Uber Stories: Classified Rides
Some days it seems like the universe is trying out a theme on me and my Uber rides and yesterday the motif du jour was the military.
I started my day at Middlebury College, where I picked up Samuel for a ride to the Burlington airport. From the pick up locale, I assumed he was part of the language immersion program, so I used that knowledge to break the ice and soon learned he was from Ireland and here to study French.
But as our ride progressed, his Irish accent subsided into a Maryland one and I’d learned he was an ex pat, who married an Irish guy and was getting his PHD in Military disbursement. While I usually avoid the politics talk on rides, I felt pretty confident we’d be on the same page with the general terror that is the world today, and we barely had a minute of silence during the hour-long drive.
After I dropped him at the BTV rental car counter, I headed out to Essex to meet up with my bestie, the Internet-famous Jerm, in hopes of recreating the meme of men holding sunflowers like fish I’d seen the day before.
Jerm happens to work as a communications specialist at Camp David, so of course, I couldn’t efficiently gain clearance to just stop by for a visit. The five corners of Essex seemed like a great place to meet. And it did turn out to be ideal, with underground parking available (so my car doesn’t overheat before the next ride), and a random meeting of my sister’s best friend Audrey at the Box Car bakery, where I stopped to pee (it really is a small world, especially in Vermont.)
Across the street was also a perfect Vermont-y backdrop for Jerm to pose at — a weathered wood wall adorned with lush ivy. Together we made the meme magic we were looking for with military precision in 10 minutes flat.
I started to edit my photos as I sat waiting for my next fare, and a few minutes later the app popped up a $25 ride, picking up in Jericho and dropping off on Church Street. I did the math and with less than an hour of total drive time, I figured it was worth doing and likely to be an adventure, so off I went.
As I was pulling up to the pick up point, my passenger, Greg, messaged saying he was walking towards the front gate. I realized at that point I was headed for the Ethan Allen gun range and National Guard headquarters, an ID required locations. Not trying to force the issue, I waved at the guard and pulled into the traffic circle in front.
When Greg finally got in my car and apologized for the delay due to his longer-than-expected walk, I just shrugged. It’s not like after driving 20 minutes to a pick up I was going to leave without him. Plus, it seemed a perfectly fitting ride.
“I’ve had a really military-themed day,” I said to break the ice, telling him about my two previous experiences.
A man after my heart, he quickly replied, “Good thing you wore your camo pants then.”
“OMG, you’re right,” I laughed. “It’s almost like I knew!”
And to be fair, I did spend awhile selecting my outfit this morning, so maybe, just maybe, I did.