EVERETT, Wash. (AP) - What started out as just another early morning fare turned out to be an odyssey stretching about 2,300 miles for taxi driver Mark Forbes.
"When I look back at it, it was one of those cab rides that you think about, but you never realize it's going to come true," Forbes said. "I think every cab driver has a once-in-a-lifetime trip."
The 62-year-old cabbie was nearing the end of a 12-hour shift April 10 when he picked up two men at a Days Inn and one asked to go to a Sikh temple near Seattle, about 25 miles to the south.
After they had gotten a few miles south, the passenger changed his mind and said they wanted to visit his brother in Milwaukie, a Portland suburb.
Once the 1991 Chevrolet Caprice Classic got to Portland, the passengers used Forbes' cellular telephone to call for the brother for directions that didn't line up with the streets.
"Are there two Milwaukees?" the taller passenger asked.
"Yes," Forbes said. "There's another Milwaukee. In Wisconsin."
"How much for you to take us there?"
Figuring it had to be close to 2,000 miles to Milwaukee, the driver asked for $3,000, a discount from his normal rate of $1.60 a mile, and the two agreed.
The trio arrived in Milwaukee the evening of April 12. The bill was paid and Forbes began the long trip home.
But he said his view of the job has changed. Now, he says, when a fare asks to go to the mall or a restaurant, he thinks, "Is that all?"
