When I graduated from college I drove a delivery truck for a wholesale flower distributor in Connecticut. The year I spent driving this truck was a great driving educational experience. For one thing, the box truck I drove was larger than anything I had driven before so I needed to become more vigilant about my surroundings than I had to be with the Ford Escort I normally drove. The truck had no rear view mirror because the truck’s storage area blocked any possible view of what was behind me. As such I had to rely primarily upon the truck’s side mirrors. I drove the truck through all four seasons. Navigating the truck through snow taught me how to react properly in slippery conditions. I had to learn how to find the various flower shops on my delivery route. This sharpened my sense of direction and spatial intuition which is a skill that is becoming rarer in the age of the GPS. As an aside, I have definitely noticed this ability has atrophied since I started to rely on GPS.

Another thing I learned while driving that box truck was how to deal with other people. People are intimidated by vehicles larger than their own. When I had to change lanes on the highway people were more apt to get out of my way than they would if I was driving my Ford Escort. Other people were more aggressive for some reason. One time while making a delivery in Greenwich, Connecticut I was in the process of pulling into a diagonal parking space on a downhill slope. The road had a bunch of other shops on it and was pretty busy. While I pulled into an open spot a woman tried to get to the spot before I did by pulling up into the blind spot on the right side. I felt my truck come in contact with her car and stopped immediately. A police officer was soon on the scene and the woman tried to blame the accident on me. I noticed that the bumper of her BMW that came into contact with my truck was held on by silver duct tape.

All that was long ago and now I split my time between Washington DC and Salt Lake City. So what is the point of this story? No point really except to treat every new experience as a chance to learn. Also do not forget to remain vigilant when driving  lest you need the assistance of an auto body repair shop in Salt Lake City.