How Limousines Work

a spokesperson for Downe. Amy Saiderius Jerry Blank, Oh yeah, they're one and the same. Yeah, I love Amy, Saidaris. I like the Siderus is some people, don't, aren't they fighting? Oh? Amy and David like a lot, David and everybody else. I think he wrote like some New Yorker article about his stid sister. There's sister who I think I can't remember what happened, but she wrote like a memoir about her,

and I think the New Yorker. They got mad and the rest of his family like called him out on like the inconsistencies and errors and and facts, and maybe they were tired of it because all he's done is right about his family. Yeah. I guess they're like, that's it, David. Yeah, no more, we're done, cut us in or we're gonna cause big trouble for you. I was about to do my David Sadaris and then I realized, like, I don't do it, David Sadarison. I could, but yeah, I'm not

gonna go there. So limos. Yeah, at least some of the saidarus Is ride around in limousines. I bet they have, uh, and I can guarantee they have because Chuck, It turns out the definition of a limousine is way broader you would think, Yeah, it's It doesn't necessarily mean some super stretch No, but it can sure. Basically, a limousine technically is any car with a roomier back seat than the average car. And if you throw in a driver, you you there's nobody who's gonna say that's not a limo.

You can be like, yes it is, yea and be right. Yeah. Like technically, if you want to get a hire a town car to take you to the airport, technically that's a limousine. Yeah, you know the car services in New York, those are limos. That's right to have me in Atlanta too? Do they have a car service here in Atlanta? Are you kidding me? All I see are just the worst? Oh yes, yeah, yeah yeah, because there's a special tag. Yeah. Did you know that Atlanta taxi drivers are the worst

taxi drivers on the planet? Um? Have you noticed from experience that it's pretty bad? But I just uber it now that's different. Yeah, that's different than the taxis. Oh no, that's what I'm saying. That's why I uber it because they're different than the taxis. Yeah. Seriously, anybody who comes to Atlanta, if you make it out of Hartsfield, look around at the town next season, how they drive, your

mind will be scrambled. It's crazy. I think cabbies are kind of like that everywhere with no no, like very frequently they are the best drivers in the entire city. They know where they're going. They don't just meander, they don't like drift into lanes, they don't drive super slow. I've had the opposite experience most most cabs that I've been in, the driver was pretty great. Usually when I'm in a cab in New York City, I wonder, is this the ride where we hit somebody? Or some other car. Yes,

but you don't. And they're going really fast. In Atlanta, they drive ten miles an hour and hit everything. They just sideswipe everything. Slow and lousy, come to it, Lanter. So anyway, we're talking limousines, man, let's get back on track. Yeah, I should say to I hate limousines. Like I love a good town car ride to or from an airport, but as far as a stretch limousine, I just hate that whole thing, just a little kind of hey, look at me. Oh, it's just dumb. It's longer, and it's

got a bar. It's just I don't know. I think the whole thing is stupid and like just part of that whole narcissistic culture that I despise. You know, I've got money, so I wanted to be in a longer car with a TV in it. Well for a very long time. If you wanted a TV in your car or a phone, yeah, your car better be double the size of the normal version of it. All right. I

just had to get on my soapbox. Like if it's for prom and you're all going in, like I get like a fun thing like that, but or a fur bus, the fur bus for your niece's birthday, Like we did that was fun? What you never done that? No? I thought you were saying we rented it for my niece's birthday. No, my niece's birthday. You weren't a part of it is my family, and I wasn't invited. Scott invited me. This

is before I knew you, my friend. Um. Anyway, I can see the fun of it occasionally, but just as a means of transportation, I think it's pretty not just got especially those huge, huge like hammer stretches. I just wanted like to de materialize those with my eyes. I wish I could shoot a laser beam and d me and expose the people within just all all of a sudden they're on the street with their bourbon and coke

on what happened to my super stretched summer. I wonder how you'd have to do that, so like your your laser be my eyes would have to just just fiberglass, like destroy fiberglass and steel and upholstery and rubber. Yeah, there you go. So uh. I think, as we've stayed in, a limousine doesn't necessarily have to be what you hate. It can also be just a car that's driven by somebody where you got a roomy back seat for the

passenger and I speak trunk. But even before that, even if you want to say, wow, it's a broad definition the limousine. Man, let's go even further back and include clothing as a limousine in the definition of limousines. That's right, because I learned, as I imagine you did, the word limousine comes from a town in France called Limousine. Limousine. We'd like to introduce our new principal Skinner. Principal see war Skinner. That's that is one of the all time greats. Um. Yes,

