It's All Relative

I had to drop the van off for some work today because some of the welding came loose on one of the crates in the back where they had to cut and reweld it to make it fit. Diane dropped me off at the shop, and then I drove her to work, and will pick her up later. I had the weirdest sensation while getting behind the wheel of the 4-Runner: it feels TINY. I feel like I'm driving some little sports car. Granted, the 4-Runner is not a full-sized truck or anything, but it is a full-sized SUV. Such a strange sensation.

I've found that I really enjoy driving the van for more reasons than I'd expected. I'd banked on that people would drive like jerks around me and want to always be in front of me so they wouldn't get stuck behind me, or would cut me off because they, well, wouldn't want to get stuck behind me. As it turns out, precious few people do that, AND people are extremely accomodating about letting me pull out or letting me merge. I figure it's because I'm big enough to be noticable, maybe even intimidating, they don't want to get stuck in my blind spot, and that people know I'm unlikely to be zippy. People are also less likely to get impatient if I'm in front of them and not going as fast as they'd like. I was amazed at how differently people's expectations seem to be with a van than with a small vehicle like my old Rav4. It makes the van a pretty relaxing way to travel.