Stuck on the Road!

Stuck on the Road!

I left for the golf course Saturday around noon.  Not to play, just to hit the range and practice green.  I'm retired and don’t want to make it more crowded on weekends for working people.  I’m thoughtful like that…also it’s $10 cheaper to play on weekdays.

I stopped for gas on the way, put $20 worth in my Jeep, paid and then tried to leave.  Dead!  The car did not turnover even a click.  I figured the battery contacts needed cleaning, maybe due to the high heat and humidity.  The station was gas only, they had zero tools.  I was calling Mrs. Cranky to bring some tools when the dude in front of me at the pump saw I was having trouble.  He had a trunk load of tools, and he offered to help.

It is amazing to me how when you need help, there is always someone around to lend a hand.  There are a lot of really nice people in this world.  With his help I cleaned the connections and the car still did not start.  We tried to jump the car just to confirm the problem was not the battery…it was not.  I was still stuck, but thankful to have ruled out the battery as the problem because this guy went out of his way to help.

I called AAA and within 2 hours the car was towed to a service station. Mrs. C picked me up and I am home typing.  I don’t know when I will get the car back or what will be the damages.  I did figure the problem was with the shift.  The car was in “Park” according to the shift indicator but was really stuck somewhere else.  The car will not start unless it is actually in park.  The shifter would not move.

My baby being loaded on the flat bed

Anyway, when I know what the problem is and it is fixed I might post further on my adventure.  In the meantime, it got me thinking how when people are in trouble there always seems to be someone to stop and help.

Many years ago I was driving to my mom’s house on the Eastern Shore in Maryland.  It was a 3 ½ hour drive and about an hour away my car just stopped running.  From 65 mph the engine just stopped and it was not going to start.  I pulled to the side of the road, checked under the hood and sure enough, the engine was still there and it was not running.  That was the extent of my ability to trouble shoot the problem.

This was in that hard to believe era of no cell phones and I was on a country road, maybe five miles from a service station.  I surveyed the situation for maybe five minutes before starting off walking for help.  Before I took step one, a car pulled behind me and a nice lady asked,

“You need help.”

“I need to get to a phone to call for help, I would really appreciate a ride to a service station.”

The lady ignored my dirty sweaty clothes and general hobo like unkempt appearance and just said, “Hop in.”

She didn’t take me to a gas station but took me directly to my mother’s house probably an hour out of her way.

“I drove by and it looked like you were stuck so I turned back to see if you needed help.  I have a son about your age, I’d like to think someone would stop to help him if he was stuck.”

I forget what the problem was with that car, I think it had something to do with fuel injectors. 

I don’t remember how much it cost to tow and fix, more than I could afford at the time.

I will never forget the kindness of a nice older woman who was willing to turn back and help a dicey looking person on the side of the road because her son could someday be in the same fix.

This just in:

Within two hours of my tow the service station called that my problem was fixed.  A shift cable popped out of the something-or-other and they popped it back in, made sure it was secure and it is just fine.  Cost of tow with AAA membership…zero.  Cost to pop cable back into the thing-a-ma-ding…$62.50.  Nice people that stop and help…PRICELESS!