SAN ANTONIO – While many people are still counting sheep, Jerry Valdez already has started racking up the miles behind the wheel of his cab.
For the past six years, he has been working as a taxi driver, mostly in the early morning hours. His day starts at 3 a.m.
“I'll get up in the morning, turn on my computer. If there's nothing around in the area where I'm located, I'll just drive downtown,” he said.
In the heart of the city, Valdez looks for customers, usually business people leaving conventions and heading to the airport.
He said at that hour of the day, especially, things can get busy.
There is nothing fair, though, about picking up fares. Valdez said the competition is fierce.
“(Drivers) can't sit around all day expecting the trips to come to you. You’ve got to go look for work,” he said.
However, Valdez isn’t always on the move.
He often spends time, anywhere from five minutes to three hours, waiting around for customers.
In any given day on the job, Valdez said he never knows what he’ll find--on the streets or in his own back seat.
“My first year I had a baby born in the back seat of my cab,” Valdez said. “She delivered. I was just helping with the after part.”
When that customer went into labor, he said, the baby’s father panicked.
Valdez had to step in, helping to usher a baby into the world while steering his cab toward the nearest hospital.
“I thought it only happened in movies, but this is real life,” he said, laughing.
He’s proof that the life of a cabbie also can be a real trip.