Tonight I drove Rides #874-878. Two different parties were going out to Edgefield for a concert. Big events can be a pain, but people tend to be in a good mood, and I scored decent tips from both of them. 5⭐️ passengers for sharing their Friday fun.

It’s been quite a while since I logged any Lyft ride experiences here. I just completed Ride #873. A young woman going to meet friends. It was a quiet ride, because she was engrossed in her phone the whole time. That’s getting to be more common. I may as well deliver food!

Ride #785. A trek across the Columbia River to Camas, WA. My passenger doesn’t drive and I take her to spend the day with her mother who has Alzheimer’s. The drive is beautiful and we spot Mt. Hood through the clouds. Real people, real places. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I woke up earlier than planned and decided to make the most of it. There’s usually a few people on Saturday who need a ride to work, to the airport, or to the club where they left their car last night. 😏

Ride #777. My sister Judy is in town. She thought it would be fun to request a Lyft and get assigned to me as her driver as we left our other sister’s house after dinner. One of the two best sisters ever and a generous tipper. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Ride #776. A young couple who stayed up all night in New Orleans rather than get up early for their 6 am flight. As you do. 5⭐️ for a quiet sleepy passengers.

Ride #772. An elderly couple. She’s got a cane. I confirm her name and joke, “He must be your 1.” She tells me they’ve been married 63 years. They are upbeat and chill, much more so than the average passenger 50 years younger. He tips me $5 cash. “For a cup of coffee.” 10⭐️

Ride #770. A guy who lived on the same block as I did 25 years ago. We reminisced about favorite coffee shops and bars, bemoaned the fact we couldn’t recall the buildings had been torn down for new construction, and agreed that Portland is still great despite all the growth.

(Of course, posting that you haven’t gotten a ping in 43 minutes means you’ll get one in the middle of updating your micro blog.)

In general, Lyft has been pretty busy, and I haven’t had much of a break between rides to post. But here it is, Tuesday morning and I haven’t caught a request since I started 43 minutes ago. So…

Ride #676, 677, 678, 679. Surprisingly busy for Sat. afternoon, and unexpectedly interesting passengers: a paralegal happily working in a convenience store, two sets of visitors here for a motorcycle show, and one trip to the airport for a guy moving to Austin. All 5⭐️ people.

Ride #673. I took a passenger to the shipyard at Swan Island. Everything there is huge for working on huge ships. It’s a fascinating location that most Portlanders never see up close. Just another perk of Lyfting.

Ride #667. It’s Super Bowl Sunday. Dropped a couple off at Yur’s, a known Patriot fans sports bar. If the Patriots win, I’ll head back there to pick up happy fans. If the Eagles win, I’m pretty sure most every other bar in Portland will have happy patrons who need rides.

Review from either Ride #663 or Ride #664: “Very kind.” Either the guy who asked nicely if it was OK to bring his sweet puppy or the guy who was having a rough time interviewing for jobs. It was slow morning but this makes it worth it. 5⭐️ passengers both.

Ride #657. A perfect storm that every Lyft driver dreads: stuck behind an active school bus for two miles, then stuck waiting for a train. Added 15 minutes to my passenger’s commute. 5⭐️ for being totally chill, sir!

Friday report card: my first perfect all 5 ⭐️! Only 13 rides due to dental surgery (😩), but hey, perfect is perfect.

Ride #645. Passenger Adam and I have a mutual friend @andymcmillan. We also have a mutual passion for Lyft blogging. Check out his awesome Instagram project @i_get_lyfted. Serendipity = 5 f—ing ⭐️.

Ride #630. Nice guy on his way to volunteer at the live judging event for the Oregon Beer Awards . 5⭐️ passenger for great conversation.

Ride #627 UNC! UNC! (I picked up a fellow Chapel Hill alumna tonight. Little surprise coincidences make Lyfting more fun.) #GoHeels.

Also in my weekly report card: flags for safety and navigation. I merited a negative flag only once before. Likely the result of rush hour traffic in suburban Vancouver’s confusing maze of highways. I got stuck in the wrong lane and had to wait for someone to let me in. 🤷‍♀️

Weekly report card! “Best driver ever!” = the nicest comment ever. I was high on praise the whole morning. Then I remembered that my next door neighbor was a passenger this week. 🤔

Ride #617. Got a late start. It’s mid-morning, typically a slow time and I consider blowing off Lyft today. But I turn on the app and get a request from a passenger one minute away. Turns out he is really 10 seconds away: my next door neighbor needs a ride to the airport.💁‍♀️

PS. It might surprise you to know that the Wag walker application process has more hoops to jump through than the Lyft driver process. 🐶🚗

I decided to sign up for Wag! our of a similar curiosity that got me driving for Lyft. It’s an app-based dog walking service. Pros: working with dogs and outdoor exercise. Cons: terrible app UX and outdoor exercise. 😄🐶

Power Driver Bonus: I was shooting for it this week, but the Lyft gods did not smile on me. I got too many long rides during peak hours. You need short ones in those limited windows. The only way I can get 16 peak rides is to drive Fri. and Sat. nights. Not my favorite shift.

NOT Ride #606. A father with two toddlers, no car seats. I told him that I couldn’t take them. “But all the other drivers do it.” Not an argument that would persuade me to: 1) assume a huge liability, 2) break the law or, most importantly, 3) endanger children. Cancelled.

Ride #589. She answered “Not very well” to my greeting of “How are you doing?” Her father was in the hospital, she’d been out of work all year and now she had a one-way ticket home to help out. I’ve been there. It felt good to offer a sympathetic ear in addition to a ride.

People who need to get to the airport + people who still need to get home after NYE – the drivers who are still asleep after working into the wee small hours = today’s unusual midday Monday surge. 😀