I had the most amazing conversation with my Lyft driver this morning. I was hesitant at first; being late for work as usual, and once again refusing to take the bus. So when this older gentleman pulled into the driveway in a mini-van, after driving maybe 10 miles an hour down my street, I thought “here we go” as I got in.

When I gave him the route I wanted him to take, the same route I always give, he told me about how I can plug all that into the app now, effectively making any conversation between passenger and driver unnecessary… Okay- I can see this being helpful sometimes; in an Uber when I plan to sit in the back and don’t want to give directions, or when maybe drunkenly trying to get home on the weekend, but I always sit in the passenger seat when I Lyft, and in my opinion conversation is the best part. I told him as much, and he turned to me, smiled, and started to talk:

Moving to SF in 1969, David took a job driving tour busses all around the country. He has been to every National Park, and has driven for every major political campaign in California as well as many Presidential elections, meeting the likes of Richard Nixon, Gavin Newsom, Barbra Boxer, Jerry Brown, Jesse Jackson, etc. He’s driven busses full of tourists through Death Valley when it was 120 degrees; frying eggs on the pavement as they snapped pictures in the sweltering heat. And he’s drive

n hundreds of sports teams from game to game- the college teams have always been his favorite- a bus full of endless possibilities…

David and his wife, whom he lost in 2006, have always traveled by train; he doesn’t like to fly and by golly- if he’s going to be on a bus, he damn well better be driving it! He’s traveled in large circles across the continent, from San Francisco to Vancouver, to Alaska, across Canada, down to New York, eventually making his way home. He’s seen polar bears wander through towns you can only get to by train or plane, stayed in hostels with bubble dome roofs- so the night skies and wildlife are fully exposed, and he knows the secret to making a 3-stop Amtrak summer pass last at least 2 weeks. He understands the beauty of watching the scenery change as you go from town to town, while dusk turns into dawn, and the rhythmic motion of the train on the tracks rocks you into peace.

Now, almost retired, he gets top choice for any tour contracts he takes, and may be getting a little pickier in his old age. Lyft gives him the chance to drive in the city he calls home. He gets to talk to people, and tell them his thrilling stories; in our case he gave me a detailed route up the west coast to Alaska by train and ferry boat, it’s now on my bucket list. Anyone wanna come? In his time as a Lyft driver he’s only had a couple of bad experiences; rowdy boys that had had too much to drink and opted to toss thing out his windows (he still gave them a good rating, benefit of the doubt, and all) and lady too drunk to get home that he ended up spending at least half an hour searching for her house before parking, taking her keys, and getting her in the front door. He’ll always wait until you’re safely inside because it’s the right thing to do.

This ride covered 3.4 miles, took 24 minutes, cost me $15, and I have not been able to stop talking about the amazing person I met today.  I found respect for this wanderer, and am so grateful he shared his stories with me. So, thank you David for starting my day off so incredibly right! Now, I’m off to look up train schedules and figure out where to go. You’re all welcome to come.

I feel obligated to say that I do not work for Lyft, and I was not asked to write this post: This started as a Facebook status, but it got too long. That’s it.