it was limousine without the E on the end. And like you said, the original limousine wasn't a car. It was a kind of like a little hooded raincoat that protected you. Yeah, like little red riding hood wore a limousine. Yeah. It was, yeah, a hooded cloak. And it was invented in limousin France, and it became synonymous with limousine France

because they called it a limousine. That's right. Uh. So as people started um building coaches that protected the uh, the rider, the passenger from the elements, They're like, wow, that's kind of like a hooded cloak in a really weird way, a little bit of a stretch. Let's start calling these limousines. Yeah, even if it was a horse carriage. Um, the idea that you were not driving this carriage and you had a nice little comfy seat that's covered in

the back, they called it a limous scene. And very frequently, probably all the time is a better way to put it. Um, The driver himself wasn't covered, like there was just the passengers that were covered. Now you'll get rained on and like it exactly. If you complain, we'll put you on the rack, that's right. And this continued until the they started building regular as I think Jonathan Strickland wrote this what he calls horseless carriages very cheekily a k a.

The automobile. Uh. And they called those limousines. And they started like very early on in New York City they started someone started a limousine service, I think in the twenties. Yeah, not too bad. Um. And these cars, the first early, the earliest limousines were basically built from the ground up, like you you built a car with the intention of building a like a stretch, longer car, a limousine as we understand it today. Um. And it might not be

like a stretch sedan. Some of the early limousines um looked a lot like station wagons or like an old model T station wagon, you know what I'm saying. Um. But very quickly these companies figured out that it would be vastly easier to take an already manufactured car and stretch it, basically do conversion, and that became the tradition

for a very long time, thinks, starting in the twenties. Yeah, and luxury cars obviously from the beginning where the prime targets, because this is what rich people were used to having their fannies sit upon while they were being driven around. So Mercedes, Benz and Cadillacs and Fleetwoods and le Baron's, we're all prime candidates. Even the famed Bentley had a limousine the ore Nag that they made only twenty of.

Did you look at that? It's pretty sweet? Yeah, I gotta admit, yeah, Vernon limousine guy, I was like, that's kind of nice. That's a very nice car. Uh. You ever written in a Bentley for any reason? I haven't either. Now you can get a Chrysler that looks like a Bentley. Was that the three hundred? I don't know I called I think it is the three Call him Fentley's for some reason. Um, John Varvatos had a three hundred edition?

Was that edition? He's a clothing designer, And in the ad for his edition of the Chrysler three hundred, it's him and Iggy Pop. Just randomly. Iggy Pop is in the ad with him. I guess they were getting wasted together that day that he had to film. Did he have a shirt off? I probably, I can't remember. Yeah, you don't seem with a shirt that much. Uh. He's very proud of his wiry, muscular body. I don't blame him.

All right, I think we've wasted enough time, So let's right after this break talk about that limo conversion because to me, that's about the most interesting part of limousines. All Right, we're back and we were talking about limo conversion. Like you said, early on, they used to build a limo to be a limo. Yeah, like just some guy would build a car from the ground up and he would build an extra long and that's where the early limousines came from. Yeah. It was a company called arm

Brewster in ninety eight where they Arkansas. It was I think they're American. I don't they are American. I don't remember if it's in Arkansas or not, but it was. Actually I found in a right up on the company from seven. It says three is when they built their first limousine, and that by at least ninety six they were doing conversions. Because there's a picture of an early stretched buick that they made, and they realized that conversions

was where it was at. Right, Let's like an existing car, cut it in half and stick something in the middle of those two pieces, right, because somebody else is going to the trouble of building, the engine of designing, like the dynamics of figuring out how to put the tires where and all that. Why do all that? Like, yeah, when you can just cut a car in half and yeah, add more car and then bam you have a stretched limousine.

I had no idea they did it this way. No. When I read it the first time, I was like, surely he just made a he's made a horseless carriage joke. I know this mus to be a joke as well. Now that's how a lot of limousines are made. And it's funny you bring up the three hundred Chrysler three D, said, the one that looks like a Bentley. Um, because I saw um, I guess a test of one of them

that was, like, Chrysler builds these three hundred stretch limousines. Yeah, so if you see it Chrysler three M limousine, it was built by Chrysler most likely, which is very unique these days. Right, Yes, because for the most part, like you're saying, the industry standard is some company will get a hold of a Cadillac or a Lincoln town car cut in half like you say, and then add to it and there's a stretched limousine. Yeah. The process goes

