On the Road 2

Part 2

Have I ever been afraid?  Not of the people in the car but often in some of the neighborhoods where I have to drop off my passenger.  There have been a couple of times where I had the strong impression that I shouldn’t get out of the car and knock on a door when the person didn’t answer the phone letting them know I was outside waiting.  In another case I had one gentleman who was having a very heated argument with someone in his imagination and the language and the threats toward his imaginary foe were extreme.  In spite of that I wasn’t afraid for myself, but nervous that he would jump out of the car as I was driving down the freeway.  I have to admit I exceeded the speed limit to get him to his destination and out of the car as soon as possible! 

What is the hardest thing to deal with?  SMELLS!  The only smells I have experienced and have been overwhelmed by was the smell of cigarettes and cannabis.  One Saturday I decided to drive because I missed a day during the week.  Every single person I picked up was literally suffocating my senses with the smell from smoking either tobacco or cannabis.  Although the smell of cigarettes is definitely strong it doesn’t come close to the putrid odor that soaks into the clothes of a marijuana smoker.  No one will ever convince me that the damage being done to people who smoke weed isn’t going to be so far reaching and as or more destructive than cigarettes have proven to be.  After that one day of driving, I decided that I wouldn’t drive on Saturdays again.

I thought on one of my drives that I should share some of the things I learned about the people who were in my car.  No names because I keep no record of the people I meet—just the impressions.  For this first part I will just highlight a few of the experiences I’ve had since I started driving but later, I will update more often.