Road Angels

In reading the blogs of both full- and part-time RVers for several years now, I've come across various stories about folks who have been downright helpful out on the road -- fixing things that break in motorhomes and trailers, pulling stuck vehicles and rigs out mud and sand, providing a hand after a breakdown, putting the word out about and assisting in finding a beloved lost dog, sending gifts to help furnish a needed new home for someone coming off the road, and much more.

I've come to think of such folks as road angels, and I met some a few weeks back.

I was unexpectedly traveling at night, quite worn out and only about halfway to my destination. All of a sudden, I felt and heard a bang and knew that a tire had blown out. I pulled across a couple travel lanes to the side of the highway and stopped right behind another vehicle that was doing the same thing. Neither the folks in the other vehicle nor I had any idea what we had hit -- we saw nothing before impact and could not find anything in the roadway that would explain it -- but the force of the dual strike was enough to start one of the other vehicle's tires toward going flat and outright blow one of mine.

I have AAA, but the prospect of sitting on the narrow shoulder on the side of the highway and waiting for however long wasn't a pleasant one. I also had a fully loaded car, so to get to the spare tire in my trunk I would have to unload its contents in the breakdown lane with big rigs roaring past.

The folks in the other vehicle were angels indeed, because the driver went ahead and changed my tire on that busy highway. He made quick work of it, and within 10 minutes or so we were all on our way again.

I wasn't going far, though. The spare tire I had was only a donut, so my destination for the night turned out to be much closer than expected. I drove slowly toward the next exit, hoping that wherever I was, I was in a decent area and I'd be able to find a safe spot for the night.

I was, and I did, and the next day I got a new tire and was on my way again. 

I'm grateful for all the angels that were present that night, and I'm glad to be able to add yet another story about the helpfulness of nice folks in the world to an already long list of them.