In 2003, teenager Meghan Irby took to the winding roads of rural West Virginia in a floral delivery van. 

“This old Dodge Caravan that I drove didn’t have air conditioning,” she said. “As a 16-year-old driving with a brand-new license, I was sweaty most of the time, both from the heat and the stress.”

Lacking access to internet maps, Irby said she would spend about an hour every morning mapping out routes on an atlas. “Sometimes I would get transfer paper and highlighters, and it was a whole big deal,” she said. 

But despite her careful planning, her days often had twists and turns. “One specific disaster I remember was when our boss used chickens as a landmark,” she said. “Chickens tend to move around, and if you turn the wrong way at the chickens, then it’s all over.”

Click the audio player above to hear Irby’s story. 

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