MY FAVORITE RIDERS IN JULY 2026

MOTHERHOOD AND TAXIDERMY?

My great conversation with a woman from St. Louis took an unexpected turn.  She's the mother of three young boys and she told me, "We'll eventually get a female dog to get another female in the house." She then explained to me that she's fascinated with taxidermy, which is the process of, "preserving, stuffing, and mounting animal's skin to make it look lifelike." She once saw a bunch of animals stuffed on a shelf at a bar she was at. She likes to take pictures of animals and think how they would look if they were mounted.  I think someone in her family has a squirrel that is stuffed around a stripper pole which she said was very funny. She was a lot of fun to talk with and I'm certain she would not hurt a fly.

A FLIGHT ATTENDANT LIKE NO OTHER

He told me he was named after his aunt, which in itself is unique for a guy, but he is easily one of the most interesting riders I've ever driven.  In his first two months as a flight attendant he absolutely loves it and when I asked what the best part was he couldn't say, because, "It would be like comparing gold and silver." I said to him, "I know you're intelligent," and his reply was, "Don't tell me that, it goes right to my thighs."

He said, "I revere Uber drivers because they sacrifice their time, car, and gas to get me to work." I asked him if he had a lot of good conversations with Uber drivers and he said, "No, not at all. I expected to just sit here in your car." He learned from his parents how important it was to have an "attitude of gratitude." He also said to me, "These days it's refreshing to see someone caring about something."

He said "sonder" was his favorite word. I looked it up and found out that, "Sonder: the word for realizing that every stranger has their own story." I always talk to strangers about strangers like this and of course it's in the title of my book. What my rider did not know is that the word was created in 2012 by John Koenig and of course I'm Jeff Hoenig. I could have talked with him for hours.  As I dropped him off he gave me the below badge he got when he was training in Texas. I'm not sure exactly what it means, but I'm going to clip it on one of my Elvis socks in my car and talk about him.

TATOOING ACROSS THE WORLD

In her twenties her career took an unusual turn. She told me that, "I 'whoopsied' into it." She was going to a tattoo artist and she was offered a job to work in the office.  She hated working in a clothing store, but she liked her new job. A year later the woman offered to train her to do tattoos and now, "I'm traveling the world and doing some tattoos in other countries." She has a goal to visit all of the seven continents before she turns thirty and she's well on her way to doing it.  She has been to 71 countries so far and also has a money collection from the places she has visited. 

IS SHE WONDER WOMAN TOO?

I've driven a lot of very unique people over the years, but my rider on a Saturday morning really surprised me.  She's a Regulatory Scientist who majored in bio-chemistry. She gets to read a lot of clinical trials in her full-time job.  She has a small thrift shop where she buys and sells clothes. She told me she was in a lot of dance competitions so I shared the funny comment a mom once said to me when I asked why she was in Myrtle Beach with her two daughters. The mom said, "I'm here for "The Future Strippers of America." " Her daughters were in a dance competition. 

The scientist then told me that she's been dancing for years in a club or bar, because she's, "An exhibitionist, and I love sitting down with the customers and talking to them." She also said she has seen many lawyers who are dancers also.  Unfortunately we had a short ride, but I wonder how she juggles three very different professions at the same time.

NOT JUST AN AUTHOR!

My last ride of the month with a local couple surprised me when I found out that the husband had just published a book, pictured below.  In addition to working full-time at an H&R Block, he started a nonprofit organization, "dedicated to empowering youth through literacy, financial awareness, and real world life skills." He gave me his book as a gift and I've already read it.  It's mainly for children between the ages of 8-13 and the foundation is called, "Fi2Bi," Feel it 2 Believe It." I told him I was going to display the book in my car and I'm very impressed about what he has started and wish him and his wife the very best.

"I WANT TO GET OFF DISABILITY"

My most inspiring rider of the month was a young woman in her mid-twenties.  She has an unusual disability which causes her severe pain in her spine. She's been on disability for a good five years and she's looking forward to getting off it. This summer she's been able to do some work at a summer camp working with kids and she loves it. As we talked I encouraged her and by the end of the ride she was talking about doing more work in a family business. I told her I was going to check on her progress if I get to drive her again-wishing her the best of luck.

