TWO WOMEN AND THE RAVENEL BRIDGE
My story of the Ravenel bridge in Charleston is literally getting better every month. Last month I asked my trivia question on what the bridge was built to look like to a woman who won an art contest in 3rd grade and was driven by a limo across the bridge as the first car over it in 2005.
This month, one of my first riders the next time I drove in Charleston, I asked the same question to a young woman and she told me that her name was, "Ravenel." I asked her, "Are you related to Arthur Ravenel, who the bridge was named after?" She replied, "Yes, he's my uncle. He's 95, I was just with him for Thanksgiving." I was stunned by her answer and I had the picture of the winning picture of the Ravenel Bridge in 2005 hanging in my car.
The very next rider I had to tell the woman the above story. She told me that, "The bridge had to be named for Arthur Ravenel because he fought for twenty years to get it built." It cost $635 million to be built. The weekend before it opened they had the roads open for pedestrians to walk across it. This woman walked across the bridge for her family. She told me that she watched the bridge being built since her house and the family store was right next to the bridge. She told me a whole neighborhood was bought out for the bridge, but one guy would not move. They actually took his roof off his house and then he decided to pack up the car to leave. She said, "As a child I also saw the two bridges before that built in the sixties." She is writing a record of her old neighborhood so her family will have a history of it. Seventeen years after it was built, I have a pretty good story too.
THE PROFESSIONAL CORNHOLE WOMEN
One of my last rides of the year turned out to be one of the most interesting rides of the year. The two mile ride was with four women from Ohio and Michigan and it was filled with a lot of energy and enthusiasm. I took them to their cornhole tournament in Myrtle Beach. I got a quick education and was told there are only about 250 professional cornhole players in the country and only 34 women, which includes the women in my car. They are trying to make it an Olympic Event in the future and they have appeared on TV on ESPN. They all have full-time jobs and travel around the country for tournaments and earn money. I looked it up online and found out that the best players make around $25,000 a year. One women's husband started playing first and she said, "I got sucked into this and then I got addicted to it."
The American Cornhole Association is located in Rock Hill, South Carolina and they host 25,000 tournaments a year. At a local tournament, a team of two can win up to $3,000. There are about 100,000 active players in the country. My riders were obviously having a lot of fun and they did not know each other before they started playing. Below is a picture of us after the ride. Wishing them all much success and I'm looking forward to a longer ride next time.
A VERY DIFFERENT WOMAN
In over 9,700 rides I have had maybe ten riders who would stand out in any crowd, on any day. I can tell as soon as they get in the car. It's like being on a roller coaster with your eyes closed and you have no idea where the ride is going, other than to their destination. I would love to have them all over for dinner and just sit back and watch. She said, "You'll never meet anyone like me," and she's right. The first thing she did was do a "Joey from Friends" impersonation which made her sound like a New Yorker, but she wasn't. She has lived in many places including Guam and Hawaii. She loved Hawaii and hopes to get back there next year. She still feels part of the Hawaiian family although it's been many years since she was there.
She was told that she couldn't have children, but she gave birth and has a six-year old little girl. I think her daughter is a lot like her mom. My rider remembers the first time she got, "A What The F_ _ _ _" look from her daughter. She told her boss to pick one: "I can control my mouth or my face, but not both." I could tell she has a strong work ethic and when I told her the she worked like a New Yorker, she laughed. She grew up in the South and her dad would always complain about "The Yankee did this or that." She found out only after he passed away that her dad was born in New York, so she does have New York blood and a whole lot more going for her.
LIVING IN SOUTH KOREA
Possibly the best ride of the holiday weekend was an American businessman who lived in South Korea for 16 years and a few years in China. He told me that his family "Loved living in South Korea. It was like being in the U.S. in the fifties." He worked for many years with one of the large American car companies. He said, "There are some countries in the world that people don't even know about." He took up biking there and once biked, "The four hundred mile border in five days." Just before the pandemic he tried to send masks back here, but South Korea was very strict about any masks leaving the country. He tried to warn people here what was going to happen, but no one believed him. When he arrived back in the U.S., he said, it was, "Culture shock." He was surprised that there were so many people who didn't want to work. He's looking forward to retiring in a few years, but for sure he's going to be active doing a bunch of things.
THE PALLET GUY
Having worked in a warehouse as a courier my last full-time job, I've moved a lot of pallets around. My rider was running a fun house and a guy who worked with him had a pallet company. They decided to join forces in the pallet business. They sell plastic pallets which go for $17-$250 per pallet. During the pandemic there business grew since wood pallets are much more expensive. Their marketing slogan is, "Wood is Not Good." Working together with his partner he's able to take off 13 weeks a year to follow his passion of traveling. He travels with a group of friends and has had some amazing experiences. One of his favorite trips was his first trip to Italy. They used an app to find people who like to have a meal with tourists. A small group of them had a five course meal with a woman who was a widow. He told me it was a great experience and meal. We ran out of time, but I know he's had a number of other interesting travel adventures.
MONSTER TRUCKS
There are plenty of subjects I know nothing about and monster trucks is definitely one of them. The short ride to the airport gave me just a little bit of information. If you don't know much about them, this is a definition: A monster truck is an off-road vehicle that is used for competition and entertainment. It has four-wheel steering, oversized tires, large, displacements V8 engines and a heavy duty suspension.
The woman I was driving told me that they were meeting with HBO to do more projects with them. She builds monster trucks and her brother does stunts in the trucks. I asked her how they got into the family business and she said that, "We traveled for two years with our family when we were younger." They are negotiating with the Discovery channel to do a reality series on their family.
ENCOURAGING RETIREMENT
The woman from Minnesota was fun to talk with on the long ride to Isle of Palms. Her and her husband may possibly move to the area but her husband keeps putting off retirement. A dedicated optometrist at for his whole adult life, he's been talking about retiring for several years and is now 67. I talked with her about my semi-retirement and many of the things I've learned from other riders about being retired and being active in several things. He has a bunch of hobbies and he should have little trouble adjusting even if he works or volunteers a couple days a week. I asked her if she wanted me to write a note to her husband and she said yes. This is what I wrote: "Your wife was delightful to talk with. Start retiring and spend the rest of your life with her." She was very happy with the note and hopefully she will encourage him further.
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