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Sarah, Bobby McGee and Victorian Light Opera



I had been up the previous night with food poisoning symptoms and had gotten little sleep.  I only had an early morning run of picking up a five-star client at his home in the Healdsburg area at 6:00 am, and then taking him to his office in San Francisco.  Done for the day and home by 10:00 am.  Easy Peesy.

Upon completion, Dan, my friend and owner of the limousine service, walked up to me cursing madly.  It appeared that one of his reservationists had booked a run at too low a cost to make it profitable, unless Dan, himself, drove which would eliminate all labor costs.  

The run needed to happen soon, but Dan was now involved with other, pressing business needs which were preventing him from taking off on this transfer run, from Sea Ranch to San Francisco.  He must eat the bullet on this one and do it as a loss.  He didn’t have time to get another chauffeur and there I was, finished for the day, with nothing to do and about to head home to my pool.  

 “Ferris, Can you do me a favor?”, he asked and I hear about his situation.
 
I owe Dan a favor because he cut me some slack recently on an issue with one of his new Sprinter limo buses.  I think about it and state, “Let me see if I have this correct.  You want me to take off right now, on this beautiful July day and drive one hour up the coast along the coastal highway, looking at waves and waterfowl, to pick up a couple and then drive back down that same, lovely coastal road, continuing on over the Golden Gate Bridge and to finally drop them at the downtown Marriott.  Is that correct?  Well, seeing that I owe you a favor, this is what I’ll do.  I will take that run off your hands and do it for the tip only.  How’s that?”

Dan, a former Sonoma Sheriff who maintains his still-a-cop attitude complete with steely focused cop eyes that suspect everything, forced a small grin and stated, “Ferris, I could just kiss you right now.  Oh, by the way, I took them up the coast and you’ll be lucky to get ten bucks out of them."  He snickered and then added, "Thanks, I really do appreciate it.”

I quickly prepared the Lincoln and took off for the coast and points north.  It was indeed an incredibly beautiful day and I was lucky enough to have packed my iPod and this Lincoln had an AUX input so very quickly, Bob Dylan, Warren Zevon, Lou Reed and others had me in full vocal sing-along madness.

I had time for a few ‘selfies’ with the waves and rocks in the background, as requested by a friend and also enjoyed a brief 15 minute power nap, which refreshed me immensely.

I made a stop in the Fort Ross store to make a bathroom break, picked up a coffee and a bottle of Pepto, since I was still fighting an upset tummy.

Upon arrival at the residence, the owner greeted me and signed the paperwork.  It seems that I was going to transport his older brother William and his sister-in-law, Sarah today.  I loaded their luggage as this much older couple, slowly moving on their canes, approached and I assisted in seating them both.

As we started to depart, I mentioned that they could listen to their music via our blue tooth and auxiliary links and, obviously, this went right over their heads.  I then mentioned that I had my music system plugged in and, with over 5,000 tunes on my very eclectic iPod, I could play whatever type of music they’d like.  I mentioned Jazz and classical and opera and William, not really interested, just said to play anything.

I then happened to mention that I also had the complete Gilbert & Sullivan catalog and before I could finish, Sarah was giggling like a child and, in such an excited and girlish voice, exclaimed, “Oh!  Whoopee!  Whoopee!  Oh,  please, please."  She actually said 'whoopee', and twice.

I hit play and we were off and down the coast.  I must have had the shuffle still on as all the G&S music was just randomly being played.  At first, it was the songs that most of us recognize, such as “Model of a Modern, Major General” from Pirates and “I am the Lord High Executioner” from the Mikado.

Sarah knew all the lyrics and she sang along in sweet, angelic voice.  William just gazed silently out the window.

When the mix got to the more obscure work, such as Iolanthe, The Sorcerer and Yeoman of the Guards, Sarah still knew all the lyrics and she continued to sing along in her sweet voice.

I told her I was very impressed and she answered, “I fell in love with Gilbert and Sullivan when I was 8 years old.  Oh my!  That’s over 70 years ago.  I haven’t really been able to listen to them in, well, I just don’t know how many years it’s been!  This is just so wonderful.  Thank you, Ferris, thank you!”

We made a stop in Hitchcock’s old hangout of Bodega Bay.  While they were hitting the facilities, I found a much needed organic coffee barista and had him craft me a large Cappuccino.  

Soon, we left the coastal beauty and headed inland to join up with 101 south and the Golden Gate Bridge.

Upon dropping my new friends at the Marriott, Sarah embraced me warmly and thanked me so much for the trip, “It was the best ever!”  William shook my hand and proudly handed me a $20 tip.

It was now the height of the rush hour but my limo has that great “limo tint” so I cheated a little and drove solo in the northbound carpool lane. 

 The day was catching up to me and I exited the freeway in San Rafael.  Minutes later, I was parked in the shade overlooking Frank Lloyd Wright's, blue domed and spiraled, Marin Civic Center and I fell into a deeply refreshing power nap. 

Twenty minutes later, I was once again northbound and had Messieurs Dylan, Zevon and Reed to accompany me back to Santa Rosa, my pool and into an early bed.

All I could think about was what a great day this had been and, to think of Sarah as a grown up and aged Bobby McGee, who literally “sang every song the driver knew.”

Freedom is just another word for days like this; where the smell of the sea breeze, mixed with strong coffee, combined with the open road along the coast and added to the warm embrace and timeless laughter of an 80 year old woman.  Today was simply priceless and infinitely more rewarding than just a few bobbles of coin.  

 This is why I do this.  This truly beckons to the spirit of this blog.  This was Ferris being Ferris.

 With that said, let's just let Janis take us out.

 La Da Da, La Da Da Da, La Da Da, Da Da Da Da.
La Da Da, Da Da Da Da Da, 
hmmmm Bobby Mcgee, yeah.



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