MY FAVORITE RIDERS IN JUNE 2026

CONGRATULATIONS MS. SOUTH AFRICA

In 2022, my rider pictured below, won the Ms. South Africa Beauty Contest and I can tell you they made the right choice. I had the pleasure of driving her for an hour and she was absolutely captivating. Her dad encouraged her to enter the contest and she prepared for it for two years. She was motivated to do this because it involved a lot of community service and she wanted to help people in her country. She is the youngest in her family and has fifteen siblings.

When it came down to her and one other girl, I asked her how she felt and she said, "Oh my gosh, it's so scary." What did she win? She explained, "I got to use the newest Mercedes for only a year and I lived in a ten million dollar ranch penthouse. I received around $250,000 in U.S. money." She also represented her country in the Miss Universe Contest and she reached the top 16.

Today, she's a model, she was in a television show like "Survivor" and she was in a movie where she played the wife of a king. She has her own consulting business helping other young women prepare for beauty contests. The sky is the limit for her. Her picture is hanging in my car and I told her that she was one of the best riders I've had in eight years.  

"I'LL DO IT FOR YOU RIGHT HERE"

What would be a ridiculous thing for someone to do in my car while I'm driving 60 miles per hour to the airport? I picked up four Indian guys who became great friends in India and they were having a reunion since they all live in our country now.  They originally told me they were engineers, but then said they were doctors. One of them said,  "We're engineers of the body." I told them my best Indian stories and asked if they had a good one. 

One guy said, "Three of us are general practitioner doctors and one of us just turned 40 and is due for his first colonoscopy." I asked, "How do I know you're really doctors?" He said, "We can do the colonoscopy now. I'll do it for you right here." I said, "I've never had anyone do that here." He said, "There's always a first time."

They did not do it, but as I dropped them off I said, "Do you realize when I have one done next year and every other time the rest of my life I'm going to be thinking about you guys?." When my friend Larry read the story he suggested this: "Maybe you should pull into a Jiffy Lube to park during the procedure."

A MAN OF MANY, MANY TALENTS

His accomplishments and talents continued to pile up as I drove to his destination. He started as a trumpet player and toured for eight years with legendary Blues musician B.B. King. For the next 12 years he managed all the merchandising of the group.  He turned that experience into a successful mortgage company.  Today, in his seventies, he is a songwriter and music producer and is working on the soundtrack for a very big musical movie that will be completed in the next year or two.  His mantra for his music business, "Flawless Productions" is, "Music doesn't have to be perfect if it's flawless."

He talked about some of his experiences touring and how he viewed current music and that it's not as "organic" as music in the past. I could have talked with him for hours about music and he was kind enough to send me some things by email the same day I drove him. Wishing him lots of good health and continued success with his business.

TRYING TO RETIRE, SHE CONTINUES TO INSPIRE

What makes a great rider? Someone who is willing to talk, friendly, cheerful and has some very unique things to talk about. I could have talked to this rider from Las Vegas for hours, because she was so enthusiastic, full of life, and obviously very successful.  She said she has been an executive producer for corporate events for most of her 38-year career. She's also worked with several big stars such as Beyonce, Tina Turner, and  I believe Cher also.

She tried to retire three years ago, but one corporate account has convinced her to do their big event each year. I picked her up from the event that she ran for 900 people. She worked five straight 18-hour days to make the event a success.  Her main goal is to get someone to replace her, because she would rather be enjoying life and dancing which gives her a lot of joy. She gave me a lot of joy and if I had to come up with one word to describe this woman with an infectious smile, I would say-"WOW!" This will probably be one my top ten rides of the year, she was great.

ANOTHER OUTGOING LIBRARIAN

A few years ago I drove a very funny and outgoing librarian from Chicago and this month I met another one here in Colorado. She was a librarian for eight years and is now in childcare for very young children which she absolutely loves. We were having a good ride until we started talking about my mannequin in my car.  I told her that people tell me mannequin stories and she said, " I don't have any mannequin stories." She then proceeded to tell me this mannequin story as she was laughing and having a great time.

"I was afraid of mannequins so I bought a mannequin head to overcome my fear. I was teaching 14-15-year-olds so I put on a spaceman outfit and I attached the mannequin head to the outfit near my head and I chased them around." Her friend has a picture of this and I asked her to send it to me, because this "non story" is one of the funniest mannequin stories I've heard. 

MY CAMPING TRIP TO ALASKA

Obviously I did not go to Alaska, but my rider did with two friends. They rented a camping vehicle and basically "winged it" for a week.  They saw a, "ton of wildlife" of all kinds and traveled around in 16-20 hours of daylight each day.  It was an incredible experience and one of his friends completed his quest of visiting every state in the country.  His friend visited most of the 50 states in less than a year, traveling around in a Toyota with his dog while he worked in human resources remotely. My rider had just gotten off the plane and he enjoyed telling me about his trip almost as much as I enjoyed hearing about his adventure.

THE FUTURE BAKERY OWNER

I've met a lot of motivated young people and my rider grew up nearby and is extremely motivated. Her motivation comes from her parents who built a group of 32 restaurants that each make over a million dollars a year. "My family is really into football and I've been to five Super Bowls." I picked her up the morning after she attended the wedding of a Denver Bronco player.  Right now she's not interested in running a family restaurant so she's working in a hospital as a respiratory therapist and she has a small bakery business on the side. Her plan is to to own her own bakery and she's been doing well with jobs in her free time for the local government. There's no doubt in my mind that she will succeed with her goals, she's a hard worker and has a great personality.