Thursday
Everyone else sleeps in, but I have to wake up at the crack of dawn to get my DOT certification. The rest of Class 11 got theirs on Monday, but there was a problem with my paperwork and it caused some delays. So, up at 6:30am and driving to Rochester, MN I go. Luckily, it was completely painless, and now I had my certification to drive the NUTmobile! Perfect timing too, because TODAY WAS THE DAY WE MET MARSHELL!
We got the full tour - a bittersweet day for all - Class 10s last ride and our very first. We filmed our passing of the baton, but we were not allowed to drive it until we completed drivers training.
After Mason gave us the in-depth tour of the inside of the NUTmobile, we met up with Teagan, Tania, and Katie for our final iniations where we recited the Peanutter Pledge and ate some delcious cake.
Unfortunately, this was the last night we had with Katie and Tania, so we gave them huge squeezes goodbye. It was so hard to see them go! They spent so much time with us this past week and it felt weird realizing they wouldn't be with us the entire year.
That night we got to have our first solo dinner as official Peanutters with just each other. (Me, Ryan, and Katie)
Friday
Photoshoot day! We met up with our Hormel photographer Christine to get our professional pics done for press releases. It was such a fun morning and the pictures turned out SO cute. You can see a lot of them on our website right now! We were all pretty pooped, but Mason was staying in the Twin Cities and really wanted us to meet a Class 8 Peanutter, Danny who lives in Minneapolis. He was a Peanutter when Planters was stilled owned by Kraft, and when there were 3 NUTmobiles!
He was so kind and it was awesome to hear his insight on everything. We also went to a bunch of observation decks and really go to appreciate the city views!
After a long day, I was sick of driving the rental car and so we wanted to get Ryan approved to drive it too - which turned into a 30 minute escapade through the Minneapolis airport, which included 4 different help desks, waiting in line with cars, and the slowest help computer I have ever seen. Luckily, we did get it sorted out - and home by 11:45pm (yikes) before our 9am drivers training the next morning.
Saturday
Yeah, you read that right! No days off with the Nut! Just kidding - once we get on the road we will always get 2 days off a week - but because there is so much we have to jam into our training we have to work a little extra! Our driving instructors name was Jonathan, and he was eqully hilarious and incredibly informative! We had a blast learning from him - training consisted of driving the 26-ft long peanut through cone obstacles, parking lots, college campuses, the highway, and weigh stations. We got a pretty good feel for how the NUTmobile drives and Jonathan was really happy with our progress!
Saturday night was party time at our bosses house! We drove all the way back to Rochester (in the rental car) and got to meet Grace and Kevin, 2 nuts from Class 9! (If you're counting, we met 7 different Peanutters from 3 different class generations this week - not including ourselves!) Grace lives in Chicago so I can't wait to become closer friends with her when I move back next year, and Kevin was so funny and sweet. I was DD, but some of the other Nuts defintely had a good time on Saturday night ;)
Sunday
Drivers training part 2! We finished with some final cone obstacle courses with our teacher Jonathan, and then treated him to a lunch at Qdoba. After a mini break, we headed to our very first event - a surprise visit to our manager's family friends and their 10-year-old cousin!
We even brought out Mr. Peanut as a surprise and it was a blast. I got to give rides around the neighborhood to everyone in the NUTmobile which was seriously such a blast.
On our way home, we were driving, listening to some incredible music (from my playlist, of course lol) and it hit me how WILD it was that I was driving a literal peanut on wheels. When you look out the side-view mirrors, that's what you see. It's so surreal!
And then the engine light came on.
(Before you make any assumptions, nothing dangerous happened, we are completely safe, the NUTmobile is completely in-tact, and it is a absolutely safe vehicle to drive. Due to the nature of our job and the uniqueness of the vehicle, we take tons of preventative measurements to always make sure she is in the best shape and that everyone who rides in Marshell is completely safe. We are safely back on the road now and there is nothing wrong with the NUTmobile!)
So we are pulled over on the side of the interstate, (SAFELY, because we convinently just learned how to do so from driver's training), and while we are organizing Marshell's journey to our lovely friends at Penske, a man pulls his car over right in front of us on the shoulder of the interstate. He gets out of our car and is making his way right toward us with a big smile on his face.
We all look at him, thinking "Oh great, someone who wants to see the NUTmobile is gonna ask for a picture on the side of the highway". However, as he gets closer, I realize he looks familiar...
He holds out his hand and says "Hey guys, I'm Jim Snee, CEO of Hormel Foods".
I laughed out loud.
"Do you guys need a ride back to corporate?"
Of course, we say yes.
Cue the next 20 minutes: three 20-somethings hired to drive a giant peanut and the man who signs our paychecks - driving us back to the corporate office THAT HE IS THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF. You can't make this stuff up! To make matters even better, he was so incredibly nice, and I'm not just saying that! Lemons were certainly turned to lemonade this Sunday. (Also, we decided Jim Snee's Peanutter name would be Sneenut Butter).
Overall, Peanut Prep was crazy but a ton of fun. Can't wait to start sharing about our events on the road - new post to come soon!
Thanks to everyone who has followed my journey so far! Can NUT wait to cashew soon!
-Peanut Butter & Jessie
Comments