I was driving the shuttle at the hospital one day when one of the guys I play basketball was arriving for work. “I didn’t know you were a volunteer here” he said. I explained how I fill in anytime whenever Marchelle needed me to. When he found out I had retired from John Deere, he asked if I be interested in driving a limo for a company he was a partner in. I told him I was interested, and we agreed to talk later.
I met him at his office in the hospital later that week, and he gave me the details. He told me I would need to get a class C CDL driver’s license. The next day, I went to the DMV to find out what I needed to study for the test. After standing in line for 45 minutes, I was finally able to talk to one of the agents. She had me grab one of the CDL manuals on the shelf by her desk. She highlighted and marked the tab for chapter four of the manual and told me that’s what I needed to study. “This is going to be easier than I thought” I said to myself. I went home and study chapter four in the manual, until I was positive I was ready.
I went down the DMV the next day at 7:45, and there was already a line. This time it took me an hour and 20 minutes to get to the front of the line. When I finally was called over by another one of the agents, I told him I needed to take the test for a class C CDL license. I’m not sure why, but he asked me if I had studied all the chapters. I explained how I was told to study chapter four, and he explained that is only for the passenger endorsement part. He asked me to hand him the book. He opened the book and pointed to the other chapters I needed to study for the Class C license. I was a little upset, the first lady didn’t explain that, but thanked him and left.
After studying for a couple of days, I went back to the DMV and waited in line for another hour before I was able to take the test. I have passed the two written tests, and I’m waiting to take the driving skills test. I am currently allowed to drive any limo that holds up to 15 people.
My first job was last Saturday. It was for a young girl who was celebrating her 16th birthday. We picked her up, and then went around town and picked up her friends. They had me start by driving them around town. Then I took them down to the greenbelt. They had me wait at a couple of different places so they could get some pictures. They were an excellent group of kids, and it was a lot of fun driving them around. It was nice to see the big smiles on the faces of the kids, and their parents when I dropped them off.
Now, I’m not sure I would want to do this every day, but it is kind of fun to have something to do in my spare time. I’m concerned about having to be nice for that long, but I can trust Shannon will be there to make sure I am! I will always LOVE AND MISS YOU sweetheart.
Next week: Training update
P.S. Come to think of it, I get paid to drive aimlessly around town, and play Wheel of Fortune on my phone. Maybe I do want to do this every day.