AN UBERLY DELUGHTFUL. EXPERIENCE

I'm on the road again, this time in NY for my god daughter Cate's wedding on Friday night. Cate and Kevin are getting married at a country club somewhere in the wilds of "up state" New York. I haven't been in this area since my college years back before the glaciers covered all of NY during the ice age.. (At least it feels that long ago.)
Since the wedding is UP here I figured I'd take this opportunity to visit with my Cousin Ann who I only get to see about once a year. I would fly into Westchester airport where Ann would pick me up and drive me to her house where I would spend the night. On Thursday Ann would then drive me to the hotel in Middletown NY where all the wedding guests are staying.  It was a great plan until Ann's husband Kurt had to go into the hospital for open heart surgery to replace 2 valves. The last thing they needed was a house guest so I had to find another way to travel the sixty odd miles from the airport to the hotel. My first thought was to rent a car but when I realized that Enterprise was going to charge me $220 for a compact car for 24 hours I decided there had to be a better way.
And there was !  UBER.  I knew about it, my kids use it, but this was an hours drive. Does Uber do long distance? I figured it would probably cost a fortune but at Dwayne's urging I down loaded their app and was on my way to a most delightful adventure !
When I got to the airport I got out my phone, put in my location and my destination and within 4 minutes Jose was putting my suitcase in his Honda CRV and we were on our way. Let me tell you how much I enjoyed that ride ! This young man of 30 something, married with 3 beautiful children, (yes, I saw pictures), was just fantastic. Naturally I got his entire life story along with a nostalgic tour of the Bear Mountain area. We passed the cemetery where my parents are buried, drove through winding country parkways that I haven't been on in years. The ride took us up along the Hudson River where we stopped at a scenic overlook so I could take a picture. The leaves are changing color so it was most beautiful and a real trip down memory lane   Along with our constant conversation I got to listen to beautiful Christian music that Jose composes and plays with his band at his church. This guy is a talented musician who realizes how blessed he is and appreciates all the gifts God has given him.
It sounds crazy as I'm writing this for you but that hour ride today was such an uplifting experience and I really felt as though my meeting this young man was a gift in itself. GO FIGURE !
And the best part of all this is that it only cost me a third of what the stupid Enterprise rental would have cost !