THEY HAVE A HOUSE CHURCH!

The couple was heading home to Hawaii with their son. He works in the mortgage field and she is in marketing full-time, but in their free time they have a "house church." I had never heard the phrase before, but I looked it up to find that between 5 and 20 million people in our country attend a house church regularly. They have a group of about 20 adults and children who meet in their house instead of a traditional church. It was great to learn something new and see a couple working together so closely.

THE ENTHUSIASTIC ENGINEER FROM NEW JERSEY

She went to a military type technical high school and became very interested in water after taking several classes in water preservation.  Her four-year degree is in Environmental Engineering and she's been working in Colorado for the past four years. She said, "I wanted to help people and I'm helping farmers manage their water and be compliant with all the rules." She enjoys what she's doing, communicating  with farmers and running tests on their water and making a difference in their lives.   

The Unknown Amusement Parks

I'm not a big amusement park guy, although I'm a huge Disney World fan.  Living in New Jersey I did go to Great Adventure in Jackson New Jersey. The two most significant trips to Great Adventure was my second date with my wife of almost 43 years and the cute picture below is the two of us sitting in the trunk of my car. I think I was trying to get out of the sun. The other one was the time that I helped raise a significant amount of money by going on four roller coasters and that is still hard to forget.

However, there are some amusement parks that are underrated and not very well known.  Here are a few:

1. Dollywood in the Smokey Mountains: Country music legend, Dolly Parton, owns 50% of the park and it is located 25 miles southeast of Knoxville, Tennessee. It is a family oriented park with festivals, southern food, and incredible scenery.  It just celebrated its 40th anniversary.

2. King's Dominion is located right on Rt. 95 near Richmond, Virginia.  It is the largest amusement  park in Virginia at 400 acres and includes a 20 acre waterpark. It is known for its thrill rides and you can see the roller coaster from the highway.

3. Hershey Park in Hershey, Pennsylvania is not a secret to anyone living in the northeast.  They have the amusement park, a waterpark and a zoo. They also have something no other park can match, Hershey Chocolate. My most memorable visit there with our kids was when we arrived two weeks before the park opened, but the Hershey Chocolate Bar ride was open.

4.Luna Park in New York City? I had never heard of this, but I do know it as Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York. It is  right on the water with a boardwalk and it's been open 120 years even before Dick Van Dyke was born. 

5. Lake Compounce in Connecticut? It is the oldest operating amusement park in the country at 175 years old, older than our last two President of the United States combined. It has a wooden roller coaster which is only 100 years old and you can stay in a campground just outside its gates.

6. Story Land in the white mountains of New Hampshire? I never heard of this one.  No thrill rides here but the focus is more on smaller kids. Mainly designed for 3-12 years old so this one is very different for sure.

7. Silver Dollar City in the Ozarks of Missouri? This one is new to me also. It has an 1880 feel with crafts that are entertaining and educational.  They have many special events and festivals and also a few dozen rides.

8. Arnold's Amusement Park is located only seven hours from my house in Iowa. It has a roller coaster that is 99 years old and you can go in for free and pay for rides separately. 

9.Galveston Island Pleasure Pier I have hear of. It is on a pier over the Gulf of Mexico and the roller coaster takes you 230 feet above the water. There are a number of thrill rides and lots of games and good food too.

10. Silverwood Theme Park in Idaho? It's new to me also, but it doesn't have the crowds that other amusement parks have. (People don't know it's there?) It is one of the largest parks at 413 acres and has a lot of good sites to see.

If you want to go somewhere different take your pick and have a great time.

What Marilyn Monroe and I Have in Common

It will be 64 years ago in the beginning of August that actress and model Marilyn Monroe passed away at the age of 36. Her death was ruled a "probable suicide" from an overdose of sedatives. Two of her three husbands were very famous, playwright Arthur Miller and baseball great, Joe DiMaggio.

She was known for her beauty, but I had no idea that she was an avid reader as I am.  Her personal library consisted of over 400 books and today I have close to 500 books. She loved to read and she wasn't reading romantic novels she was reading mostly some of the great literature books of all time, unlike what I do.