a little something like this. Uh. They stripped that sound like I was gonna sing it, and they strip all the interior out. They protect everything that's in there obviously. Uh. Strickland says, the use fire resistant paper on everything, which okay, sure, why not? I guess you don't want it to catch the fireway you're doing it. Um, you're going to mount it on a set of rails that can be adjusted to get your car off the ground. Keep it all

aligned properly, because when you're adding more car. You have to have it super aligned, and then they cut the thing in two pieces. Yeah, and not lengthwise, No, No, that'd be weird. I guess you can make it a lot wider, but you're you're looking for length and maybe that's the new limousine just like UM. Apparently the industry agrees that you typically can't go more than double the size the original size of the car UM. Other than after that, it's just probably not going to pass any

safety tests, which we'll talk about a minute. But once the car is cut in half, hopefully you remember to put the car on these rails that elevate it, and that some of the rails are attached to a dolly so you can separate the car to the length you want. If not, you have to basically throw it away and start. But so if you you pull one, usually the rear back from the front, and then you go and add UM rails basically the extenders that that are going to

lengthen the car. That's right. Uh, And like I said, your car is is temporarily braced to keep it from twisting or moving around because you want it like to be super exact. Obviously, because if the front of your car is a half inch to the right from the rear of your car. That's bad. Um. You then you're

gonna ad what's called the floor plan or floor pan. Sorry, and it's basically the floor of the limo, which will later on become carpeted and upholstered and everything, but for the time being, it's just a piece of metal that is the floor of your new edition. Yeah, and that is after you have done all the other boring stuff like extending the drive line, making sure you have because you know your wiring is not long enough. Nothing is long enough, and you just have to know because you've

just cut in half. Yeah, like he's a huge gap. You literally just have to extend all those parts. Uh, you know, the brake line, all that boring stuff. You have to just extend all that stuff. Yeah. I got excited about the floor pan and you stick in your floor pan and then you well, hold on, I want to say something about the floor pan and the drive line. So you've extended the power train, right, the thing that that big thing that like powers the back wheels that

no one knows what it is. Yeah, but you've extended that thing. Yeah, you just hear like powertrain warrantinam people are always liked, that's like the steering and the axles and the the thing that that spins around and spins your rear accle and all that. That's your power train. It's true. So you have to add to that because you've just cut through it again. And then you add

the floor pan, which is the floor of the limousine. Um. And do you remember that limousine fire from I think last year, a couple of years ago, which killed the bride to be on the San Mateo Bridge. Um. Apparently, they the California Highway Patrol investigated and ruled in an accident, but it was because the floor pan of the limousine that had been added later was up against the drive train and the friction created enough heat and spark that apparently there's a crack in the floor pan and that

heat came up and caught the upholstery on fire. And that's where the fire came from, was from this modification that had taken place years before. Well, which is one reason why, uh, Cadillac doesn't want their name on that limo, let's say, because it has been modified by someone other than Cadillac. Right, But Cadillac's name is still on the limo as far as the US government is concerned. Once you cut a car in half and extend it, you're

the new manufacturer. Cadillac says, well, that's great. We've got a bunch of yahoo's running around cutting our cars in half making them longer. But if somebody sees it on the road, or somebody sees a photo of it with the trunk burned out, they see the Cadillac. So Cadillac and other companies like four it have programs to basically certify train and go back and um investigate uh, the people who are doing these conversions. Yeah, because we didn't mention.

But when you make a car uh substantially longer and heavier, you might have to modify the brakes some You might have to modify how it turns. You might have to reinforce the suspension or the frame itself, because you can't just make a car twelve feet longer and expect it to behave the same way right exactly like the original stopping power was for the twelve ft car at the car So you do have to do some modifications. Yeah, but those companies are super smart to have official programs.

I think because every car, even if it is UH modified later, has to to be roadworthy, has to pass the federal motor Vehicle safety standards. That's right. Cadillacs program is called the Cadillac Master Coach Builder Program. It's pretty awesome. Ford has something called the Qualified Vehicle Modifier Program. And so basically they're saying, hey, if you're gonna be doing this, and you can legally do this, we're gonna make sure you do it right. That's right. Um, I guess what

time it is time to getting her lima. Not yet, it's time for a message preak all right. So we mentioned that the limo generally speaking, even though they've gotten ridiculous these days, UH, shouldn't be more than twice as long as it originally was. UH. And since you can't get that much longer, what you can do is, if you want to impress UH people and get their business is trick it out on the interior as much as possible. Yes with you name it, man, and they've got it. Yeah.

