The scorching Alabama sun beating down on the bonnet of my vast, far-bigger-than-I-wanted Ford rental truck, I turned towards the flashing location marker on my Satnav and prepared to park. Desperately in need of cash to keep up with America's heavy tipping demands, I'd gone out in search of an ATM.
Of course, that had meant hopping in the car and driving five miles from my "town centre" hotel, which was actually about 100 blocks from Main Street, to the nearest one. When I arrived, I realised it was not a cash machine as I knew it. In fact, it more closely resembled a petrol station forecourt, except with ATMs instead of pumps. Simply drive up, lower your window, and withdraw.
As deeply weird an idea as this is for someone from a country that clings onto what remains of its walkable town centres and pavement culture, the drive-thru bank is far from the strangest service you can receive from the seat of your Chevvy. Here are some of the odder.
A Paradise Funeral Home in Saginaw, Michigan you don't need to get out of your car to bid your loved ones goodbye. Ten years ago the company's president Ivan Phillips installed a drive-thru window, allowing people to drive up to pay their last respects. He had been mulling the idea over for years before taking the plunge when an elderly woman could not make it inside the building to say goodbye to her husband.
"She would've got a chance to see him if we had this, so I knew we had to move forward," Phillips told M Live. Rather than viewing a funeral through your car window, customers can drive up to the former bank where curtains open, revealing the deceased for three minutes. You can even drop a card in a slot on the side of the funeral home and sign a guest book.
