Mental Health Charity Lyft Drive Day 14: 820 Miles SLC to Tucson
- Today (July 6):
- Miles Driven: 820
- Cities: 2
- Time Taken: 14 hours
- Total:
- Miles Driven: 9975
- Cities 44
- Time Taken: 196.0 hours
- Read more about my trip across 65 Lyft cities here:
- How you can support or donate:
Overall, I have been making great progress and today luckily was no different. It was definitely a long driving day since I had to go down to Tucson and then around towards San Diego. It would also be one of the hottest days for me since it was over 100F in Las Vegas and most of my trip would be south of there. Luckily, my car was able to handle the temperatures easily. My car coolant temperature never budged above the normal setting, but I was driving 75mph most of the time.
I made my way into Las Vegas with the Lyft app on but I didn’t get any pings, which was odd. I turned on my passenger app on my other phone but couldn’t find my car. I knew that it was due to local regulations that I couldn’t drive here so I turned it off and took a few pictures of the Vegas strip before visiting some family in town.
After I had some lunch, I made my way down to Phoenix. I have done this drive before when I made my way to Grand Canyon National Park a few years ago. There isn’t much to see going towards Arizona and a bit less going through Arizona. It was nice to see the desert landscape with cactus and other desert plants, but not much terrain to speak of.
I drove through downtown Phoenix and waited for a ping. I checked my passenger app to make sure I was actually still online. I then got a ping from a few blocks away at the Casino. I picked up a lady who worked at the ticket office there and was going home. She normally has her parents drive her home but occasionally she uses Lyft when it is late. Once I dropped her off, I made my way to Tucson.
It was a nice drive down to Tucson. It was almost all downhill and you can see Tucson to the right of the road but about a few hundred feet lower. The entire US86 area seemed to be in a valley below I10 coming into Tucson, which was pretty cool. Once I got into town, it wasn’t long when I got a ping a few blocks away. She was a behavioral therapist who had Wednesdays and Thursdays off and she was heading to a bar to meet with her friends. She noted how it was pouring rain just a few hours ago with some localized flooding, but when I drove through, there wasn’t much water on the ground since it was still 99F at 11pm.
I wanted to get into California to avoid the heat, but I only got as far as Gila Bend. I slept in my car again, but this time I kept the engine running for the air conditioning. I only used about 1.5-2 gallons of gas, so it only cost me about $4 to sleep in my car, which is much cheaper than the $60 for a motel room.
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 traveled 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.
