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| Me and my traffic stopper |
My birthday is on Monday, April 3rd. Since the forecast for Monday is 100% chance of rain. I thought I would celebrate it a couple of days early and take a trip an hour south to the Choctaw Indian Casino in Philadelphia, MS. So, around 10:00 AM this morning, I said goodbye to my wife, headed into town for a quick errand. Well, some road work was going on in town and as I was approaching the first officer on Hwy 12 (I thought) he was waving at me (my car gets a lot of that). It turns out he was trying to flag me down. In my rear view mirror I saw him jump in his car and turn on his lights. Evidently he had radioed ahead to the intersection being worked on because the police officer there flagged me down and had me stop behind his car as the other officer pulled up behind. So there I am in my "Hippie Bug" between two city cop cars with lights flashing. When the first officer came up I jokingly asked, "should I get out and spread 'em"? He laughed and said, "no, when I first tried to flag you down, I just wanted a picture of your car. Then after you kept going, I saw you didn't have a tag, so I had a legitimate reason to follow you and I called ahead." I explained about getting the car this week and showed my receipt for the ordered tag, posed for some pics for both officers, and then headed south (in my new OLD car). Tooling most of the way 5 miles below the speed limit. No problems going down, so I decided I would do the same and take my time coming back from the casino (as I'm still getting used to the car). (Not sure of exact time - took no watch.) Well, a little over half way back (2 or 3 miles north of Louisville, MS) I ran over something and my rear, passenger side tire shredded. No problem, that's why I have AAA. But no phone. Again no problem - lots of traffic on Miss. Hwy. 25. Within 5 minutes a good Samaritan had stopped and let me call AAA. AAA told me that someone would be there in 45 minutes to an hour. 90 minutes later the truck showed and the guy changed my tire. (My back and leg aren't great - that's why I didn't do it myself - in case you wondered.) Before he put the spare on, he pointed out that the spare was worn uneven and it should probably be replaced soon. At this time, thanks to him, I knew it was around 4:45. So I said, :thanks, I'm headed straight to Wal-Mart: (only 20 or so miles away). I pulled around the repair truck as he finished the paperwork and headed north at 55 MPH (in a 65 zone). Ten minutes later the repair truck passed me. Five minutes after that - you guessed it - my spare shredded. Took a little longer to get someone to stop this time. The guy that did stop actually drove past me, did two u-turns and came over so I could use his phone. So I again called AAA, explained that this was a 2nd call, and my spare had shredded, so I would need a tow truck. I was told (again) 45 minutes to an hour. Don't know how long it was, but it was longer than that - I was listening to the MSU-Ole Miss baseball game. Anyway around 6:30 the tow truck arrived, but it would not work for my car. They needed one with a flat bed to carry it. So off they went to get a different truck. He got back with the truck, loaded my car, and off we went. My sweetie picked me up (tire and auto was closed by now) and I arrived back home after being gone approximately 11 hours. A much longer day than I anticipated. But, remember the title of this post! Turns out that the second good Samaritan is also an independent film producer. He asked if I would be interested in allowing him to use my car in a film. He said something about writing a script about a man and an old car. He then stopped, said "Oh, Hey! - I could write something about an old hippie. Would you be interested? With that beard, you look the part." So, as stated, "All's well that ends well" and at 62, I may be starting my acting career!
And a couple of points before wrapping up, (1) Really glad I didn't do this Monday, and (2) State beat Ole Miss 5-4. April Fool's tomorrow! Be Alert!
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