Sunday, February 10, 2013

Big Trucks

As you know from my previous blog we've already had our share of up-close encounters with bad drivers this week.  The very next day I had encounter number two of the week with a bad driver. I am happy to report that neither myself, my child, nor the vehicle I was driving at the time were harmed during this encounter - a win for me already!

The other evening I pulled into a parking space at Whole Foods. I had Carter with me so I needed to go around to the passenger side and get him out of his car seat.  As I was getting out of the car a truck pulled into the parking spot next to me on Carter's side of the car. I waited a moment so they could get out and not have to wait while I extracted Carter from the car seat. However instead of putting their vehicle in park they proceeded to back out of the spot and pull in again. Then they backed out of the spot and pulled in for a third time. The driver of the truck then repeated this procedure for a fourth time. 

After four attempts at parking their truck the driver decided he was satisfied with his efforts, puts the truck in park, and exited the vehicle. As I moved past him to (finally) get Carter out of my vehicle he said to me "It isn't easy to park these big trucks."  I'm sure my expression was an, how shall I say this - interesting - one at best. 

He was driving a Toyota Tundra. No, I'm not joking, a Toyota Tundra. It took the guy four attempts to park his Toyota Tundra (that didn't even have an extended or crew cab) in the generously sized parking spots in a very easy to navigate parking lot. Maybe I just have my judgey pants on but it would have never occurred to me that a Toyota Tundra A) qualified as a large truck or B) would be difficult to park in the Whole Foods parking lot. 

My brother-in-law summed it up best saying that his man card needed to be revoked, and additionally I should have offered to help him park his large truck if for no other reason than to speed up the process.  The ironic apart is despite his continued maneuvering of his truck he still managed to park right on the line next to my car. Carter and I got to do some creative shimmying in order to remove him from his car seat. The only thing that would have made the whole experience more entertaining and less annoying would have been if Jason had also been along for the ride. I can only imagine what his expression would have been!

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Lightening and Lucky


Africa, Wiz and Sam


Faune, Asterik, Lotus and Winston


Lighty and Murphy


Calimba


Silky


Cuffie and Maisie


Grand


Largo

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

A Toyota Tundra is not a big truck. A big truck is my Ford F350 with a long bed, crew cab and dual rear tires - try taking that to the supermarket some time. When I take it, I park in spaces on the outside of the lot that face aisles - the turning radius is too big for regular parking lot aisle widths - and I back into the space so the rear can hang over the curb. Even then, there are usually inches between me and the adjoining cars.

I laughed when I read about the Tundra - that's the truck I'm planning on getting to "downsize"!

laura said...

my friend had a big truck, this guy sounds like a wimp! My friend had a chevy 1 ton diesel dually w/ crew cab and an extra long bed! Over here at the OBX its hard enough sometimes parking my ford focus hatchback at the walmart parking spaces. I had to park that beast in a walmart space one time, yeah I took up 4 spaces after 5 failed attempts. At least I was all the way at the back of the parking lot though. Some people make you wonder.

RiderWriter said...

Kate, I am laughing at your comment - I know exactly what that truck looks like and yes, they are HUGE!! I always wonder how on earth one actually drives such a thing. It's like a jacked-up limo, seriously.

What I think really funny about this parking encounter is I find my husband's F-150 loads easier to park than my Toyota minivan. That truck turns on a dime and gives you change; the van takes 30' to get out of its own way. Backing up is another story, though, as the back window of the cab is tinted and there's a topper so I'm looking through three layers of somewhat dim glass. But pulling into a spot - no problemo.

That guy really DOES need his Man-Card revoked! :)

An American in Tokyo said...

Yes, take his man card away! Ha ha!

I love how it looks like Asterik is sitting in the middle of the food!