new meaning Tuesday, taking his late model, all-wheel-drive Subaru Forester for a spin in the mud under the Interstate 95 overpass on Quarry Road.

The mud was fresh from Monday’s driving rainfall and not at all dissipated by the heavy winds that knocked out power to almost 100,000 Central Maine Power customers. A fast drive through muck has its own rewards, especially considering the claustrophobia that can close in on a person locked down because of COVID-19.

Then there are the penalties, which, when you’ve been a Subaru Ambassador mechanic for three years, you can mitigate with your own two hands. Add to that advances in technology and engineering that produced break-away bumpers, and repairs to your mud toy can at least look pretty easy.

For Nickerson, 34, that may be more fun than driving through mud. The full-time employee for Thayer Center for Health owns 12 Subarus from model years 1992 to 2010.