I'm pretty sure I have never seen a picture of her reading, but there she is above with books all over the place.  Gale Crowther wrote a book, "Marilyn and Her Books," about her love of reading.  Supposedly she read for self-improvement to better herself and overcome her insecurities. 

The list of authors she read is filled with famous names such as Twain, Hemingway, Camus, Beckett, Faulkner, Dostoevsky, Shakespeare, Shelley, Milton, D.H Lawrence, and a lot of others.  How many books in her collection did I read? Here they are below:

"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn"

"The Sun Also Rises"

"A Farewell to Arms"

"The Great Gatsby"

"The Magic of Believing" (Self-help)

"The Little Engine That Could" 

I think I would read the book about her love of reading because it is not something most people are aware of.  She lived in 49 different places in her life and her books were packed up and they went with her.  After her death her acting coach inherited the collected and when he passed the collection was sold in 1999, thirty-seven years later.

I read recently that in 2023, 46% of adults in this country did not read a single book and yet Marilyn Monroe read hundreds of books in her short life.

What Did You Leave In Your Uber?

In 2024 there were 30 million Uber rides given PER DAY around the world.  Yes, per day.  When those rides were over, there are things left in the Uber.  Some of them are returned and some just stay lost. They could have been taken by someone else or the driver, because sometimes it's difficult to know who lost an item.  But what kind of items are lost?

The most common item is a phone with around 1 million phones being left in Ubers. The city with the most frequently reported items is New York City. (Miami, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles were the next on the list.)The other most common items are wallets, luggage, keys, headphones, clothing passports, eyeglasses, jewelry and laptops.

Personally, phones are definitely number one, but I've had keys, headphones, glasses, and also money.  Of course, my riders give me unusual things for my museum, including a mannequin which did make the list of unusual things.

When an item is returned Uber charges the rider $20 which goes directly to the driver unless they receive cash from the passenger. I had one passenger give me $50 and another everything in his wallet which was around $46.

What are some of the unusual things people leave in an Uber? You're not going to believe some of these, but this is an official list.  I'm going to list only 10 items.

Dentures with two teeth (Did they eat dinner without them?)

Oxygen tank (How far did they get without it?)

Live fish (I'm guessing they weren't sharks)

420 donuts (No milk?)

Two trees  (In the trunk?)

A dishwasher (How big was it?)

Shower pole (Is there a pole in your shower?)

Propane tank(I can understand that, they are heavy)

Meat slicer(Did they take the meat?)

A 75 gallon fish tank (They weren't holding it?)

Tell Her Your Good News

There is always good news, unfortunately we don't hear about it enough.  At 34 years old, Megan Keaveny was looking for some good news. She had posted flyers in New York City asking people to send her some good news, but she didn't get a very good response. So she made the below sign and stood on a corner and recorded people telling their good news.

The result was 78,000 followers watching her videos on TikTok and Instagram.  She works as a social media consultant and she wanted to convince people that the internet doesn't need to be a negative place. She said, "I want to build spaces for us to take deep breaths together and learn to celebrate one another as human beings again. I think there's a collective craving for belonging the times we're in."

How about that? Here's someone who is celebrating strangers in a different way than I do! People tell her about something positive in their family or with their health.  She explained, "I think it's beautiful for someone to invite me and a bunch of other strangers into these situation because it's really powerful to find hope together."

It is really powerful and I can relate to what she is doing and applaud her for her efforts.  As one of my riders said, "This gives me more faith in humanity."

 

GREAT ADVICE FOR EVERY AGE

There are a lot of interesting things you can find on the internet.  From time to time I'll see a video or list of things that people give as advice. This is one of those lists that supposedly someone made who is in their 70's and heading towards 80 and these are the changes he is feeling. This is a very good list for anyone to follow and worth posting.

1. After loving my parents, my siblings, my spouse, my children and my friends, I have now started loving myself.

2. I have realized that I am not "Atlas". The world does not rest on my shoulders.

3. I have stopped bargaining with vegetable and fruit vendors.  A few pennies more is not going to break me, but it might help the poor fellow save for his daughter's school fees.

