Saturday morning we packed up the car and the dogs and hit the road for home. We left Tennessee around 9:15. We’d been driving for just over three hours when a truck driver passed us and honked his horn. We knew the flaps for the car top carrier weren’t tucked in so we kept on driving. A few minutes later a car passed us, beeped and pointed down, like we were dragging something.
Hubby pulled off the road and into a gas station and we had a tire going flat. After examining the tire he determined there was something in there and we should be able to get it plugged.
There was a visitor center not far off the exit and one of the volunteers gave me the phone number and directions to a local garage that could take care of the problem.
They were closed.
Hubby wanted to put air in the tire and while he did that, I asked my assistant Siri to find me a Wal-Mart which just happened to in the shopping plaza across the street.
We limped over to the Wal-Mart but because the object in our tire wasn’t perfectly centered within the tread, they couldn’t plug it. (Who knew Wal-Mart required such perfection?)
They sent us to a BP down the road, which turned out to be the original service station which was still closed.
Hubby was getting (ergh….what’s a nice way to put this?) pissy. He asked a gentleman at a gas station if he knew where we could get a tire fixed and he directed us to Main Street. On our way I happened to spot Southern Tire and Muffler and their bay doors were open!!
Southern Tire and Muffler
Hubby hopped out of the car and went inside. It was now close to 1:00 pm. When he came back to the car he said, “They closed at 12:00.”
“You’re kidding!” I exclaimed, “Well can they tell us where we can get it fixed?”
“They said they’d fix it for us.”
Yup, Heart like a dog found someone with a Heart like a dog.
He said his name was Cookie, does that mean he has some? Will he share? Inquiring dogs want to know.
Here it is. The thorn in our side nail in our tire.
While Cookie was fixing our tire, Delilah was making friends with Mike. This is odd. Delilah does not typically gravitate towards people. She will check them out and then she’s on her way. BUT she loved Mike and he loved her too. He told us he has two black labs and always wanted a chocolate.
I thought for a second I was going to have to wrestle him for her.
Cookie had our tire plugged in no time flat. (he he, pun intended.)
We loaded BOTH dogs in the car and were soon on our way.
So if you’re ever in the Wytheville, VA area and find yourself in need of a muffler or tires, make sure you head on down to Southern Tire and Muffler, ask for Cookie and tell him Heart Like a Dog sent you.
**This is not a paid or sponsored post, simply my way of thanking Cookie and Mike for taking time away from their families to help a couple of complete strangers.**
Cookie and Mike, you guys rock!!
Have you ever been traveling and found unexpected kindness? How do you thank someone for going above and beyond?
Your bad luck turned good! Lovely that Delilah found a stranger that intrigued her.
I haven’t traveled by car any further than an hour away in so long that I would really have to think about it….ah yes, it was on my birthday last year when Sam and I drove up to my girlfriend’s place in Gerton, NC, with Callie and Shadow. But we didn’t have any car trouble. We did eat at a nice little restaurant on the way home where we were able to sit on the patio and have the girls with us at the table. The waitress brought out a huge bowl and a pitcher of ice cold water for the girls. We had gotten a nice shady parking space right in front of the patio, too, so we left the windows open and just kept an eye on things. We gave the waitress an additional $10 — on top of the tip — for being so sweet to our girls.
So glad everything turned out okay for you guys! They sound like really nice people at the Southern Tire and Muffler place!
So nice to run into folks who are willing to go out of their way to help. Seems like so often that’s not the case.
Funny about Delilah and Mike. My “Mike” is a dog-magnet as well. 🙂
Lucky for you!!! There are still a few decent folks in the world! Good you didn’t have it go totally flat on the road, that would have been a real mess!
We had a similar experience in a different town in Virginia when a tire shop stayed after hours in the evening to help out wayfaring strangers. Are all small businesses in Virginia this Heart like a Dog?
Hip hip hooray for them. Glad they were kind enough to see you back on the road. Have a marvellous Monday.
Best wishes Molly
Hehehehe – glad you didn’t have to wrestle Mike for Delilah!
I love the kindness of strangers and always attribute it to God looking out for me. I once drove to Colorado and stopped at a gas station and noticed one of my tires was completely flat! I hadn’t even noticed it while driving! So I slowly drove my car over to the parking lot area and a kind gentlemen that worked in the adjacent business put my spare tire on for me. I was so grateful since I was having trouble just trying to remove the lug nuts – I’m pretty sure they were welded on. I’m glad Cookie was able to get you guys back on the road safely! Pretty sweet! 🙂
What started OUT as a BAD thingy turned into somethingy WONDERFUL. You will NEVER EVER think of this trip that you don’t think of that Town and COOKIE and MIKE and in the LONG RUN… their kindness will be WHAT YOU REMEMBER and TREASURE most. It is the BEST of the BEST PEEPLE that mean the MOST.
What a FABULOUS post!!!!
That was so awesome of them Jodi – and awesome of you to give them this nice shout out as a thank you. Glad you got Delilah back though. Don’t think the blog would be the same without her. 😉
What an awesome story of someone’s kindness!! I’m so glad it all worked out for you all!! 🙂
Have a fun day
Your pal Snoopy 🙂
I love a guy named Cookie! I mean what’s not to love? Unless there was a guy named Bacon…. Or Cheese…. Or Chicken….
Love and licks,
Cupcake
I think we went through that town when we were on our vacation in May. Gee….if we had only known back then. Our van needed new ball joints, but we didn’t stop for that until we hit North Carolina.
Cookie and Mike…thank you for helping our friends!
Sweet! Heart like a Dog indeed. The world could use more people like that. See if Southern Tire and Muffler has a facebook page and post there. Also, search for the business on Google and give him a Google review. Mail him something. Send Cookie a box of gourmet cookies! 🙂
That looks like a horseshoe nail, wonder where you got that? Glad you found someone to fix your tire and you made it home safely. It’s nice to know there are some nice folks out there.
That was a huge nail. I hate when there is car trouble away from home. It was nice of that garage to fix it. Delilah is a good judge of character. 🙂
I love that you find other people with hearts like a dog wherever you go. 🙂
Isn’t it great when people go out of their way to help someone in need!