Plasma TVs and hot tubs and bars and sound systems and like anything you can think of. It's it's a it's littered with neon and tacky things. In my opinion, tachis the right word. I think, Yeah, not for me. Did you see um if you go to the Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum in Branson? Have you been there? I want to go to Branson some day before SnO has his own place. Yeah, I'm going. Sure, Humi's gonna

take me surprise. That hasn't happened. I'm kind of We've been going other places, but um, in Branson there's a thirty ft pink Cadillac Stretch limousine that has a heart shaped hot tub in the trunk area that also has Josh's forty birthday written. A birthday present would be the limo itself. I like to own it. Yeah yeah, just drive around Atlanta, that'd be awesome. Drive around anywhere you can drive around Branson, it'd be fine. You've got like

a hot tub in your car. Uh. I love how Strickland also points out, I don't know when this was written. Muslims also have telephones installed in case all fourteen of your cell phones are broken. I made note of that as well. All right, there's some other considerations if you want to drive a limo, because you can be a private person and drive a limo, just like hire yourself out or go work for some rich person. I thought you meant like the kind of person who keeps to

himself for herself. No, no, no, I mean you don't have to necessarily work for a limousine company. You can just buy your limo and say I'm I'm Chuck the limo driver, you know, or I want to long as you have the proper hat, that's right, You're fine and call yourself betterment. UM licensing, it depends on what states you're in. Uh, it depends wildly. Some states you can don't need any kind of special license. Some states just say fill out this form, probably give us fifty bucks.

Some say bring your limo and although, how would you do that if you're not licensed, I guess tow truck. Yeah, get your limo here and take this test in your limo to make sure you can drive that behemoth blindfolded. Blindfolded part of the test. So it all depends on what states you live in. UM safety standards are the same for any other car. Like we said, yeah, and and the car that you bought to convert already before you ever bought it went through the the safety tests.

But now that you've converted it, it has to go through safety tests again, so they include things like crash tests. And if you're interested in that, there's Limo crash tests on YouTube. Does it show rich people inside like with their drinks flying around? Man? But you you uh, you're you're not down with the one percent, are you? No? I just think a crash test dummy and an evening gown might look funny. That's a funny you say that because one of the ones, Um, I guess it's some

Is it Australian Fifth Gear? Maybe it seemed like it was pretty cheeky. They were clearly drunk in the on the show, but it was like, um, it was a Limo crash test and uh they put their clothes their evening gown and talks on crash test dummies. So I mean, yeah, you have to look up Fifth Gear Limo. Um, I guess Limo crash test is what would bring it up. And yeah, they're clearly drunk because they spend the first like three minutes drinking and then mooning people out of

the limo. And I'm like, what where is this thing from? And I saw it was Australia oh, those wacky Aussies. But it's pretty cool crash test because they have some great cameras set up in like they don't put seatbelts on the on the dummies, they're just flying around. Yeah, it's pretty neat crash test. I do need to see that because that's exactly what I was describing. And there's

another crash test too, it's way more boring. It's just basically a series of still photos, which I guess you can make the case like that's what all videos are. But sure, this is like really slow still photos. And hey, listen, I don't want to We always say do what you want to do. I'm not gonna poopoo. If you want to go out and hire a limo and with your friends and drive around, get drunk and go to a bunch of bars, it's fine, you know, it's just not

don't expect me to get in the car. Although I would say the Wine Country limo is not a bad idea, oh sure. Yeah. In fact, I think people in Wine Country aren't too happy about them, you know, oh, because it's like party bus kind of thing. Yeah. Basically, well, hey man, if you like have wine tastings every five ft what do you expect. Everybody there seems very cool

because you don't want to drink and drive. We went when it was it was the off season, so I'll butt everybody was a little like more mellow because there weren't a bunch of tourists around. Oh yeah, no, but you're right. The people that live in wine country northern California, they're a nice laid back a lot they are fairly laid back. I think it's a good way to put it. You have the best job in the world. Um, we have the best job in the world. That's right. If

we only made wine. Um gas got something going in the toilet some pruno. Gas mileage is a big consideration because you're not going to get good gas mileage at all, and you may as a company or an individual, I have to pay an extra gas guzzler tax on each vehicle in your fleet. On top of that, it's basically like you know how you pay a lot of money for gas, Well, now you have to pay even more