4. I leave my waitress a big tip. The extra money might bring a smile to her face. She is toiling much harder for a living than I am.

5. I stopped telling the elderly that they've already told that story many times. The story makes them walk down memory lane and relive their past.

6. I have learned not to correct people even when I know they are wrong. The onus of making everyone perfect is not on me. Peace is more precious than perfection.

7. I give compliments freely and generously. Compliments are a mood enhancer not only for the recipient, but also for me. And a small tip for the recipient of  a compliment, never, NEVER turn it down, just say "Thank You."

8. I have learned not to bother about a crease or a spot on my shirt. Personality speaks louder than appearances. 

9. I walk away from people who don't value me. They might not know my worth, but I do.

10. I remain cool when someone plays dirty to outrun me in the rat race. I am not a rat and neither am I in any race.

11. I am learning not to be embarrassed by emotions. It's my emotions that make me human.

12. I have learned that it's better to drop the ego than to break a relationship. My ego will keep me aloof, whereas with relationships, I will never be alone.

13. I have learned to live each day as if it's the last. After all, it might be the last.

14. I am doing what makes me happy. I am responsible for my happiness, and I owe it to myself. Happiness is a choice. You can be happy at any time, just choose to be!

THE 250 MOST INFLUENTIAL BOOKS IN U.S. HISTORY

The Brooklyn Library just released a special list.  Put together by their librarians and some influential New Yorkers to celebrate the upcoming 250th anniversary of our country.  Here are some of the books I've read and a few surprising books on the list...in my opinion.

Here are a few of the books or topics that were missing: The bible, all the works of William Shakespeare, "Lord of the Rings", Harry Potter,  Mr. Rogers, Walt Disney, and anything on George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, FDR, JFK, and Theodore Roosevelt.  I'm sure there are others too.

"Team of Rivals": Doris Kearns Goodwin: The genius of Abraham Lincoln in keeping his rivals close by putting them in his administration.  It is a fascinating book to read for anyone interested in politics.

"The Elements of Style" Strunk & White: I read this in journalism class a very long time ago.  As a writer I really should have a copy of this, I'll have to get one.

"How To Win Friends and Influence People" Dale Carnegie: Published in 1936 and one of the all-time great self-help books which I have read many, many times over the years.  Highly recommended for anyone dealing with people and I will read it again.

"The Hunger Games." Suzanne Collins: Really? "The Lord of the Rings" did not make this list, this is one of a number of novels I question how influential they have been.

"The Story of Barbie and the Woman Who Created Her" Cindy Eagan: I would read it, but I've never heard it ever mentioned.

"The Monster at the end of this Book" The only Sesame Street book on the list I have read many times with my granddaughter.  I think this is an unusual choice.

"The Snowy Day" Erza Jack Keats: I have read it many times to my granddaughter and she loves it. 

"Sears, Roebuck, & Co. Consumer's Guide for 1894" An interesting choice, because it was where everyone got their goods through a catalog a very long time ago.  I have not read it, but I know what it was.

"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" Mark Twain- I read this a very long time ago and since I just read biography on Mark Twain I know it absolutely should be on this list.

"All The Presidents Men" Woodward and Bernstein-I have read it and watched the movie about the Watergate break-in and cover-up.

"Kitchen Confidential" Anthony Bourdain: I did read this and found it interesting, but one of the most influential books? If you say so.

"The Great Bridge" David McCullough: A book on the building of the Brooklyn Bridge I would read especially by this famous author.  How about the one he wrote on The Wright Brothers? Definitely should be on the list or the one on John Adams or 1776.

"Lies My Teacher Told Me" James W. Loewen" This book is about how history is taught. I wasn't overly impressed with it, but I read it recently. I thought he was trying to prove a point and stretching things a bit much.

"The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin" I have read this and it was terrific.

"The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" L. Frank Baum: A must to be on this list and his story on how he wrote it and the obstacles he overcame is almost as good as the story.

"Walden" Henry David Thoreau: I have read it recently.  It's a great story of living out in the woods and observing the simplest of lives.

"Common Sense" Thomas Paine: I did read this a long time ago, definitely a classic.