Warning! Another Religious Post

Last night after youth group my son and some friends went to town to grab a bite and stop in to see a friend that missed group because he had to work. I get a call about 10:00pm, he has a flat tire. He stopped at a convenience store and put air in it but can here it leaking. While he said he could change the tire, he didn’t sound real confident. I get up and head to town to assist.

I pull up to see a young man and his girl friend has stopped to help. He was just tightening the lugs. He apparently used his floor jack, removed the tire, plugged it and put it back on. Thanking him he explained it was nothing. He had just left his mom who had a flat at church. He stopped on his way there and picked up a plug kit to repair her tire so he just happened to have the plug to repair my son’s tire.

While my son and the others saw a stranger willing to assist his fellow man they didn’t see just a coincidence.

Somebody raised that young man right!

Lucky for us he didn’t show himself as a republican democrat. If he had, I’d have changed it myself even if I only had one arm.

Nope. There's no such thing as luck.

Isnt that the Truth

That is awesome! Love hearin about good people.
Tire changing is an important skill to have. My dad taught me when I had my first truck and it has saved me so much in my life! I also Always have a plug kit in my vehicle (live on gravel roads) had to learn how to do that a year or two ago. So glad I did.

X2

Just the other day a guy at the gas station needed a jump ( low battery) so I give him a jump. He wanted to pay me and I told him to buy a set of jumper cables and if he sees someone that need a jump just remember this day and past it along.

Vote

Your dad gets props for raising you right. Knowing how to change a tire can be a very valuable skill. The expansion of road side services like AAA is because people have lost this skill , it is not taught anymore like it used to be years ago. I've changed plenty of tires for other people and saved them $100 or more for a roadside call. I was buying a tire a few months ago , seen a tow truck come in with a car with a flat. Two women with the car , they had driven on the flat until the wheel was shot. Now they need a tire , wheel and got to pay a tow bill. Guessing $500 it cost them because they didn't know how to do it. If I was their husband , they would be getting a lesson real soon. I've taught my girlfriend how to do it. $500 is a lot of coin to just spend because you can't do it.

I have said this for years , changing a tire , knowing how to check the oil and jump starting a car correctly should be part of drivers education.

Sorry our school does not have driver Ed. anymore. We sure could use it.

I would vote for it!

That is sad. When I went to school , it was cheaper there than going to private driving school on your own. My guess is the school subsidized it. Bet those funds were hijacked for something less worthy.

I wouldn’t say lack of skill as most folks can read and there is step by step in the manual. The reason for an increase in membership of AAA is wealth. People weigh the cost to aggravation and now a days they have more money than tolerance.

At my school back in the 60's it was in the summer. Nice road trips to the beaches up north.

Good shall come to those who unselfishly help their fellow mankind.

I helped a 20yo just less than a week ago. He was in the process of changing the tire. It was a VW. He looked like he was struggling a bit. I was just walking by and seen him , noticed he was struggling. Asked him if he needed help , he said he took all the bolts out but could not get the tire free from the hub. ( VW's use bolts , not studs and lugnuts like most cars ) The wheel was rusted to the hub at the center of the wheel. He could not get it off and had been struggling with it. I showed him by kicking the tire hard at one point , say one side , it popped right off. He was SO glad , thanked me profusely , made his day , got huge respect from him. It only took me a minute.

Pass it on!!!

Many years ago when I was traveling home I was on the interstate and passed an older couple along the road. The lady was standing at the rear of the car looking at what I thought was a flat tire. I was traveling at a high rate of speed so I didn't get a real good look. I pulled over down the road for some reason. I was in a rush to get home but I got stopped and backed up to her. Just something made me do it, how do you explain things like that.

The husband was in the car, I was to find out he was handicapped and blind. Not a good place to be alone as it was a relatively remote area of highway and cold out. It turned out to be a flat and I fixed it for them. She thanked me several times and wanted to pay me. I said no and I was just glad I could help. I don't even remember telling her much about me or where I was from. Some how she had enough info from our brief encounter to track me down and find where I lived.

About a month or so later I received a large box and quite heavy at that. I couldn't remember ordering anything nor did my wife. I looked at the address label and still didn't know who it was from. I opened the large box and inside was an envelope with a card inside. I read the card and it was a thank you/appreciation note from the man and woman that I had helped on the road a month earlier.

I was surprised to say the least and found they had bought me a new stereo system that was top of the line for that time period in the 90's. It had to cost hundreds of $$ as I looked around later to see what they would cost.