money because your thing uses up so much gas. Although strictly mentions a m thirty two ft stretch Hummer Limo that a guy named Sean Murphy, he misspelled his own name. On the cool Fuel road trip he used, he drove hummer limousine that ran on um a bunch of different alternative fuels like biodiesel, methane, ethanol, vegetable oil, sugar. It could also use geothermal, solar and wind energy. And he got the limo up to seventy five, which sounds illegal

to me. Yeah, he's just not be driving a thirty two ft anything. Agree. Uh. If you are interested in owning your own limousine to be your own private little driver, it depends on what kind of you get. Of course, you ma can get one like a Lincoln Stretch for thirty to forty grand, or you may pay three thousand if you want that super stretched hummer with a hot tub. I have the impression that that the thirty grand Lincoln Stretched, like the hub caps come off when you take corners

and stuff like that. Yeah, and I also bet that the one of twenty Bentley's yeah, go for way more than three k each. Do you ever see someone driving around in an old limo. It's clear it's just their car. It's like a nine. That's pretty sweet. It is sweet, but at the same time, it's like that's a really poor choice, especially if like you're you're on a tight budget, right with streets? How much money do you spend on gas? Yeah, you know that's true. Should I shout to him out

the window? Should we talk about presidential limousines a little bit, because I think those are kind of interesting. Um. They call it the Secret seven and this great uh was it popular mechanics article um in nine the Sunshine Special, And up until this point, I think standard automobiles had been used to drive presidents around and shuttle them. At nine,

this is we need something for the Secret Service. And we have a president uh in a wheelchair that his name is Roosevelt, and he has certain considerations right, plus at least one attempt has been made on his life already, so we might want to think about adding a little more security to these cars. And that's exactly what they did. It was armored. The body was armored, was built by

uh coach builders in Buffalo, New York. Had oversize hinged doors, I guess to account for that enormous wheelchair that they had back then, and um, lots of armor plating and even bulletproof glass, um, which is kind of impressive. It looks like al Capone's car. If you ask me, it's pretty sweet. Uh. Then there's the Lincoln Cosmopolitan. Yeah, but

this is awesome. It was a Truman Presidential Um limousine, UM, and it was basically for every with every new limousine that came along, UM, there were new innovations that became heavier and more armor plated and just safer. And this one came with a bubble top UM because it was a convertible. But Truman realized that like if he had the top up when it was super safe, no one could see him. So he had the bubble top instilled, kind of like the Pokemobile. Yeah, that's what I was

gonna say. Is that what it's like? I think? So all right? Um? And that one UM was retired to the Henry Ford Museum, as was the Sunshine Special in Dearborn, Michigan. So if you've ever been there, you've probably seen a few of these on display. Kennedy's famous car that he was in in November twenty, nineteen sixty when he was assassinated was a nineteen sixty one Lincoln Continental convertible obviously, but it was still safe. Um, not with the top

down obviously, but they had certain safety features built in. Um. They had a rear seat that was well this was in a safety feature, but that had a rear seat that could be raised and lowered to give people a better view. They had a metal hoop behind the driver, behind the driver's seat so when the president's standing up they can hold onto something. But it was armored after his assassination with a permanent bulletproof hardtop, and then left

in the fleet, which really surprised me. I would have thought they would have completely retired that car or just giving it to a museum or destroyed it or something. But yeah, leaving in the fleet. That's Penny pension. Yeah, and that is in the Henry Ford Museum now as well. The Lincoln Continental that President Ford and Reagan, the same car that they were both shuttled into after assassination attempts famously.

This this, this is the limousine that reminds me of like Old Times Square in New York, like where like get case was set, you know like this. I never saw that. It's worth seeing at least once just to say you saw a basket case Old City Times Square. Yeah, I got ad just to taste of that. When I first started going to New York and the in the nineties there were there were still some peep shows and stuff around, and it was just starting to be like Disney five. As I said, I missed it entirely. I

did miss much. But man alive. You can go to Red Lobster there now. I know. It's funny how people pine like remember when it was crappy and those crime and drugs. I mean, I can understand being like, yes, this corporate stuff is just dumb or whatever, but people are very nostalgic for for old crappy times. Square Yeah. Uh. The nineteen eight three Cadillac Fleetwood was used in the early nineteen eighties, and that one one of those, there was a pair of them, was used in the movie

