I saw a lot in a year as a UPS driver. Here are a few of the highlights.

I wrote in my last post about how driving for UPS has helped me feel connected to, and affection for, particular places all across the region where I live and work.

Around this time last year I was assigned to cover for a driver out for several months on a workers’ compensation claim. I routinely delivered to numerous local businesses, government offices, schools and community organizations close to downtown.

This route also brought me into historic inner-city neighborhoods, with a mix of housing ranging from million-dollar mansions and condos on some streets to shabbier houses and rundown apartment buildings on others.

Not only did it keep me extremely busy every day, as a ‘city person’ I found a lot to appreciate and enjoy on this urban route.

For one, I found much of the built environment interesting or noteworthy or beautiful. I’m especially fascinated by spaces that have been converted from one purpose to another. To take just two examples, the public radio station is located in an erstwhile firehouse, and a condo building overlooking the river was formerly a dormitory for nursing students.

For another, I can’t help but feel inspired by the ways each of these organizations contributes to our community and economy. Whether for-profit, non-profit, or government, all are woven into the social and institutional fabric of our region.

And perhaps most importantly, all of these organizations and homes are peopled by great customers, many of whom I got to know – and who got to know me – by name.

But even though I was near the center of the city, nature was always close at hand.

The most prominent feature of the natural environment was the river. On most days I had at least three opportunities to experience it from different spots and vantage points. Every so often I’d have to cross the river on foot to a delivery site only accessible via pedestrian bridge.

These moments fed my soul. Nothing is more magical to me than the moving waters of a river.

There wasn’t a lot of wildlife. Most days the only animals I’d see were pet dogs and cats. Still, I was always amused to encounter the flock of wild turkeys that roamed the neighborhood, and I’d occasionally glimpse one or a few deer in a trailer park by the river’s edge.

After covering that route through the post-peak winter and much of the spring, my cover assignments grew more varied and far-flung. They included ‘extended’ routes where I’d drive 100 or 200 or more miles in a single day.

Some of these rural routes were almost exclusively residential, and I could go an entire shift without interacting with more than just a handful of people. On these days it was all about the animals.

And then there are all the animals that I wasn’t able to photograph because I was too busy getting my work done.

Once I was startled by a black bear ambling across the road about 500 feet ahead of me. I’ve also seen a few bison, always fenced in.

But perhaps more than anything, there are the birds. I love all the birds. Pheasants. Quail. Bald eagles. Great horned owls. Turkeys everywhere. I’ve been on routes where fowl are the only wildlife I see during the day. And they are plentiful.

Even though I still consider myself a city person, I’ve really come to enjoy covering the country routes. At least during the good weather. The bad weather is another matter entirely – more on that in a future post.