Good deeds happen more then folks realize and so many go unmentioned in the world even with total strangers. Lots of good people around. When you listen to the news they want you to think the sky is falling at times


Another time I had the jumper cable deal at Walmart with a gal whose battery was low or dead. I was parked close so I got her going again and gave her some advice to get it checked out for bad cells. She offered to have me follow her home and she would make us coffee. I just smiled and said thank you but I have traps to check. I know dumb answer.

That was awsome Bob ^^^ the whole post.

You're right how can you explain why something made you feel like pulling over.

Pass it on for sure. Good practice however , don't get the cheap cheap ones. They are horrible. Spend at least $20-$30 a get some decent ones , much , much better. Can make the difference between starting and not starting. I have some professional serious heavy duty ones that are the type like you would have on a tow truck. They cost me $200+. 2gauge wire , 26ft long , 25lbs. I was with a bunch of guys and they were trying to start this guys truck , no luck with normal cables. I let them use mine. The thing started right up fast. I can pull up to the back bumper of a car and run my cables all the way to the front of the car I need to start. Handy when a car is nosed into a parking space. I have these because I work on cars a lot , not for everybody , a bit spendy.

Uplifting post... thanks to all

Great story, Bob.
I've been there myself. You just about gain a friend for life helping out someone like that. Not only do they look at you like a guardian angel , it makes you feel good too. Win-win.

Props to you helping them out.

Great posts guys

I love to hear storys that end well! I've got one that made me very suspicious of helping some one nowdays. Was coming home from scouting some new country that I got oermission on. Was close to a public low water area, that there were always people hanging out at. Had my son with me, he was about seven, and a man and lady in their late twenties, were looking for a ride. Said he wanted a ride to I 70, and I said that I wasn't going there but would drop him off on the busier hwy that goes there. After loading up in the back seat, he starts telling me that I gotta take him to I 70. I stopped the car, got out and told him, that's not how this works. Told him he can get out now or ride to the hwy, was his choice. It worked out alright, but made me rethink picking up hitch hikers. As belligerent as he was, it could have gotten bad quick!

I will still help people in trouble though, and have many times!

Love my dad for those lessons. I’m cheap by nature and couldn’t stomach what they charge for services and membership. Also have a hard time for maintenance things. I’ve taught myself to change my brakes and oil, even changed out a starter solenoid(it was a manual pickup and had to push start it more then a few times lol. Learned to park on a hill if possible) . Knowing how to do a jumpstart is also a good one. kids definitely need more practical education but few want to take the time or get dirty due to lifestyle changes.

Very true, no extra wealth here but I also love learning to be more self sufficient. Don’t like having to rely on others when I can do it myself. Lol. Last winter I had to change my tire cuz there was no pluggin that one and I was 8 month preggers.

How to use condoms. Also how to decide what your sexual orientation is.

My late dad had a couple of excellent ideas #1 Every one could not graduate HS till you could swim some, not expert, but just enough to keep yourself from drowning. #2 same graduating restricting's with changing a tire .
Dennis

Not much to changing a tire...finding the dang jack is the issue!!

But in your stories case...everything happens according to Gods plan. May not like it, but he’s always there looking out for ya!

That seemed to be the take away my son and his friends got. I think it was the first time the pieces came together like that for them. They couldn’t stop talking about it. lol

What is worse is putting it back exactly the only one way it will fit.

Have to throw this out there about changing a tire. Had my 2014 Ford F150 in for 4 new tires. The service desk guy tells me they can't get a rear wheel off, tight on the center hub diameter. He had been pounding the rim with a dead blow hammer and squirting it up with solvent, wanted to use a torch on it. Had him go into the hardware area and come back with a 10 lb sledge hammer. I asked him to hit the back side of rim on the wheel weight with that hammer and it came right off. I did the same on the front last summer when I needed to do the brakes, but it was the rotors that gave me more problems, stripped a jack screw on them, my fault, the thread was metric, only did it in one hole, not 4, I'm not totally useless.

Been there done that many times. Wheel rusts to the hub. When large assault hammering doesn't work , putting all the lugnuts back on but a couple threads loose , lower the vehicle to the floor sometimes works with weight on them. If that fails , drive vehicle and SLAM brakes on very hard. Again , with all lugnuts on and just a thread or two loose.

On these new vehicles isn't that the truth? That's why I always have a 2 ton floor jack in the back of my truck.

Nice story.