In the Line of Fire with Clint Eastwood. Yeah, pretty neat. Remember he played the the guy who didn't get to Kennedy in time when he was assassinated, haunted him. Oh was that his backstory? Yeah? And John Malkovitch was like a total weirdo. He was, right, who used a wooden gun. I don't remember a lot about that movie for some reason. It's a lot of detail, Josh. Then there's the Bush era. Yeah, Cadillac Deville, which is I mean, I associate that with Bush down I'm looking at it. Yeah, it was a

g m oh, I'm sorry. It was a Cadillac Devil, of course. But it was built on the frame of a GM SUV. Supposedly smart. Yeah. Um, five inch thick armor doors, bulletproof glass so thick it blocks out parts of the light spectrum apparently, so everything looks blue and maybe from the inside and you go insane. Uh. And it was rumored to feature a what they called a self contained passenger compartment with its own secure air supply. So I guess just like a chamber to hide someone

in inside there. Crazy. And then lastly, check the most recent one. Um came out in two thousand nine, and it's a Cadillac too. Um. And it came out I guess just in time for Obama's inauguration. Yeah, and this one they started to be a lot more secretive about, um, like how they're made. Yeah, exactly makes sense, Um, but they have pretty good speculation that you know, it's armor plated underneath all around. Um, they think it's diesel powered, but they don't know for sure. And uh, good luck.

Like this thing is like a tank on wheels. Good luck penetrating that Cadillac. You know. So there's one other thing I want to point out if you are into limos, especially extreme limos. There's another popular mechanics UM article called stretched out Tin extreme limos that you sent like Lamborghinis and stuff. Yeah, Lamborghini's monster truck and I looked it up. Apparently there's a lot of monster Chuck limos also found online. DeLorean limo. Oh wow, yeah, I'd like to see that. Yeah,

it's worth looking at um. There's a semi limo. Yeah. That one is basically like a large apartment on wheels, like you can have a party for fifty people. There's multiple bars. Did you see inside It looks like an apple Bee's on wheels. Is a fern bar. Yeah, there's a lot of like um polished brass railings and like the carpeting and the poulster. It looks like an apple Bee's. It's very strange. Well, you can't account for good taste. It looks pretty sweet though, I'm sure that anybody who

there's through like three three different lounges in there. Three and then a Mexican company converted us I think a seven forty seven O seven twenty seven into um a Limo took the wings off. There are TV shows out there that you can view all these things, uh stream everything you Oh, I'm sure. I'm sure. There's also TV shows about the people who repo them. Yeah to right. So if you want to know more about lema As, you can start by typing that word in the search

far how stuff works dot com. And since I said that it's time for a listener mail, I'm gonna call this funny homeless story, if there is such a thing. Uh this um April has been working in New York City, but I gather that she is in Atlanta and she's just there for work for a period of time. Dear Josh and Chuck, I missed the Old Times Square. She's

she did say that, No, I'm kidding. Um. She talks about how she listens to us on the train there in our commune, New York City, and she feels really bad for homeless people, but especially when she sees a

homeless person with a dog. Um. She says, after passing several homeless people in New York people dog combos this weekend, my grand plan is to stop at a pet store get some dog food and treats and have cash available for the next homeless pair so I could help out and hopefully you have a conversation with him to make them feel human for a little bit. This is April. You're awesome, by the way. Um. I bought my supplies, and two blocks from the store, I see a homeless

man with a husky, and I think perfect. One of my dogs is a husky, so I'm partial to them. After having a five minute conversation with Michael petting his dog, giving him dog food and some money for a nice meal, I get ready to leave, and as I'm about to walk away, he said, thanks for the dog food, but it's not my dog. I'm just watching it for someone in the building. Awkward. I ultimately asked if the dog had a home and food. He said yes, so I asked if I could take the dog food back so

I could give it to a dog in need. Uh. He agreed and hopefully he was able to get a nice meal himself and appreciated my conversation and didn't think I was too crazy. I then went on to walk thirty blocks to my hotel with a relatively heavy bag of dog food without seeing another homeless pet. Good thing because it didn't have any more ash with a person, and it probably would have been weird to give a person dog food but nothing to help him or her.

Um Me and my bag of food will be walking around various New York City neighborhoods this weekend though, because now it is my mission to help someone out. It's been a good little reminder for me to be thankful for what I have, especially as we approach winter up here. And that is from April Cummings. That's very nice of your April, very cool. I hope you find a homeless

dog in person that you can help out. Yeah, if you want to share a story about you how you're making the world a better place, we want to hear about it. You can tweet it to us at s y s K podcast. You can join us on Facebook dot com slash stuff you Should Know. You can send us an email to Stuff Podcast at how stuff Works dot com, and as always, joined us at our home on the web, Stuff you Should Know dot com. For more on this and thousands of other topics, visit how stuff Works dot com.