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!!

 

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?