35. Swingers

Tonight, I picked up two couples from a very nice house in the hills. They obviously had money but decided to spend it on the low end rides instead of some high class vehicle. No problem for me.

As they got in, one of the women said “you need to meet our friend. He was a cyclist in the Olympics.” 

She went on to describe him as not having full use of one leg and one arm but developed a bike where he could still ride with the best of them. 

She didn’t say his name and I tried to see if I could find him online by the description, but no luck. She told her friends that he was a very spirited guy and last time he stayed with them, he biked to the top of the  area’s highest peak and back in 100+ degree weather and rolled in around 11am, around the time the couple was waking up. She also mentioned that he liked to pull pranks on people and at one Olympics, messed around with Michael Phelps, constantly pulling pranks on him. 

She said he would be in town tomorrow staying with the and that the other couple should meet him. He we truly inspirational. He was supposed to stay with them last week, but they were at Burning Man. 

The male partner from the other couple said, “Too bad he couldn’t be here tonight to go to this party…”

And the other male added, “Doesn’t sound as much fun since it’s now only topless.”

“Yeah, I got that email,” said the other male, “I called him and asked about it and he said it was because kids were being allowed to go.”

His wife chimed in, “He’s letting his daughter attend for the first time and she’s 19. Not a kid.”

Her husband then said, “19? Then she should be good seeing it all!”

“Maybe her parents don’t need her seeing them like that…” said the other wife.

They all had a hearty laugh. 

I’m not sure what this was all about but it seems it is my fist glimpse into the swingers scene in the city.

They continued their conversation talking about all the bars we passed and who owned what and which ones were cool (the newly renovated Golden Nugget got high praise from them for the ownership and renovations) and which ones were meh. 

One of the wives said she talked “owner to owner” with one of the people who owned a bar, so I figure she must have her own establishment, but no name was mentioned. 

I dropped them off at their location, which was a few blocks from the University, and wished them a fun night and to make good choices.

The first husband, who had been sitting in the passenger seat, laughed and said, “If we made good choices, we wouldn’t be going to this place!”

They later tipped me $15 on the app. Guess they were having a good time.