On The Road ep. 1 by Morgan P. (RR Volunteer)

*Morgan P. has volunteered for 2 years with RightRides and was one of the recipients of the Distinguished Defender award in 2006. The below submission was inspired by her navigator shift on 6/7/2008. To share your RightRides experiences with the world just send you story to erin@rightrides.org.

On The Road ep. 1
By Morgan P. (RR Volunteer)

I've been volunteering with RightRides for about two years, and I did a new thing last Saturday: I volunteered with someone I didn't know. This may be no big deal to many of the singleton volunteers out there, but I always volunteer with my partner. She drives, I navigate, or the other way around, and we make a really good Dispatch team (I get the callers, she gets the volunteers).

Not last week. There was an opening, and it would make the difference of a car if I could do it...so I said OK. I was a little nervous - I'd have to figure out who Toby was, and hopefully he was a good driver, and was OK with my laid-back navigating style (I don't really have a preference for driving through Brooklyn or on the BQE to get from Williamsburg to Park Slope, depends on where we are and what we feel like...). And what did he think of snacking in the car? I figured just to be on the safe side, I'd munch on my way over.

I got to the garage (five minutes later than I had hoped due to the wretchedness of the 8th Avenue line), and saw someone walking away from the trunk with the green bag. I was the green navigator - I knew that must be Toby. We introduced ourselves, and I was reminded of one of the reasons I really like RightRides - the volunteers rock! It takes a special person to give up a Friday night to make sure people get home OK, and it was really fun to get to know another volunteer.

We took six women home, drove over the Williamsburg Bridge six times, and got to know a little more about each other. Turns out, we feel much the same way about gentrification, the financial district, and banana chips. And while there wasn't the same vibe of driving around listening to the radio that I usually get, there was this really fun getting to know someone who I probably never would have in another setting. I guess it doesn't have to be the first date to get the jitters!