You want me to drive what?

I learned how to drive when I was five years old. On special weekends, I would wake up early, and get to go golfing with my dad. Back then, I didn't actually golf, I drove the golf cart, and drank hot chocolate. Even though I knew the basics of driving, when I was fifteen, I was required to take driver's ed. My instructor told me I did very well and caught on quickly, which then reflected in my driver's license drive test, when I scored 100%. I now have nine years of driving experience under my belt, a few accidents, and a couple speeding tickets. But, nothing quite prepared me for hopping into a fourteen foot Ryder rental truck.

Up to this point, the only vehicle I had driven while down in Cali was our Honda Civic. I rode around in the 26 foot box truck with Aaron & Brian, but that was the extent of it. When we originally left Washington, I was under the impression that I was going to be a sales rep that would drive a Scion, place orders, and have the orders be fulfilled by a driver the following day. A couple weeks into our stay, I was informed that I would be driving a box truck. I have to admit, I was a little nervous, but part of me was excited to break a stereotype. I am a 5'2", bubbly brunette, with designer jeans. I am not the 'type' of girl that most people envision being a delivery driver. But there I was, about to be driving a fourteen foot Ryder rental truck.

The first day I drove the rental truck was definitely the all time worst day to ever start driving one of those things. It happened to be the first day that it rained while we were in California. Usually when it rains in Cali, it is what us Washingtonians consider a mist, but this day was torrential down pour. Not only was it raining, but we were experiencing 25-35 mph winds. I was so scared driving down the freeway, in a vehicle I had never driven before, on a road I wasn't familiar with, basically in a big metal sail, that I literally was yelling inside the cab of the truck. If I was on reality TV, it would have been one of those moments that the network would have kept playing over and over to get you interested in watching that episode. I arrived to the first store with an elevated heart rate, but in one piece. By the end of the day, my pants were soaked up to my knee and my hair was a mess, but I didn't die.

That afternoon I made it back to the warehouse with no bumps or bruises, on myself, or the truck. I backed the truck up to the dock like a professional, and told Aaron I couldn't believe he would actually think I would be okay driving that truck. Aaron assured me that it was in fact the worst day to ever learn to drive that truck, and that at no time after that would I be afraid for my life while driving it. Don't tell him I said this, but he was right :)