Surreal Experience

I probably won't be able to convey in words how weird this was, but I'll give it a shot.

First, the backstory.

Shortly after we got the truck, Steve had automatic retractable running boards installed on the truck. The running boards were a necessity (I could barely get in/out of the truck without them). The automatic retractability...not so necessary, but they are very cool.

A few days ago Steve noticed a pool of clear oil on one of the boards. Upon closer inspection, it was clearly coming from some part of their mechanism. So this morning Steve took the Canyonero back to the place where we had them installed. They said there is no oil in any of the parts. Maybe it was water.

Steve knows the difference between oil and water and was pretty sure he wasn't crazy. When he got home, he decided to call the manufacturer to see what they would say. He left a message and an engineer called back. He was also baffled, but it turns out the company is in Orange County and they wanted to take a look.

So after lunch we drove the truck over to their location. The engineer asked if he could drive the truck "around back" so they could take a look. We said sure. So he got into the driver's seat, Steve climbed into the back with the kids, and off we went. We expected to see a service bay or something.

Instead, he drove the truck over to the loading dock at the back of their warehouse. The ramp didn't look like one made for cars--it was like a ramp for dollies and was at about a 45-degree angle. I seriously don't know how the wheels of the truck even fit on there, and he had to rev the engine to get it up. Now we saw why he didn't want us driving it in there.

Then suddenly we were inside. Not inside a service area, but inside a regular warehouse, driving down the aisles. Again, there was barely room for the truck to fit, and on either side were shelves with boxes of parts stacked 18 feet high.

We got to the end of one of the rows, and the guy had to maneuver like crazy to turn the corner and get us into the "service" area, which was really more like a workroom that happened to be big enough for a truck.

While the guy was working on the truck, Elias wanted to get out, so he went and drew on a white board with one of the employees. I didn't want to get out with Anna because she'd be too difficult to corral, so I hung out in back with her. She started to get cranky and asked to nurse. I looked around the Canyonero, at all these employees milling around, talking with the engineer, looking at the truck, etc. I felt like I was in a fishbowl, but figured everyone cared more about the truck, so I shrugged and fed her.

Then I started to get bored because there wasn't much to do in the backseat of a truck sitting in the middle of a warehouse. So I figured I'd see if there was enough room to change a diaper in the middle of the backseat. There is! Quite comfortably, as a matter of fact.

Then I was still bored, so I sat Anna on the seat and decided to reinstall her car seat to see if I could get it more upright. (No go.)

Then I gave up and got out of the truck to stand in the nice air conditioned workroom.

In the meantime, they did discover the clear oil inside one of the parts, although it didn't belong there and they had no idea how it got there. But they replaced the parts for us and took the oily piece for further inspection.

When they were done, another guy got in to drive us out. I don't know how he did it, but he zoomed out of there--backwards--in like 30 seconds. (He did drive forward down the ramp. I swear I thought we were going to nose-dive.)

So that was our bizarre experience of the day. Mystery oil and a trip through a warehouse. It would have been better with popcorn.

In the driver's seat

Six weeks after buying our truck, I finally drove it today. Here I am at the helm of the Canyonero:

The truck and I both handled it extremely well. The Canyonero was actually remarkably easy to drive. I kept checking to see how far my outer wheels were from the curb/lane markers/cars/bicyclists, and I always had plenty of room. ("Plenty" being a relative term, of course, when you're driving a vehicle practically double the width of many others on the road.)

I drove from our house to a Salvation Army collection center so we could get rid of some more stuff. That involved backing up toward the drop-off bay, which I accomplished marginally. I did not hit the car or people next to us, though I did get a little panicky about it.

Afterwards we went to Starbucks and I did a very good job parking. Not great, but very good. Granted, I got to pull through and had to deal with a car on only one side, but I didn't hit anything!

Then I drove home and parked on the curb, which involved backing up and not running into our other car. I did skim the curb once, but I straightened out and parked within a foot of our Pilot's front bumper. The back-up camera and parking assist get most the credit on that one.

Other than backing up at the Salvation Army, I was surprisingly relaxed the whole time. Even Steve commented that he wasn't as nervous as he thought he'd be. (Thanks, Sweetie!)

I still haven't handled it in tight situations--nor do I want to--but for easy drives and big parking spaces, I could get used to it.