It was 11:30pm as I began accelerating up to the speed limit, aimed the vehicle to the north and then down the ramp towards I-45 from Business 287. The app was already active so I entered the destination address and went "online". There was the usual flurry of activity on the screen followed by the confirmation that I was now online. I noticed a light out of the corner of my eye to the left and turned to see a moon that was not going to be full tonight. "Good", I thought to myself. "No crazy full moon bullshit tonight." Dallas Texas, you are about to have a guest Uber driver tonight!
I had been planning this for quite some time and although it was late, I was going to go ahead with the plan as long as I didn't feel like I was forcing the issue. Now, I was only a few moments away from realizing the adventure of rideshare driving in a different city for the first time. About 30 miles out, the active map on the display jumped to life and the targets came into focus. There were surges in what appeared to be DFW Airport and just east of downtown Dallas. I suspected that there were more specific rules at DFW Airport, which I later confirmed, so I begin anticipating the first pickup would occur as I approached downtown Dallas.
As I crossed Loop 635, still considerably south of downtown, the first request came in. It was actually a good distance away, further that what I had seen in the past for a regular Uber X request. It made me wonder if rideshare companies are being as successful as they would like to be in covering the massive area that is the DFW metroplex. The route took me across south Dallas from I-45 over to I-35. Just moments from my arrival at the pick up address, I recive a phone call that takes over the screen from the app and leaves me blind. It is my mom and she is worried and asking where I am. I immediately have multiple flashbacks to high school days. The only difference is that we had no cell phones back then and the question that was asked was "where have you been" instead of "where are you at". I laughed to myself thinking, "Wow, we have advanced". "Now parents can be proactive and find out what you are doing in present tense instead of having to wait until it is over and you are back home". "I am driving mom. I told everyone that I would probably do this tonight." She said that she did not know and was worried when she couldn't find me in the house. I told her that I had to go and would see her later. I laughed to myself again thinking about being 57 years old and having my mom call me at midnight and ask where I was at.
Picked up the riders and following the route on the app, jumped right onto I-35. About half a mile later, we were at a dead stop. It took what seemed like an eternity to move up so I could exit and take an alternate route. Then I saw the cause of the delay. Construction! Or in this case, destruction. The alternate route that the app was suggesting wanted me to turn left and back over I-35. This wasn't going to happen. The work area was more lit up than a Friday night football stadium and I could clearly see the "wrecking balls" were hard at work. The only thing that was left of the bridge over I-35, that I was being prompted to use by the app, were 6 concrete columns sticking 20 feet up in the air. I picked my own alternate path and in seconds we were past the delay and once again heading in the direction of downtown.
The maze of freeway intersections in the Dallas downtown area has always been challenging. Apparently they are equally challenging for the app. I ended up on the incorrect freeway and had to circle around and try again. This doesn't happen often but is always embarrassing regardless of who or what is at fault. We pulled up to a traffic light and the lady passenger commented that she did not understand why the app wanted us to go right when we should go left. I asked her if she could guide me the rest of the way and I would end the trip. That would free us from the confused app and make up some of the cost associated with the previous small error. She agreed and guided me into Deep Elum for the drop off.
I lived in the Dallas Ft. Worth area for almost 30 years. I could not believe that I had never been to the nightlife hotspots before. I knew about them but had never been. The next pick up was in Cedar Springs. Tons and tons of people and since the streets were not closed it was similar to what would be experienced on busy West 6th street in Austin. The riders could not find me and after a great deal of coordination, we finally linked up. Their drop off was in Carrollton, which is where my destination address was set for. After dropping them off I took a break for a couple of hours and then started up again.
The next pick up was from the XTC Cabaret. I never realized how many vehicles this place can park and certainly don't see how that building can hold that many people. The riders appeared to realize this mess and met me on the frontage road where I was waiting in the line. They began talking about how the place was a big shit storm and all kinds of things going on. They were complaining about one thing after the other. I finally cut in a asked, "hey, how were the girls"? My question finally drew some positive comments from them.
The guy's hotel was very close by. After dropping them off, I was going to try and make a run for it to get further from the strip club but I didn't make it. I texted the rider and suggested they come to the frontage room as it was easier to pick up there. The rider responded to come to the club. This time I had to fight my way into the parking lot and over to the club to pick up the riders. Fourtunaly they ended up meeting me in the parking lot just I had negotiated with security to move the cones and let me closer into the front drive of the club. The riders were one of the female employees and a male friend. During the ride it became obvious that they were friends and had been friends for a while. Very well spoken and polite. Their drop off was further away and that got me away from that madness.
Had another request that was from a distance. Upon arrival he was setting on the curb in an industrial warehouse type of area and no clubs anywhere around. Perhaps he was just getting off work. I didn't ask although we did talk quite a bit. He was interesting to talk to. When I dropped him off, it was almost 5:00am. I turned off the app and set my course back to the south so I could get some sleep.
A successful night although the first trip errors didn't set well with me as a good way to start of this adventure. I will probably do it again sometime in the near future.
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