Point A to Point B: The Life and Times of an Accidental Uber Driver

It was the summer of 2016. The most expensive forest fire in US history raged in the remote tourist destination of Big Sur, California. The author, who is hyper-allergic to smoke, was forced to evacuate. Unable to wander far from home due to business interests, James Macfarlane fled from one Central California community to another, dodging fast breaking wildfires like raindrops. With a dwindling pocketbook and an aged car that died while in exodus, James had to come up with a plan. It took the form of a new car and an application to drive for the popular ride sharing service Uber. Over the next four months James gave over a thousand rides to fares ranging from the CEO of a billion dollar company, to a high-schooler who had missed the bus, to a baby-bag left in a restaurant by parents now a hundred miles away at the hotel (with a crying baby). Certified as an ‘Uber Wine’ driver, James also gave countless rides to fun seeking fares in California’s fastest growing wine region. Out of the experience came a wealth of “Uber stories”. This book is a collection of those stories. But it’s more. The experience was part of a journey James was set on, with much humor and wisdom emerging during the odyssey. While driving, nearly every passenger wanted to hear an Uber story, and many in-turn provided one as the process called life unfolded adventure in after adventure and mishap after mishap, along with a number of heartwarming experiences. It is the eternal flow of stories, and people’s interest in hearing of them, that sponsored “Uber James” to write this book.

James Macfarlane is a retired technologist, educator, and writer. He was first published in 2006 with a book on 'The machines that connect the internet together', for IT professionals (ISBN: 0471772739). He has since written on a variety of subjects from politics, to the economy, to his own spiritual journey. More recently James has contributed for 'Clean Technica' writing about the electric car, which he feels is about due to hit critical mass (under the pen name Steve Bakker, https: //cleantechnica.com/author/coastalcruiser/)