Saturday afternoon, I was headed home from a family gathering. Hot and tired, (I drew grillmaster duties) 98 degrees ~85% humidity. Took a little backroads detour as the main roads are all undegoing some form of renovation. Came across 2 young girls standing beside their car deck lid up and I could see the flat tire. I debated stopping but Chivalry is not dead in my mind so I stopped and offered assistance. They were quite thankful.

Neither had a working cell phone.... I was dumbfounded but they had been swimming and left them home. I one that I assumed was the driver asked if I could call her dad and have him come fix the car. She could not find a jack and told me she did not know what to do even if she found it but was willing to try.

I was familiar with the car and knew that the Jack was strategically located under the drivers seat and spare tire and tools under a panel. So I told her I would help and instructed her where to find the jack and tools and spare. Got everything set up and went back to my car and got a blanket to kneel on, that asphalt was sizzling. Cracked the lug nuts, located the jacking knotch and placed the jack and got the car lifted. Typical of aluminum rims, rim was stuck, no big deal, I have a 3# hammer and block of wood in my car.

Both girls followed me as I headed back to find my tools, They said they were really hot and would I mind if they stayed in the shade of my open hatch (rear door). I said OK and that it would only be a few more minutes. I was then told they had been there since 2pm (it was close to 7pm). I dawned on me that they we not sweating and I was drenched. Ture they were dressed for swimming but they should have been glistening. I offered water as I had a cooler full in the back. Told them to help themselves as I wanted to get done.

Went up to the car, got the wheel off, put the spare on and put everything away. Went back and said I'm done and noticed they had drank 6 bottles of water and both were now sweating. The girls thanked me and they went to their car and headded off.. supposedly to home.

I felt good and finishing my drive thought about a few things and the biggest thing that came to mind was the lack of/or unwillingness of people to stop, even if it was just a "is everything OK, can I call someone for you"? The road is lightly travelled but has light traffic all the time. So I know people passed by.

4-1/2 or 5 hours is a long time. The driver has said she thought someone would stop and was positive that her dad would come looking if she did not get home by 8pm. She also had siad she was told to stay with the car if it broke down. Someone would come along and help. ----- Good Bad advice!

I digress, Please make sure your family is familiar with the vehicles, where the jack and tools are located, how to position the jack and what to do if a rim is stuck (or better yet, pull the rims yourself a couple times a year just to keep them from rust welding/galvanic action welding or whatever, just make sure they are removeable).

Shortly after I got home, my phone rang, it was one of the girls fathers, (she found one of my business cards in the back)
he called to thank me and offered a dinner get together with his family for me and my wife. I told him that was not necessary but I would keep it in mind. We talked for bit and ended up planning on getting together.

There is no moral to this post, we try to plan for everything and often overlook some simple things. I remember taking drivers ed years ago and it was through my high school and everyone had to change a tire to pass drivers ed and be allowed to start driving. Being a farm boy, football player etc etc, it was everything I could do not to laugh at some of the girls as well as a lot of the guys. I have since grown up and thinking back I still smile but not so much in amusement as how innocent we were.

Please, do your part to make gaining experience a positive thing.