Mental Health Charity Lyft Drive Day 6: 750 miles through Ohio
- Today (June 28):
- Miles Driven: 750
- Cities: 8
- Time Taken: 17 hours
- Total:
- Miles Driven: 3625
- Cities 24
- Time Taken: 83.5 hours
- Read more about my trip across 65 Lyft cities here:
- How you can support or donate:
I woke up around 8am and started driving. I knew I had a long day ahead of me since I would be going through so many cities and I wasn’t sure if I could make it through all the cities.
My first stop was in Lexington, Kentucky. I managed to get a ping a few minutes away on my way into downtown. I was driving a young lady to work about 2 miles away. She was saying how she was still working on getting her license and that she was concerned about the parallel parking. I was surprised they require parallel parking for her driving exam.
Once I dropped her off, I was off to Cincinnati. It was a short drive to Cincinnati, but I had to wait a few minutes downtown to get a ride. I got a ping from a nearby suburb about 3 miles away and dropped him off from where I originally started in downtown. He was a SAP consultant working for Procter and Gamble. He was explaining how he helps them manage their data. He seemed to be put here on assignment. He was on the phone for half the time (most likely work related). Once I was finished with the ride, I promptly left the city and headed to Columbus, Ohio.
On my way into Columbus, I got a ping from a distant suburb. I picked up another young lady and she wanted to be dropped off at the local library. She said he normally uses it on campus when she was in college but she comes here every once in a while when she was back at home with her parents for the summer. I was surprised people her age use a normal library. As soon as I was done with this trip, I headed to Pittsburgh.
As I was driving into Pittsburgh, I got a ping in a nearby suburb before I got close to downtown. As soon as I pulled off the highway, I saw my first “Steeler Country” banner. That didn’t take long at all. I picked up another young woman to fetch her car from a nearby bar. She normally has Mondays and Tuesdays off so she was at the local bar last night. She left her car there after she drank. It was a short trip, but used it to explain how I was driving for charity. She gave a few dollar cash donation. Once I was done with the trip, I grabbed a quick sandwich from Subway and headed to Cleveland.
By the time I got into Cleveland, it was about 5:30pm so I had just missed the peak of the night time commute. I sat in downtown for about 10 minutes and got a ping from a block over. I picked up an event organizer from her condo downtown. She was headed to an event space in the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood of Cleveland. She was hosting an event for local entrepreneurs in Cleveland. She noted how she liked the Lyft app better since it was easier to use. She said the Uber app had too many choices and she didn’t even know what many of them were. Uber puts in the names but doesn’t say what the services are, which can be confusing for many people. After dropping her off, I headed to Toledo.
I had to drive around some traffic, but got to Toledo around 7pm. I waited around downtown Toledo (I wouldn’t really recommend it) and got a ping a few miles outside of town. Unfortunately, this was a really long trip. It was about a 45 minute ride west outside of Toledo. She is from there and we talked about my charity drive and also her goal to go to college outside of Ohio. She was looking at a culinary school and wasn’t sure which one to go. She had her sights on Portland, OR. She also said she hated living in a small town and wanted to get out. Once I dropped her off at home, I had to drive about 30 minutes back to Toledo so I could go up to Ann Arbor.
On my way to Ann Arbor, I got a ping from a small suburb about 6 miles from the downtown area. He was headed to his cousin’s house about 3 miles away. I had to do quite a bit of back tracking to pick him up, drop him off, and then head to Detroit. He used my aux cable to play some music and he was mostly on his phone most of the time. After this trip, I made a quick drive out to Detroit for my last ride of the night.
I got into Detroit around 10pm. As soon as I got into the Detroit area, I started to get pings from miles away. There were a few that were too far and they cancelled. I finally got one that was close enough and headed that way. Most of my pickups were at least 10 minutes away and 6 miles away, so this was not the most efficient way to drive on Lyft, but it was on my roadtrip. I rather have a trip that is a little further away than waiting an even longer time for a closer request. I picked up an older guy from the Chevy dealership. He had dropped off his Corvette for servicing and he noted how he is a new user of Lyft and really like the app. He preferred the Lyft app over the Uber app since it is simpler. I thought it was odd that a second passenger today said the same thing about the Lyft application. During the 20 minute ride north, we talked about cars. I told him about how to Tesla Model S is much cheaper now, especially used. We also discussed the autonomous driving feature of the Tesla and how one driver as asleep as it was driving through Seattle traffic. I also told him about the charity and gave me a $5 donation for it.
Once I dropped him off, I made a beeline south towards Indianapolis. I drove for about 40 miles before I got too tired to drive so I pulled into a motel parking lot and slept for the night. I was hoping to see a rest area, but I couldn’t find any.
How Can You Help?
I have set up a GoFundMe campaign to raise additional money for charity. It will be running for the next few months. Below is the link to the campaign:
GoFundMe Rideshare Dashboard Mental Health Drive
Even a dollar will go a long way so give what you can and it will be deeply appreciated!
You can also help by emailing ridesharedashboard at gmail.com with travel advice, what to see in each of the below cities and your best food recommendations. I have travelled extensively abroad, but I will be visiting many of these states for the first time.
Want to Know Where I am now?
I will continue to post regular updates of my trip on my Facebook Page and my Twitter feed so look there to keep track of where I am! I usually move through 4-6 cities a day so I’m definitely a moving target.
Have more questions about Uber or Lyft? Head on over to our Rideshare Driver Training Course! Driver Promotions- New Uber Drivers will get up to a $800 bonus after signing up: Sign up for Uber.
- New Lyft Drivers will get up to $800 if you sign up here using this link.
