No fuel...No vroom. Man its a really bad feeling being stuck like that. Not one person, not even state troopers stopped to offer assistance. I must of saw 6 or 7 troopers drive by, and a couple of locals. I'm searching for a submersible hose right now. I'll post if I find something.
I imagine most of us probably know that awful feeling. And I bet those who do, would've stopped to help. I got stuck like that once, when I had just started driving. I'll never forget it, and I'll always stop for others because of it.
I had been driving my dad's tiny toyota late at night in a ridiculous snow storm (Ironically, I was coming back from looking at a truck that I later bought - that truck was my first car) and it was hard to see the road. I had my drivers license for about a week, and I wasn't the sharpest kid ever. I decided I would pull over at a crossroads to read a sign. I knew the area well, but I could not see 50 feet and it was impossible to read the signs (I live on a prairie, there are almost no landmarks except signs
) As it turns out, I was alredy driving on the shoulder, and I "pulled over" into a ditch. My car was not hurt, and I had fuel - so I wasn't gonna freeze to death, but I was completely stuck.
I felt real weak and stuck and out of control. It's hard to describe, but It just feels awful (I know you guys probably all know the feeling). Thankfully, within 5 minutes somebody in a Lifted Chevy 4X4 came down the road, and pulled over. He pulled me out with a short strap like it was nothing. I must've thanked that guy 100 times.
About a year later, I found a truck with the hood up in the parking lot of a hardware store in the evening. As I walked to my truck with my little sister, I looked to see what was up. There was a HUGE Black man with a tiny adjustable wrench looking rather angrily at his engine. I don't know what the situation is around where you guys live, but where I live, there is still racism towards Black people amongst older white folks. I moved my truck to one spot over from the big Black guy, got out and started towards him. He saw me pull up beside him and looked at me like he was about to tie me in a knot. I can't really blame him, I was a young white kid - he was an older Black man - he probably thought I had come to make fun of him or something. I said something like "Hey friend, need a hand?". I've never seen such a big smile from a man.
As it turned out, he had the wrong battery cable in his truck (some mechanic screwed up one town over) and it wasn't connecting properly, not charging, and he wasn't too technically inclined. I had tools with me and sent him into the hardware store for some washers (to get his side post battery cable to fit flush against the battery), gave him a jump start and had him on his way.
While I worked beside him, he told me he was from out of town, just passing through. He had to be at work at 8 am the next day, and had a 6 hour drive ahead of him (it was already early evening). He had no idea what was up with his truck. This was his work truck and had all his tools in it. (I think he was a mason, he had shovels and stuff - all he had for mechanics tools was a cheap adjustable wrench). The way he acted made me think that he had probably been a bit down on his luck lately, and getting to this job was a big deal for him.
When his truck was running, it was just getting dark. The guy had a smile ten inches wide, shook my hand (I have sorta-big hands, this guy's hands were ginormous. He probably could've picked me up around the belly with one hand.) and told me that if he ever saw me or my truck in his town, he'd do something nice for me (I got the feeling he didn't have anything to give me, but I had never intended to gain anything in helping him).
Sorry to thread-jack. Just wanted to put it out there that it feels great to help others, and it feels great to get helped. Thanks for the great heads-up Jluv (the thank button is hiding from me again..) Take care guys.
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